Students and faculty return from Haiti following earthquake

by Tessa Hager-Holson and Heather Hansen

SIPA student James Taylor, with a child in Haiti, shortly after the earthquake. / Photo provided

On Jan. 20, Dean Coatsworth and other members of the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) administration held a welcome home reception for Professor Lindenmayer and six SIPA students as well as two faculty members from the Earth Institute who were in Haiti during the recent earthquake.

As part of the United Nations Studies Program, the group’s objective had been to examine issues related to U.N. peacekeeping.

At the reception, a slide show of photos from recent trips to Haiti showed the juxtaposition between Haiti’s beauty, progressive relief efforts and the devastation of the past week. Dean Coatsworth took the podium and expressed deep gratitude for the courageous work and safe return of the Columbia’s faculty and students.

Professor Lindenmayer’s heroic leadership was recognized throughout the evening. Representatives of the Earth Institute community, including Steve Cohen, Executive Director of the Earth Institute, expressed further gratitude for the group and for the cohesion between SIPA and the Earth Institute in the face of such a crisis.

Professor Lindenmayer presented the experiences of those in Haiti, both logistically and personally. She emphasized the capacity her students demonstrated to assist victims of the earthquake despite the shock and gravity of the situation. She also spoke of the group narrowly escaping death twice and of those close to her who died, reinforcing sentiments of gratitude for the safe return of Columbia community members.

The six SIPA students are Annika Allman, Gabrielle Apollon, John Burnett, Megan Rapp, Gerald Stang, and James Taylor. Three students were present at the reception; the others were in transit back to New York after being rerouted into Canada due to passport issues resulting from the earthquake.

The organized events of the evening closed with a speech by Stang, and the crowd was left to reflect on the magnitude of the situation in Haiti and the safe return of Columbia’s community members.

Published in RightsNews Volume 28, no. 1, February, 2010.
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