The COVID-19 pandemic has upended all aspects of life and caused tumult in higher education. Leaders have had to adjust…and then adjust again. The past two years have been one crisis decision after another. It has been a necessary, but exhausting process. In a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Cate Denial, Clarissa Sorensen-Unruh, and Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt argue that it’s vital that higher education take time to reflect and regroup. They write:
“The pandemic is not a blip, nor should we treat it as such. We are living through an era that demands we rethink our approach to higher education on every level, creating a more humane and flexible system in its place.
The promise of higher education lies in crafting a space in which all of us — administrators, faculty and staff members, and students — nurture and encourage thinking and growth. Yet we have run so frenetically toward the perceived end of the pandemic that few people have had the chance to think and assess the seismic shifts taking place and the rifts and inequities the pandemic has laid bare.”
