Leading During Multiple ‘Fires’
Preview:
For college and university leaders new to their roles, this past year has been a trial by fire: a global pandemic that required an immediate switch to remote instruction, a new academic year with unprecedented public-health constraints, sudden budget stresses brought on by a COVID-triggered recession; and huge shifts in enrollment patterns, especially for international students. In addition to these issues, our country is engaged in a reckoning around racial justice and anti-Blackness from which no institution is exempt. It is uncertain exactly what long-term effects those challenges will have on higher education, but what is clear is that the post-pandemic university will look different from the one that existed previously.
Originally published: November 2, 2020
Author: Cynthia Larive
Position: Chancellor
Institution: University of California Santa Cruz
Published by: Inside Higher Ed