MSU Provost Lou Anna Simon remains among the nation’s travelers stranded after all commercial flights were grounded following Tuesday’s terrorist attacks.
The Federal Aviation Administration indefinitely extended the ground stop order Wednesday so additional security measures could be put into place. Airspace was re-opened only to allow diverted planes to continue to their original destinations.
Simon was waiting Wednesday to see when the Orange County, Calif., airport she was scheduled to depart from Tuesday could reopen.
Simon said she has been keeping in contact with her office and spending time with other provosts, who were also stranded after this weekend’s Association of American Universities meeting.
“Only a few of the refugee provosts are left out here,” Simon said in a phone interview. “My staff and all the folks at the university are doing a terrific job at keeping me up to date.”
Simon said provosts from the Midwest and the East Coast were waiting to make alternative travel arrangements. Other provosts decided to drive back or hoped to have a private university plane fly them back. MSU has no such aircraft.
Simon said it has been difficult to be off campus while the university is dealing with the tragedy and confirming the safety of students in the nation’s capital.
“I don’t have the chance to talk to people face-to-face and see how they are doing, but their e-mails reflect the shock, worry, disbelief and anger,” she said.
In addition to her office, Simon said MSU’s Travel Office has been helping her consider different options.
She said she’s unsure when she’ll be able to return and whether she’ll travel by plane or vehicle. Until then, she will continue to wait with other provosts.
“Eating in the dining room was a bit like eating in the residence halls,” she said. “I may be the only one here that regularly eats in the residence halls. I seem to know it a little bit better than my colleague from Duke.”
Bob Banks, assistant provost for academic human resources, said he filled in for Simon at the Executive Committee of Academic Council meeting and spoke on her behalf at a reception Tuesday to welcome new minority faculty and staff.
“I am the point person in the office, but all the staff are doing their best,” he said “She is in e-mail and phone contact regularly. With the miracle of modern technology, things are running reasonably well.”
MSU Controller David Brower oversees the MSU Travel Office, which he said worked Tuesday to ensure no faculty and staff were on any of the affected aircraft.
“I can’t say we have had anything close to this magnitude in terms of logistic problems,” he said. “On an individual-by-individual basis, we worked on getting them home.”
Faculty in the region drove back to MSU and about 40 had their Tuesday travel plans changed or canceled, Brower said.
He said Spartan Travel and Anderson Travel have worked closely with the Travel Office to assist Simon and other faculty members to re-arrange their plans.
Before full air travel is re-established, the FAA will implement new safety precautions, Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta said Wednesday.
The changes include:
