When Universities are Destroyed: How Tulane University and the University of Alabama Rebuilt after Disaster

By the time the floodwaters receded in early September of 2005 after the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina, Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, had suffered losses of $650 million. School administrators were faced with the daunting task of rebuilding. Seeking direction, the staff looked to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and its renewal efforts after it was destroyed by fire by Union forces during the Civil War in 1865.

In When Universities are Destroyed, author Jack Kushner d...