Tornado-stricken campus unites in recovery effort

One F4 tornado, $40 million worth of damage and a united campus later, Union University is picking up pieces and getting back into schedule after a natural disaster devastated the school Feb. 5.

Senior Stephanie Schroeder said faculty and staff have been working quickly and diligently to get Union back to regular functioning. 

“The president is taking an essentialist perspective on how to run the campus until the end of the semester,” she said. “You get what you need to get done, and everything else is cancelled.” In the chaos of cleanup and restoration, the university’s main concern has been the well-being of its students.

It has taken many measures to ensure its students’ future protection. UUAlerts, an emergency text messaging system, was released March 3 to inform subscribers of possible campus crises. Additionally, students and their family members will receive immediate e-mails when catastrophic weather is in the forecast or the student body safety is at risk.

The school broke ground Feb. 22 for a residence life complex, to be completed by spring 2009. The building, with a 700-person capacity, will have inner quads for extra security.

With help from local and national sources, Union continues to make provisions to restore its campus back to a state of normalcy.

Students began class Feb. 20 and are now into daily routines.

The community has reached out to the university in a variety of ways. People have come to help remove rubble, and some have offered up their homes for temporary living arrangements. Faculty members have taken in students, and Englewood Baptist Church opened up the Old English Inn to house 300 students. 

Publishers and other schools have also provided replacement literature. Union has set up care and comfort centers for students to talk about their issues.

Additionally, housing reimbursement checks went out to those living in the demolished residence halls.  Clothing, food and toiletries have also been donated along with mattresses money. LifeWay Christian stores donated $350,000 to replace textbooks.

“A lot of people got back more than they thought,” Schroeder said. “It was a lot more than we ever expected, and we are grateful.” 

Union received financial donations from organizations and individuals alike. Many students’ home churches took up love offerings. The Tennessee Baptist Convention Executive Board gave the school $144,684, and the Criswell College in Dallas raised more than $50,000 for the tornado recovery fund.

The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee and Belmont University each donated $100,000. Other universities, including UMHB, are collecting funds and lending services as the nation continues to rebuild the broken school. Crusaders alone gave a gift of $664.

Union President David S. Dockery released a statement Feb. 22. “We gather to not only continue to give thanks for God’s providence and all that he has done for us in the aftermath of Feb. 5, but to set a course for the future of this university,” he said. “We move forward together by the help and the grace of God.”    

Senior Kat Douglas said she and others are encouraged by the outreach of community and national support.

“Seeing other people help you so much inspires you to lend a hand to others,” she said. “If people are willing to donate their time to me, I want to return the favor.”  Students are doing whatever it takes to get back to a state of normalcy but will never forget what has happened.

Douglas said the memory is imprinted in her memory. 

“When you’ve been through something like this,” she said, “The experience always stays in the back of your mind.”

Sirens always blare across Union University during springtime. Jackson, Tenn. has never been a stranger to tornadoes.

So when Douglas heard a siren on Feb. 5, she systematically gathered a few belongings and headed downstairs for shelter with five other students. With American Idol on TV in the background and a book in hand, Douglas was ready to spend the remainder of the evening under a storm watch. 

It did not turn out to be a simple weather warning, but rather a catastrophic F4 tornado, affecting thousands of students, faculty and staff, and causing $40 million in damages.

The winds began to pick up as six students huddled in a downstairs bathroom of Watters residence hall. Douglas wasn’t worried, though. She had spent much of her years at the university under tornado watches. This time was no different. But two girls in the bathtub were scared to tears and panicking.

“I’m a protector by nature,” Douglas said. “I was so busy trying to keep the girls in the tub calm and breathing that I didn’t have time to freak out.” 

Suddenly, a two-by-four shot through the wall over Douglas and landed between two of the other roommates, almost impaling them. 

Douglas said, “At this point I realized it was bad, but I didn’t register how much damage there would be. I slid down on the floor and started texting people, ‘I need prayer.’” 

Douglas had to be strong for the rest of the students she was with. It seemed as if the storm was just beginning to brew. 

“To calm down the girl next to me,” Douglas said, “I literally put my hands around her face and was saying ‘The Lord has plans to prosper you, not hurt you.’ But in my mind, I was really thinking, ‘Did I really come this far in my life to die on this little bathroom floor?’”

Suddenly, it got quiet. The tornado had left. It was 7:02 p.m.

Douglas embraced the silence that covered the campus for nearly five minutes, until it was broken by a male’s voice.  “Is everyone OK in there?” he asked. “You have to get out.”

Douglas was confused. Men were not allowed in the female residence halls, but that’s how the rescue process began. Students assembled their own teams until professionals could arrive. 

Douglas and the others climbed out of hiding. Their living room was destroyed, and the inside walls were gone.
She said, “We had to walk over all of the rubble. It was a never-ending pile of stuff.” 

That night, students were taken to the Pennick Academic Complex, then later evacuated to the outer edge of campus so help could get in to reach them.

Parking lots were empty, vehicles thrown into buildings and ditches. People were crying. Some were bloody. It was hot. There was no cell phone reception. 

“How can someone not be dead?” Douglas thought to herself. She tried not to think about it. There was nothing she could do. 

“My life’s purpose is a lot clearer after something like that,” she said. “I realized that if God could get me through an F4 tornado that passed right over me, he has bigger plans for me.”

Douglas was just one of the 700 students who were housed in the Watters or Hurt complex.

The sorting process has been long as students continually get back bags of belongings buried in the rubble.

Douglas lost her shoes, bedding, computer and vehicle.

Home owner’s insurance, the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will cover much of what was destroyed, but some things can’t be replaced, like a scarf from Scotland, a jewelry holder from Thailand and earrings from London.

Despite losses, she is grateful.

 “You just get excited for the few things you have,” Douglas said. “God’s blessings never stop. It’s overwhelming. Even though we went through such a horrible thing, we remember that God’s a provider.”