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The Hechinger Report
It’s time for some frank talk about abrupt college closures
Students — and their options and opportunities — must come first
By Teresa Valerio Parrot & Erin Hennessy
April 7, 2020
As the coronavirus continues to spread globally, U.S. colleges and
universities are navigating decisions about vacating campuses and
moving to online-only instruction. For any institution, temporarily
shutting down the campus, offering room and board refunds, and moving
to virtual classes isn’t an ideal solution, but for those that can
afford to execute it, it seems an appropriate response to ensure the
holistic safety and well-being of students, faculty, staff and
community members, given the pandemic.
But for those campuses financially on the brink, operating on already
tight budgets, the decision may have higher stakes. If they close, are
they going to be able to reopen? Or will coronavirus-related shutdowns
result in an expedited permanent closure?
Though it’s tempting to look at news reports about abrupt college
closures as a disease in higher education, it’s a symptom — a symptom
of some leaders who have moved away from transparency, away from frank
talk, away from responsible decision-making. It’s a natural outcome of
what happens when presidents and boards don’t tackle the toughest
issues facing their institutions, and don’t communicate enough with the
broader institutional community about those issues.
The fallout from coronavirus-driven closings is going to underscore how
shortsighted and harmful this attitude is, and it’s going to force
presidents’ hands with campus constituencies. Closures are going to be
even more shocking because Covid-19 has the potential to wipe out any
semblance of a runway or timeline that institutions assume they have
before presidents and boards are compelled, finally, to make these
critical decisions.
Bottom of Form
Denial and stopgap measures don’t allow for a timeline of a graceful,
responsible exit, and we owe it to our students to do better. There
needs to be a bigger reality check within our industry.
Higher-education leaders need to stop thinking about how a closure
reflects on them personally and whether a closure will be part of their
legacy. They must stop looking at shutting down as a personal failure
that will be career-ending; instead, they need to think about the
central purpose of higher education: educating students. We need
presidents to move from thinking “How can I save my institution?” to
“How can I support our students in completing their education, even if
it’s not here?”
Checks and balances aren’t performing like they should. As industry
groups advocate for a suspension of financial-responsibility metrics
calculated by the U.S. Department of Education, at on-the-brink
institutions, presidents and boards make assumptions about what
processes are underway, prioritize functional relationships and
collegiality over students, and assume that their accreditors will give
them a heads-up when what they really need to think about is closing.
Very little of what’s happening is ideal in higher education, and it’s
leaving students vulnerable.
When we are brought in to assist institutions that are in dire
circumstances, we are asked to write communications that sound as if a
strategy is in place to move the institution forward. It’s a really
difficult place for communicators to be in when important leadership
decisions haven’t been made and leadership is focused on treading water
rather than moving forward.
It’s gut-wrenching when institutions close, a difficult decision and
not what anyone wants or sets as a goal, but it’s an increasing reality
in U.S. higher education. And it can be done gracefully, in a way that
preserves the ability of students to transfer, and of faculty and staff
to transition to new employment.
Presidents and boards need to think about the best interests of their
students, and transparent, honest communications should be central to
that thinking. Decisions on “teach-out” arrangements, transfers and
working within the reality of the circumstances before a campus closes
may sound like a worst-case scenario. But it’s so much worse when
institutions abruptly shut down and students are left without options
or opportunities.
At this point, if a leader isn’t able to have a conversation on campus
about whether the institution can survive an online-only approach
during this coronavirus outbreak, it’s time to ask some deeper
questions about the viability of the institution that have been avoided
until now.
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