Tulane students painted New Orleans' Allen Elementary School during their winter break. (NOLA Hurricane Fund)

In addition to the usual courses in English, microeconomics, and psychology, this fall's freshman class at Tulane University in New Orleans will have a somewhat unusual requirement—community service.

"The university has a very big stake in the city, and the city has a very big stake in us," says Tulane Provost Lestor A. Lefton. "Our students now have a unique opportunity to learn about leadership and public service while rebuilding one of America's great cities."

Hurricane Katrina caused more than $200 million worth of damage to more than two-thirds of Tulane's campus. The wind tore off shingles from roofs, and floodwaters infiltrated first floors in low-lying areas. Tulane hopes that insurance will pay for most of the repairs, but the university, the city's largest private employer, nevertheless lost $100 million or so in tuition when fall classes were canceled.

As a result, some 230 faculty members have been laid off, and several academic programs have folded, including computer science, exercise and sport science, operations management, and civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering. The school has also dropped its golf, tennis, and women's swimming and soccer programs, affecting about 100 athletes. By mid-January, though, applications were up 19 percent over the previous year; administrators attribute the rise to increased interest in the city after the storms. So far, the quality of applicants has not dropped off, either. "We'll accept a smaller class rather than lower our academic standards," says Mike Strecker, a Tulane spokesman.

Winter break painting (NOLA Hurricane Fund)

Though the new service requirement is compulsory for incoming freshmen, next year's sophomores, juniors, and seniors may also participate for credit. And many upperclassmen seem ready to take the university up on its offer. "Far and away the best part of going to Tulane is the chance to live in this city," says Adam J. Morris, a Tulane senior who grew up in the South. "None of my friends could wait to return to help the city come back to life."

Morris, 23, spent the fall semester at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, an experience he describes as "kind of like studying abroad in the U.S." Last October, he, along with several busloads of Vanderbilt students, spent fall break clearing brush and doing other relief work in Franklinton, La., about 70 miles north of the city. Late last December, Morris returned to New Orleans for his final semester and started volunteering at local schools several weeks before classes began. "One of the biggest impediments to professionals returning to the city," he says, "is the lack of schools for them to send their kids to."

At least for the next few years, students fulfilling their service requirement will focus on a variety of tasks associated with the city's recovery—tutoring in schools, helping to restore houses or build new ones, taking water and soil samples for laboratory tests, developing public policy, and working with not-for-profits like Habitat for Humanity. But the program is designed to evolve.

"You don't want to think about just next year or the year after," Lefton says. "You want to think 10 years down the line. It's not just about the rebuilding of certain houses in the Lower Ninth Ward."

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