The $100 Million Man?

May 1, 2007
McAlister Auditorium
Tulane University
New Orleans, La.

Family and Friends,

In a city with mixed expectations about its future, some might think Al Gore has gone off the Global Warming deep-end.

New Orleans-the symbol for the 21st Century Green City? The Big Easy doesn’t even have a sustainable recycling program yet.

But, as Gore would like to see, New Orleans should be the leader in eco-friendly reconstruction post-KATRINA.

Today, in front of at least 3,000 at Tulane University, Gore gave his famous “Inconvenient Truth” lecture; the doomsday tale of our man-made catastrophe knocking at the world’s collective door.

Global warming is threatening to erase the Western Antarctic and Greenland in the next 40 years, Gore says. His high-tech graphics depict a 20-foot rise in the ocean depth if this happens.

The prediction isn’t pretty. San Francisco, New York, New Orleans, New Delhi and almost any coastal city in the world would be under water. Over 400 million people would be displaced.

We can stop it, he says.

Citing the late author Kurt Vonnegut, Gore said, will people look back 100 years from now and ask why were so lazy? Or will they commend us for our struggles to change, ensuring safety and humanity for future generations.

A girl asked if he would rerun for President. He gave his “it’s a difficult decision but I’m not a politician anymore” stump.

President Scott Cowen of Tulane University called Gore a “Great American” and a “Great example” for the students.

I’d agree. The fabric of America is capitalism and Tulane has a blue-chip business school.

Gore’s standard appearance fee is $120,000, although University sources have told me he came here for half that mark.

He gave the lecture eight times last week—and about 1,500 times since taking it on tour.

Former Vice President Gore has made over 80 million in the name of the green revolution.

But, I wouldn't put 100 million out of reach.

Good for him. Success like that is in our American veins.

But, for the Green movement to take off on the scale savior scientists want it to, other individuals, companies and multi-national corporations need to figure out what Gore already knows.

How to make a boat-load going Green.

If the publicly-traded companies can’t figure it out, we might have to use that boat for something else.


Best—

Robert

Rent Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth.” Dollars for him, education for you.

Photos by Paula Burch-Celentano, Tulane University

Perceptions of some Post-KATRINA Tulane Undergraduates

Perceptions of some Post-KATRINA Tulane Undergraduates

New Orleans, La.
April 14, 2007

Family and Friends—

Snuck into a Tulane University Medical School Formal the other night.

A band played, top-shelf liquor served, we’re talking the works. I found the party’s coordinator, a Med Student named David.

“I take pictures at Tulane events for free,” I said.

“Great, grab a drink,” he said.

By 11:00 pm these masters of MCATs danced without self-consciousness. Some future-MD’s even crowd-surfed. Quite a sight.

After KATRINA, Tulane closed for an entire semester. The storm caused $200 million in damage and the university eliminated 580 faculty and staff positions to stay afloat.

All of the Tulane medical students I met spent the semester in Waco, Tex, home of Baylor University. Don Owens, a chaplain and professor at Tulane Med says, “Baylor Med opened their home and did everything for us.” The 2006 installment of the party I crashed happened in Texas.

The medical students, it seems, are glad to be back. LSU’s main medical hospital across the street from Tulane Medical Center has yet to reopen. It’s eerie given the size of the structure.

Tulane undergraduates and graduate students who stuck with their University deserve recognition. Leadership cut many academic, athletic and student programs and services. Returning was, in many respects, a leap of faith.

Some changed majors. Some lost professors who were influential in attending Tulane from the beginning. And the memories of “what it used to be” will always remain for them.

But there is a community knock on the some of the Tulane undergraduate population: “East-coast aristocrats who don’t care about New Orleans,” they say. According to Tulane’s Office of the Registrar, 23 percent of the undergraduate population comes from the Northeast. There are more northeastern undergraduates at Tulane than New Orleans’ natives.

Others say, “They come here for a four-year party.”

It’s understandable that there is apathy from some of the Tulane undergraduate population. The Tulane friends I’ve made from the East Coast don’t dispute this perception.

I must also add that it tends to be directed at New York state and New Jersey students. A little Texas too.

This is obviously a generalization. Many invested, passionate and determined out-of-state undergraduates, New Yorkers and New Jersey students included, aid the New Orleans recovery.

The apathy is a reflection of the average American college at the average American University. Many students studied at other places during the semester away.

Colleges like Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. to Pennsylvania University in Philadelphia, and everywhere between.

And at the end, they all had a decision to make.

Almost 90 percent returned.

Expecting any more of 18-21 year olds is excessive optimism. Yes, KATRINA devastated New Orleans. And many of the out-of-state students lost possessions in the storm. They didn’t, for the most-part, lose homes, lose heirlooms or lose family members.

They did, however, return without the guarantee of a fulfilling academic future in a slashed, cut and mended opening Tulane semester.

The community-apathetic students still spend money and proclaim to their friends scattered about the country and the world about New Orleans’ majesty.

Let’s face it. There are leaders and followers, shepherds and sheep. And not everyone can carry a cane. Or sport a really long beard.

What people forget is that they came back to Tulane.

However, there will be an evolution of the Tulane undergraduate student.

After KATRINA, Tulane President Scott Cowen and the school’s board dramatically changed undergraduate requirements for graduation. The changes apply to any Tulane student who enrolls after KATRINA.

A main component of the new requirements is each student must complete a service-learning course with a community component during there first two years. Another similarly-scoped service course must be completed during the student’s last two years.

What does this mean? Tulane leadership hopes it will attract more civic-minded students.

Nothing happens overnight, but Tulane—its students, faculty, staff and alumni will be a major part of New Orleans’ recovery. Tulane President Scott Cowen's new graduation requirements reflect the post-KATRINA academic and community environment.

But I hope some who came before will help before they go.

Best,

Robert

Email me at rxfogarty@yahoo.com with questions or concerns.