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NEWS
| SEPTEMBER 23, 2005
Hurricane
Weekend events halted
Due to Hurricane Rita’s
threat, the event will be held during Homecoming 2006.
By Elaine
Marsilio & Megan Magaña
The Shorthorn staff
The university administration Thursday
rescheduled Parents Weekend due to Hurricane Rita and potential
travel troubles.
The event, originally planned from Friday to Sunday, would have
involved about 350 students’ parents in activities at the
university and at off-campus locations. The engagement has been
rescheduled to coincide with Homecoming weekend, Feb. 17-18, 2006.
“We thought that rather than dealing with hurricane-type weather,
it would be better to postpone it till next semester,” Parents
Weekend coordinator Gayonne Quick said.
With forecasted rain, high winds and possible tornadoes this weekend,
she said organizers did not want participants to be scattered about
in the storm without a way to contact parents and students simultaneously
to notify them of safety updates.
Sharon Carey, a planning committee member for Parents Weekend, said
that although there were backup sites, parents wouldn’t be
able to learn about the campus from underneath an umbrella.
“I think safety is the number one reason,” she said.
“We’re talking about something that’s a rare occurrence.”
Parents who signed up for the event have been notified through their
e-mail addresses, by phone and through participating students.
“We are using all means possible to get in touch with the
parents,” Quick said.
The majority of the students who signed up were domestic students,
she said. Parents who were traveling from out of state started calling
the university Wednesday, she said, and are being told to cancel
travel arrangements.
About 70 reduced-rate rooms for parents at The Wyndham Hotel in
Arlington had been canceled as of Thursday afternoon, general manager
John Kellites said.
However, evacuees from the Texas coastline are now booking rooms.
He said most of the reservations are corporate contacts; companies
are calling requesting a block of rooms for their employees.
“Most of the interest is through next week,” he said.
President James Spaniolo said the event’s postponement to
February will add to the Homecoming atmosphere.
“I think it will just make homecoming that much more exciting,”
he said.
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