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Cal State East Bay Took in 74 Students in Wake of Hurricane Katrina

Published

10 years ago

September 15, 2015

Aug. 29, 2015, marked a decade since Katrina, one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States, made landfall in southeast Louisiana.

Thirty colleges on the Gulf Coast were affected by the hurricane and devastating floods that followed. Fourteen were shut down, with damage estimated at $1.5 billion, and more than 100,000 students were forced to take the semester off or enroll elsewhere.

The California State University system responded by bringing in more than 300 of those students — and CSU East Bay opened its doors to the biggest number.

“The California State University wants to make sure that the educational goals of students are not interrupted by this devastating hurricane,” said now retired CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed at the time. “We will do what we can, as fast as we can, to help out these students and their families.”

“We just had to say, if you were admitted to a school that was affected, just come, and we’ll find the place for you — and they came. A lot of them came,” said Dr. Diana Balgas, special assistant to the vice president of student affairs and director of assessment at CSUEB.

In total, 74 students displaced by Katrina were welcomed to attend Cal State East Bay without transcripts or the ability to immediately pay fees.

They were also exempt from paying non-resident tuition.

“We wanted to show our support for these students in the wake of such a disaster,” said Stan Hébert III, associate vice president and dean of students. “Our efforts included mentoring, clothing donations, housing, textbook scholarships and more to help normalize their transition to our university.”

Jenerro Lockhart earned his BS and MBA at Cal State East Bay after Hurricane Katrina forced him to leave his former school, Southern University at New Orleans.

Jenerro Lockhart (BS ’08 Biological Science, MBA ’11 Business Administration), who was born and raised in New Orleans, was among the first to arrive. Southern University at New Orleans, where he was enrolled, was underwater. Heartbroken and knowing it would be years before the university could rebuild, Lockhart turned his attention toward Cal State East Bay, which he had visited during a recent trip to California to visit a friend. Within weeks of the hurricane, he made the 2,000-mile journey west with only $60 in his pocket.

“I had visited the campus before and kind of wondered what it would be like to go there,” Lockhart said. “I thought that it would be an opportunity to keep my mind from going all over the place and stressing about home and family and stuff, so I decided to just enroll.”

“We worked very quickly at assembling a team of individuals in key areas: admissions, financial aid, and housing,” said Balgas, whose role was to create the Katrina Scholars Program to coordinate services. “We all put our heads together to figure out what we could do and what our response would be, so when we said, ‘Yes! Come to East Bay,’ we had a team in place that could easily serve those students.”

Balgas recalls that some students came with only the clothes on their back, along with immense feelings of worry and guilt about what they had left behind. The students navigated rising floodwaters and closed roads to get out of Louisiana and Mississippi. One student took a boat, then a plane ride, and then hitchhiked on a big rig to get to Cal State East Bay.

“When I evacuated, I packed a few things for a temporary evacuation,” said Kelli Patterson (BA ‘08 Liberal Studies). “When I learned that the school was closed, and we couldn’t even return to gather personal belongings, reality sunk in. I’ll admit I was pretty lost in what to do next.”

“At first it was about survival, family, basic necessities, but then it wasabout looking at their future opportunity and what college meant for them,” said Balgas.

Clothing and fundraising drives were organized and several thousand dollars were raised, mostly in the form of gift cards. Mervyn’s, a Hayward-based department store chain, sponsored a shopping spree and the CSUEB African American Faculty and Staff Association hosted a reception in honor of the incoming students.

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Rest in Peace: A.M.E. Pastor and L.A Civil Rights Icon Cecil “Chip” Murray Passes

The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) in Los Angeles, died of natural causes April 6 at his Windsor Hills Home. He was 94. “Today, we lost a giant. Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray dedicated his life to service, community, and putting God first in all things. I had the absolute honor of working with him, worshiping with him, and seeking his counsel,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of the dynamic religious leader whose ministry inspired and attracted millionaires as well as former gang bangers and people dealing with substance use disorder (SUD).

Published

4 days ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) in Los Angeles, died of natural causes April 6 at his Windsor Hills Home. He was 94.

“Today, we lost a giant. Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray dedicated his life to service, community, and putting God first in all things. I had the absolute honor of working with him, worshiping with him, and seeking his counsel,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of the dynamic religious leader whose ministry inspired and attracted millionaires as well as former gang bangers and people dealing with substance use disorder (SUD).

Murray oversaw the growth of FAME’s congregation from 250 members to 18,000.

“My heart is with the First AME congregation and community today as we reflect on a legacy that changed this city forever,” Bass continued.

Murray served as Senior Minister at FAME, the oldest Black congregation in the city, for 27 years. During that time, various dignitaries visited and he built strong relationships with political and civic leaders in the city and across the state, as well as a number of Hollywood figures. Several national political leaders also visited with Murray and his congregation at FAME, including Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Murray, a Florida native and U.S. Air Force vet, attended Florida A&M University, where he majored in history, worked on the school newspaper and pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He later attended Claremont School of Theology in Los Angeles County, where he earned his doctorate in Divinity.

Murray is survived by his son Drew. His wife Bernadine, who was a committed member of the A.M.E. church and the daughter of his childhood pastor, died in 2013.

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Court Throws Out Law That Allowed Californians to Build Duplexes, Triplexes and RDUs on Their Properties

Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional. Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.

Published

4 days ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional.

Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of the cities, pointing out that SB 9 discredited charter cities that were granted jurisdiction to create new governance systems and enact policy reforms. The court ruling affects 121 charter cities that have local constitutions.

Attorney Pam Lee represented five Southern California cities in the lawsuit against the state and Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“This is a monumental victory for all charter cities in California,” Lee said.

However, general law cities are excluded from the court ruling as state housing laws still apply in residential areas.

Attorney General Bonta and his team are working to review the decision and consider all options that will protect SB 9 as a state law. Bonta said the law has helped provide affordable housing for residents in California.

“Our statewide housing shortage and affordability crisis requires collaboration, innovation, and a good faith effort by local governments to increase the housing supply,” Bonta said.

“SB9 is an important tool in this effort, and we’re going to make sure homeowners have the opportunity to utilize it,” he said.

Charter cities remain adamant that the state should refrain from making land-use decisions on their behalf. In the lawsuit, city representatives argued that SB 9 eliminates local authority to create single-family zoning districts and approve housing developments.

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Funds for Down Payments and Credit Repair Given to Black First Time Homebuyers

The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) won a $10,000 fair housing settlement last November against a property management company, CIM Group LP, a global real estate company headquartered in Los Angeles, and property owner, RACR Sora, LLC, for implementing a blanket ban on renting to tenants with criminal histories at Sora Apartments in Inglewood. Three months earlier, the department, which enforces California’s civil rights laws, won another $20,000 civil rights settlement against a Lemon Grove property manager, who had targeted a Black tenant with a series of racist actions and threats of violence.

Published

4 days ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

By McKenzie Jackson, California Black Media

Three months earlier, the department, which enforces California’s civil rights laws, won another $20,000 civil rights settlement against a Lemon Grove property manager, who had targeted a Black tenant with a series of racist actions and threats of violence.

CRD Director Kevin Kish said the department investigates cases of apparent racial bias in housing and sometimes more subtle acts of prejudice like nuisance-free or crime-free housing policies or holding tenants to different standards based on their race.

Kish said, “People will get evicted if they call the police. This can negatively impact victims of domestic violence. We also see these no-crime ordinances, or no-crime policies, used in racially discriminatory ways. If there is some kind of incident, and the police are called and it involves a Black family, then they get evicted, but other folks aren’t necessarily evicted.”

On April 11,1968, a week after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, President Lydon B. Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, color, religion, and nationality.

Kish noted that William Byron Rumford, the first Black California State Assemblymember, who represented Berkley and Oakland, spearheaded the passing of the Rumford Act in 1963. That law sought to end discriminatory housing practices in the Golden State, five years before the Fair Housing Act became law.
Real estate agent and housing advocate Ashley Garner is the director of the CLTRE Keeper Home Ownership program. That organization gave 25 Black, indigenous, and people of color $17,500 each in down payment and credit repair support to purchase a home in Oak Park, a traditionally Black neighborhood in Sacramento, last fall. CLTRE obtained a $500,000 grant from the city of Sacramento to award the funds to the residents after they completed an eight-week homeownership program.

In 2021, the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) noted that around four in 10 Black California families owned homes, which trails that of White, Asian-American and Latinos.
According to Forbes, the median price for a home in California is over $500,000, which is double the cost of a home in the rest of the country.

Black lawmakers recently introduced their Reparations Priority Bill Package that includes support for Black first-time homebuyers, homeowners’ mortgage assistance and property tax relief for neighborhoods restricted by historic redlining.

California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) spokesperson Eric Johnson said CalHFA helps prospective low-income and moderate-income Californians purchase homes by offering down payment and closing cost aid. “There are lots of people who have steady jobs, good credit scores, constant income, but they haven’t been able to save up the money that traditional banks need or want to see for a down payment,” Johnson stated. “We help those folks out. We give a loan for the down payment to get them over that hurdle.”
CRD and the Department of Real Estate hosted “Fair Housing Protections for People with Criminal Histories” Zoom call on April 10.

On April 25, CRD will also hold Zoom seminars focused on advocating for fair housing for people with disabilities.