“…During a global
pandemic that has killed more than 120,000 people and counting in the United
States alone, what is the responsibility of higher education institutions? The
answer I would like to see from college leaders is that we have a duty more
profound than institutional budgets or student preferences.
The Why Question
“So far, the vast
majority of material I have read has focused on how colleges plan to resume
in-person instruction. They have discussed enhanced cleaning protocol,
large-scale testing and tracing aspirations, efforts to enforce physical distancing among students, no-touch doors and upgraded ventilation with ultraviolet lighting to kill
bacteria, mandatory mask-wearing inside and outside the classroom,
and—my personal favorite—the installation of plexiglass to separate professors and students.
As time goes on, I can’t tell if I’m reading about higher education or
hospitals.
“What’s often
missing is an explanation of why bringing people back to campus is the right
approach. Answering this question gets at an institution’s rationale, not just
procedures, for reopening. A rationale connects a college’s plan to its
mission—the reasons it exists and the causes and communities it serves. It
reveals how an institution understands its responsibility to society in a time
of global crisis and tragedy.
“So far, the why
question seems harder for many institutions and their leaders to forthrightly
answer, yet it is vitally important. Even when rationales are not missing
altogether from colleges’ stated fall plans, I find many of them severely
lacking.
“For example,
Mitch Daniels, the president of Purdue University, unambiguously stated that his institution’s plan to bring
people back on campus is ‘plainly the best option from both a scientific and
stewardship standpoint.’ His rationale was that students—and he seems to mean
traditional-aged students—are less likely to die and ‘overwhelmingly’ want to
come back to campus. According to Daniels, the university’s responsibility is
to oblige. To not serve students if they are less likely to get seriously ill
would be a breach of duty.
“The University
of Notre Dame’s president, John Jenkins, also focused on students and their future contributions. He
suggested that failing to bring students back deprives future generations of
leadership and science. Educating young people is the moral thing to do and
worth the risk, he says, even while acknowledging the only way to truly
prioritize health and safety is waiting until there is a vaccine before
bringing people back on campus.
“Presidents have
also shared their views through anonymous surveys, highlighting
worries about hitting enrollment targets or managing revenue losses. There is
an unmistakable sense that they see their responsibility mainly in
institutional terms: We must resume in-person instruction to ensure the
financial viability of the college or university. Protecting institutions’
budgets is apparently also worth the risk.
Smoke and Mirrors
“Rationales like
these have gaping holes. Some problems are obvious, like being silent on the
health and safety of faculty, staff, students and community members who aren’t
aged 18 to 25. The disregard for people working on and near campuses recalls
practices at an Amazon warehouse or meat-packing plant, where the expectation
is that workers must show up in the interests of the organization and consumer.
“The rationales
I’ve seen are problematic for other reasons, too. First, they show little
concern for slowing or stopping the spread of COVID-19. In fact, college
leaders seem to assume the disease will spread and hope they can manage it
through cell phone apps and residence hall quarantines.
“Second, they
demonstrate a disregard for serving the public good. I haven’t read a single
announcement or plan that anchors an institution’s decision making in shared
community interests. Few presidents are willing to say that what the public
needs right now is to live in a society free of a deadly virus, and that it is
the responsibility of higher education to contribute to that effort by keeping
people off campuses that were often specifically designed to foster physical
proximity.
“Third, the
rationales I’ve seen don’t seriously contend with the differential effects of
the pandemic by race and income. Racism means that people of color are more exposed and less protected when
it comes to the virus. When a president says returning to campus is worth the
risk, who is bearing the burden of that risk-taking?
“Finally, the
plans I’ve seen have a strained relationship with truth and science. In many
states, new virus cases and hospitalizations are rising, with clusters in
nursing homes and daycare centers. Yet presidents continue to announce that it
is safe for students to return to residence halls.
“Many plans rest
on assumptions about student behavior that one researcher has called a ‘fantasy.’ Plans don’t explain how
institutions will source or afford testing programs. Plans don’t always require
that people on campus wear a mask, and they don’t suggest institutions will
provide masks. Plans rarely state the threshold for cases or hospitalizations
after which the campus will close. In the words of Michael Sorrell, president
of Paul Quinn College, many institutions are ‘deluding themselves.’
A Path Forward
“It’s true that
institutions and leaders are in a tough spot. In some cases, they are fighting
for survival after losing revenue, covering rising costs and facing possible
enrollment declines. Deciding what to do in the fall would be enormously easier
if institutions could expect help from the federal government. They should more
vocally push for this assistance. With or without federal support, what I
propose is that presidents provide a forthright explanation for their plans. I
want to know both the how and the why. I would rather hear a president give an
honest, potentially damaging rationale (e.g., we need the money) than one that
sugarcoats hard truths, or none at all.
“Presidents
shouldn’t center the preferences of traditional-aged students, but rather
account for the many groups that make college happen, including older people,
people with disabilities and higher health risks, and people who do not have
adequate health insurance.
“Presidents
should show they are thinking about higher education’s responsibility to the
public good. They should articulate how their plans contribute to the fight
against the spread of COVID-19 and how they are responsive to the
disproportionate toll the virus takes on Black, Indigenous, and Latinx
communities.
“Katherine
Newman, president of the University of Massachusetts Boston, provided an
example that other presidents could follow by announcing that the institution would continue to be primarily online in
the fall. Explaining this decision, she noted that that Black and Latinx ‘populations
have borne a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality in the
pandemic, and many students live in multi-generational minority households
where exposure to the virus would be particularly problematic.’
“Colleges have a
responsibility to pursue truth and encourage others to do the same. For
presidents to sidestep the realities of student life and project confidence in
the face of mounting evidence their plans won’t work represents an abdication
of this duty. It does a disservice to the credibility of higher education as a
social institution to not face hard truths, prioritize expertise and science,
and actively fight the spread of a deadly virus.
“At the end of
the day, I’m an advocate for higher education. I work in higher education,
teach about higher education, study higher education and prepare future higher
education leaders. But my confidence in higher education erodes each day that
passes without leaders telling us why it is necessary to return to campus when
large numbers of people continue to get sick and die. We have a responsibility
to pursue transparency, truth and equity for the public good. There is still
time to fulfill this essential duty, but with just a few months until the start
of fall semester on many campuses, the clock is ticking” (EdSurge).
Kevin
R. McClure is an associate professor of higher education at the University of
North Carolina at Wilmington. He is an expert on higher education finance,
management and leadership.
From John Dillon:
ReplyDeleteHello, Glen,
Every educator with whom I talk and write in the southland describes the same scenario for the fall as presented by their administration(s): a possible division of the student population with half on one day, the other half on the next in order to create safe distances. No mention of doubling the days for loss of classroom time, etc. The next is half module while the other half are taught remotely one day, then a switch to the other half. Or, possibly a return to classes with some built-in critical changeovers if it proves dangerous. Or maybe a remote teaching beginning for awhile until they watch what happens in other districts.
In short, there is no plan that seems adequate at this point and, with no direction expected from any real federal or state leadership, it is likely to be a possible amalgam of all these and more.
When William Edwards Denning was traveling through America, researching education, he often opened his lectures to educators with a question: What class do children and teenagers invariably call their best or favorite classroom? All teachers jumped in yelling their own discipline as well as gyms or other activities like art, etc. The answer was lunch. It was there kids explained, they could be close to and touch what meant most to them: their friends.
Nothing’s changed. Except for COVID 19.
John