St. George's medical students are completing work at the US locations on December 23rd and will return to the campus in Grenada on January 10th. There have been persistent erroneous reports that SGU students will be going to a new medical school in Jamaica purportedly because Hurricane Ivan destroyed the campus. This is untrue, and the persistence of these rumors smacks of maliciousness. The campus, which suffered roof tile and water damage, remained structurally intact and, in fact, never closed; over 300 undergraduate and graduate students have been studying on the campus since September 28. The over 1,300 medical and veterinary students who were relocated in five US locations are returning on January 10th.

This is a press release distributed by SGU last week throughout the Caribbean:

Relocated Students to Return in January with Entering Classes
St. George’s University Announces Classes Resume on Grenada Campus
Officials from St. George’s University, headquartered in Grenada, West Indies, today announced that all classes will resume on its main campus in January 2005, completing its process of recovery from Hurricane Ivan.

“Ivan did its worst, but just like our neighbors in Grenada and elsewhere in the Caribbean, we were determined to recover quickly and we have,” said Charles R. ******, Chancellor of St. George’s.

Dr. ****** stated that the University temporarily relocated 1300 medical and veterinary students to affiliated institutions in the United States to lessen any strain on Grenada’s resources in the immediate post-Ivan period. “Classes for 300 graduate and undergraduate students, in session now on campus, were suspended for three weeks after the hurricane and resumed on September 28th,” said Dr. ******. “Now, it is time to return our campus to its normal state of vibrant activity with its full student student body and faculty.”

During the post-Ivan recovery period, St. George’s kept all of its full-time employees and also opened its campus to house utility and other relief volunteers as well as security personnel from neighboring countries who arrived to assist the battered island.

Along with its sister institute, The Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation, St. George’s mounted a dedicated relief effort aimed at providing medical supplies and building materials to repair Grenadian homes.

Chancellor ****** stated that the January entering classes for all University schools continued the pattern of increasing enrollment, even though the selection process for its entering students continues to be extremely competitive.


Referring to recent press reports on creation of a new medical school in Jamaica it was claimed that it may recruit students from St. George’s because of damage done by the Hurricane, Chancellor ****** stated, “Those statements are patently untrue, and in fact reprehensible. Opportunistic and parasitic actions such as these are a disservice to all the efforts of the Grenadian people and the University personnel who are part of the reconstruction efforts.”

When asked about the long-term viability of St. George’s University in its Grenada location, Chancellor ****** said that the administration remains committed to its mission in the Caribbean and that, paraphrasing Mark Twain, “Reports of our demise are greatly exaggerated.”

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Margaret A. Lambert
Dean of Enrolment Planning/University Registrar