Public Service: An Added Dimension, Fairbanks Flood 1967
This story about the university's important role in Fairbanks' 1967 flood appeared in July-August 1967 issue of Now in the North.
As a public institution supported by taxpayers' dollars, the University of Alaska— like all state universities—is keenly aware of its public service role and responsibilities. In mid-August of 1967 the university added a new dimension to its public service role by serving as a flood evacuation center for more than 7,000 residents who had been forced to flee their homes by the rising waters of the Chena River. That the campus, situated on high ground, did indeed become an evacuation center and that it operated this way, for more than two weeks is a story of many members of the university community automatically doing what they knew must be done.