Like A 100 Year Flood: Covid and Inclusiveness in Higher Education

This post was written by Jonathan Black.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has challenged colleges and universities globally in a way not seen in recent memory. The complications created by the pandemic touch on every aspect of higher education. While many of these have received extensive coverage, one that has garnered little attention is how the pandemic complicates institutions’ efforts to be inclusive, diverse communities. 

In October, the Chamber’s Managing Partner Anjum Malik curated a panel - Inclusiveness in Higher Education: Lessons from the COVID-19 Experience & Beyond for the 2020 World Learning Summit. Held virtually for the first time this year, the WLS brings together academics, entrepreneurs, and policy makers to discuss higher education trends in the context of globalization and digitalization. 

Anjum recruited a panel of decision-makers from top US universities to share their institutions’ efforts to keep inclusion a priority during the pandemic and discuss lessons from this experience which can be applied over the long term. Panelists included: 

• Prof. Chris Stanton, teaches at the Business School at Harvard University

• Dr. Lourdes Andrade, is the head of Equity and Inclusion, at Stanford

• Prof. Rebecca Brenner, is a Lecturer and Teaching Faculty at the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs. 

• Dr. Jacqueline Wernimont, Distinguished Chair, Digital Humanities and Social Engagement 

Setting the stage for the panel, Anjum framed the discussion like this: 

In terms of the challenges it poses for colleges and universities, Covid 19 is the equivalent of a 100-year flood. But in that challenge there is also an opportunity. We have the potential to reexamine and reinvent the relationship between academia and inclusion, in a way stronger and more beneficial than ever before, a way that will see higher education through the next generation. The post corona world needs to be based on the values we cherish - human rights, inclusion, and equity. The focus of our panel is the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and inclusion in the higher education environment. How has Covid 19 and the lock-down affected inclusion and diversity in higher education?  

The conclusions were fascinating. 

COVID isn’t so much undercutting inclusiveness as highlighting existing inequality. 

The challenges posed by the coronavirus, especially regarding online learning, were not created by the virus. Rather the severe demands of the pandemic shed light on preexisting inequality between communities and individuals. Some students struggle with food insecurity and housing insecurity, to say nothing of something much more mundane like digital inequality. Panelists were familiar with cases of students having to park outside restaurants in order to access WiFi. The pandemic is also hitting students with mental health issues very hard. For many students, college is their safe space, and the pandemic has taken that away from them. 

Assisting students in addressing fundamental insecurities is task #1 in preserving inclusivity 

This is one of the reasons many residential universities have kept some students on campus. While this arrangement creates challenges in terms of social distancing and other health protocols that must be mitigated or overcome, it is much easier to address students' insecurities regarding food, shelter, and digital access in a residential situation. Of course, institutions which are not residential universities do not have that option. 

With an abundance of caution, some institutions sent all students home immediately. With a little reflection, they realized they didn’t always know what kind of situation they were sending students into. Some might not have homes to go to or home situations that were dangerous. International students, a pillar of diversity and many institutions, were another tricky case. Because of the rapidly evolving situation with quarantines, lockdowns, and travel bans, institutions didn’t know what would happen to international students and whether they’d be able to return. For all these regions, most institutions backtracked on at-risk students. 

We’re Looking for Best Practice and Data is Essential 

We’re not even a year into the pandemic, barely a blip in the lifespan of a college or university. Institutions are still grasping for best practice regarding every aspect of the pandemic, and inclusivity is no exception. Despite frustrations the search for best practice is an opportunity to turn programs upside down and inside out looking for new ways to engage students and support inclusivity. 

Sometimes institutions get lucky and discover they already have a source of best practice to tap. The newly appointed dean of Harvard’s Business School led the institution’s transition to using Zoom for online learning. He already had experience with the platform via a course he conducted at HBS and was able to train the rest of the faculty and work with others to develop best practice.

The key to developing best practice will be an evidence-based approach. Fortunately, gathering data about their students is one area where universities excel. 

Communication is Essential 

Communication is an essential tool for supporting inclusivity throughout the pandemic, whether at the faculty level, among students, or in interaction between faculty and students. For faculty, creating opportunities to discuss engagement and pedagogy or workshops to try new ways of doing things are all aspects of best practice. 

When faculty actively work with students and the beginning of the semester to create ground rules for engagement and express what’s important to them, that is a powerful tool for supporting inclusivity. This can even include the technology and apps which will be used to support the course. Students may be confronting a variety of external or internal factors of which the instructor is unaware. Certain programs and products do not function or are not allowed in some areas. Some students may prefer alternatives to video interaction. If these issues remain unknown and unaddressed, they can create anxiety or access challenges for students. 

There Will Be a New Normal, Not a Return to Normal. 

Higher education and remote learning will not go back to what it was before the pandemic. That is why it is all the more important to get the relationship between remote learning and inclusivity right. This includes equity challenges resulting from electronic delivery, though these will in part be offset by the expansion of access to those who previously would not have been able to engage. 

The relocation of education online will lead away from the traditional lecture format and toward an explosion of opportunities to engage with students in different ways. When we think about equity, inclusion, and diverse personalities, not every student engages with a traditional “lecture” format, so this will be another way universities can drive diversity forward.