Loyola Students Tour Devastated Neighborhoods of UNO, Delgado Students

In an effort to present students with “a socioeconomic cross section of the community,” Dr. Bob Thomas, Environmental Communications professor at Loyola University, has given students and parents the opportunity to view the ruined lives of the students of New Orleans’ publicly funded colleges.

“University of New Orleans and Delgado Community College draw the vast majority of their student body from within the region,” Thomas declared into the microphone at the front of an air conditioned tour bus as it rolled through Gentilly. “Note the student parking stickers on the washed out vehicles.”

“And not very new vehicles at that,” he added, pointing to a mid-90s era Nissan crushed under the weight of tree.

Crossing the St. Claude Avenue bridge into the Lower 9th Ward, Thomas spoke again of the students of state funded institutions.

“Many Delgado students and several UNO students taking classes at the developmental level refer to this area as ‘Cut Throat City,” Thomas said. “The phrase seems to stem from the acronym it shares with ‘Cross The Canal,’ which of course we just did. Ha ha. But the name also refers to the staggering level of violence that plagued the area prior to Katrina.”

Noticing the furrowed brows of concern and the unconscious reflex to reach for automatic door locks that were not there, Thomas added, “Don’t worry. They’re gone now.”

In addition to showcasing how the struggle of the city’s lower classes to rise up from poverty through a meaningful and affordable education has only been compounded by unthinkable misery, the bus tours are designed to raise awareness nationwide about the scope of the devastation.

"We want them to go home and tell everybody they can, including their congressmen and their senators,” Thomas said to reporters on board.

Deborah Laughlin, mother to an incoming Loyola student from Philadelphia, intends to do just that.

“I’m calling my congressman tomorrow,” she said. “He’s a Dickinson graduate. Maybe he can pull some strings to get my son out of this shithole.”

Bob Thomas, a professor at Loyola takes his students for field work in the homes of less fortunate students.

Cross the canal to Cut Throat City.

Deborah Laughlin vows to call her congressman.