Four days after a tsunami hit 11 countries and left 162,000 people dead, ASU joined in the developing aid effort to help victims.
ASU President Michael Crow sent an e-mail to students, faculty and staff with donation information for three major aid organizations.
A second e-mail sent to the same group urged people to contact Virgil Renzulli, vice president of ASU Public Affairs, if they knew of "any member of the ASU family who has suffered personally because of this disaster -- someone who has lost a family member, is experiencing financial hardship or having difficulty returning to the University."
About 700 ASU students are from the affected area of the world, near the Indian Ocean.
The majority of these students have not been affected, but the few who have are in "dire financial straits," Renzulli said.
The University also decided Friday to sell bracelets through the ASU Bookstore to raise money for a scholarship fund to support student victims and help them cover tuition shortfalls.
The bracelets will be sold for $2. One dollar will pay for the bracelet while the other will go directly to the scholarship fund.
The bracelet design has not been finalized but will resemble the yellow LiveStrong bracelets sold to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research.
The University's assistance to affected students will depend on the overall student response because external money is available only on a "very limited basis," Renzulli said.
"If we knew how much money we had it would be very easy," he said.
Renzulli added that it would be difficult for the University to know how long this kind of assistance will be needed. ASU plans to revisit the aid program as the situation develops.
"We need to get by the first couple of weeks first and then see where we need to be going," he said.
It will take three to four weeks to get the bracelets and make them available for sale.
To generate money quickly for the scholarship fund, the administration hopes to begin selling voucher coupons by the end of the week. The voucher coupon will be redeemable for a bracelet once they go on sale.
Renzulli said the bookstore has sold 6,000 of the Lance Armstrong Foundation bracelets and hopes to sell 50,000 bracelets to support student tsunami victims.
"I think it's fantastic," said Asangani Yapa, a junior in economics and vice president of the Sri Lanka Student Association. "This secondary group of people [students] is affected much like those suffering in the Southeast Asian region. Everybody needs help."
Reach the reporter at elias.arnold@asu.edu.
