FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 09/02/2005

Bridgewater College Offers Classes To Hurricane Students

BRIDGEWATER, Va. — Bridgewater College will open its doors to college students displaced by Hurricane Katrina, offering free tuition for both residential and commuter students.

Bridgewater President Phillip C. Stone announced this morning that the College will join a coalition of colleges and universities nationwide in accepting students who were driven from their schools by what many are calling the most devastating natural disaster in U.S. history. The students, Stone said, would be assimilated into existing classes offered by the College.

The students would only need to pay for room and board.

"Our motivation for doing this is very straightforward," Stone said. "We want to help, and we feel that opening our doors to these students reflects the Christian mission of Bridgewater College."

Institutions of higher learning throughout the United States are mobilizing to provide a range of services to people displaced by the storm, from academic transfers for displaced students to blood, food and clothing drives for the general population.

Students from the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged area who would like to take fall classes at Bridgewater College should contact Dr. Arthur C. Hessler, dean of the College and vice president for academic affairs, at 540-828-5607.

###