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I’ve seen a spate of stories about four-year colleges pivoting at the last minute to online delivery, whether due to outbreaks (UNC) or just common sense (Ithaca College). One, Seton Hall, has already declared that it intends to pivot back to fully on-site in just a few weeks.
As we move from the pivot stories to the pivoting-back stories, I’ll put out a call to my administrative colleagues everywhere: midsemester pivots are a bad idea.
This spring, of course, we had no choice. As chaotic as the abrupt change was, it saved lives. It was clearly the lesser evil.
For the fall, though, the situation is different. We know, going in, about the pandemic. We know from the spring experience just how disruptive a midsemester pivot can be. I was wildly impressed at the ways that folks stepped up and did what needed to be done, but even with abundant goodwill, it was a task.
Without getting overly political, we also know that places around the country that opened up too quickly suffered much worse outbreaks. And we know that low-income students, BIPOC students and students who are parents themselves have been hit even harder than most. Between the pandemic and the economic shock it caused, many of the populations that community colleges serve more than other sectors are especially vulnerable.
For people who are vulnerable, precarious and scared, routine is a lifesaver. Predictability is a virtue. It reads as stability, and it allows them to build arrangements on top of it. If a college decides midsemester that it’s safe to bring classes back to campus, that introduces a whole new set of challenges for students who were barely hanging on as it was. All of a sudden they need reliable transportation and childcare at particular times. Arranging those things is not a trivial matter if you don’t have a reliable car and babysitter. The arrangements they had are suddenly upended. That’s taxing. It saps energy that could have kept them afloat.
Don’t mess with their routines. Routines matter. They’re empowering.
We’ve already made the call that if a class starts online, it will finish online. Students, and faculty, can count on that. Even if we get a miracle vaccine by Halloween, we’re still riding out the semester.
That’s not pessimism, cynicism or laziness. It’s respect. It’s respect for students.
So my plea to my administrative colleagues around the country: if you start online, finish online. A little stability would be a welcome gift.
