COVID-19: Is It Academic Armageddon?

By RICHARD K. VEDDER

First let me relate how the last week has had a revolutionary impact at my rather typical school, Ohio University.

A couple weeks ago, the faculty at my university were furious at potential significant budget and staffing reductions resulting from declining enrollments and rumors that non-instructional/research units were only going to be lightly affected. To add to the intrigue and drama, the provost, ostensibly the university’s second-highest-ranked individual, was eased out of his job with almost no notice.

Fast forward to now. Traditional classes have been canceled for the rest of the year and the faculty have been forced to move without any preparation to online instruction. Students have been told they are only to return to campus from spring break to retrieve their possessions. They were told they will see some rebates on their room and board fees, but how much is not yet determined. This is happening all over the country, from Harvard in the East to Stanford in the West. At the University of Texas, the first COVID-19 positive test came not from a student but from the wife of the president of the university. At the national level, President Trump has already announced sharp reductions in interest charges on student loans (many held by individuals long out of school).

Universities struggle with change. They lack information often on key metrics. How much are students learning? Which majors are most productive for society? Are the marginal benefits of the fourth year of undergraduate training so low that we should move to three-year bachelor’s degrees? Moreover, the incentive structure does not favor big change. Highly successful private business entrepreneurs and employees get huge financial rewards, and unsuccessful ones often lose their jobs. That seldom happens in higher ed. Also, there is a resistance to innovation—why learn to teach online when I enjoy face-to-face student interaction, and no one is forcing me to change?

Adding to the problem are enormous fixed costs in higher education. A large number of employees have legally enforceable lifetime employment contracts. A campus Edifice Complex and over-exuberant expectations of growth have led to significant indebtedness at some schools.

Right now, the short and intermediate-term impact on the current health crisis seems extremely negative. Orderly learning is disrupted, budgets are thrown out of whack, admissions projections for next fall become murky: will kids gone from campus for prolonged periods doing online learning bother to return? Schools on the margin fiscally might even be pushed into closing, a big and somewhat perverse dose of what the late Clayton Christensen called “disruptive innovation.”

The residential schools are perhaps hardest hit. They run massive food and lodging operations in addition to delivering educational services. Will kids sent home now, perhaps in their freshman or sophomore years, return next fall? Parents might say, “we don’t want you living in a dormitory with a strange kid and possibly contracting a disease. We want you home.” Students might lose some of their attachment to their new community of friends in fraternities, and in activities like sports or band, etc.

Yet, remember, this is America, for heaven sakes! We excel in conquering adversity, from the time George Washington and his motley band of citizen soldiers persevered at Valley Forge, to attacks on the World Trade Center early in this century. How did universities survive World War II? Enrollments dropped dramatically nationally. Universities downsized, and used their facilities to aid and train soldiers. That lasted for years. Presumably this current health threat will be shorter-lived. Old ways can change: as Rahm Emmanuel said, “Never let a serious crisis go to waste.” Force innovation: online replacement of class instruction is obvious, but as reader Dr. Douglas Oliver of the University of Toledo has suggested, go further. For example, have residential universities sell dorms, pay off related indebtedness, use surplus cash to get through the current crisis, but be barred from getting back into a business they don’t belong in, namely housing students.

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University of Arizona Students Say Finishing Courses Online Is “Expecting Too Much”

An online petition demanding that the University of Arizona end spring classes has garnered more than 8,800 signatures from students.

The university had already announced a delayed start of spring classes and moved as many as possible online out of concern for students’ health. However, the UA online petition objected, “This is not an effective solution in this time of crisis.”

Maritza Almanza, a sophomore studying psychology according to Campus Reform, started the petition, which states:

We, the students of the University of Arizona, need all classes for the Spring 2020 semester to be cancelled by Saturday, March 21st. We need an optional pass/fail system* implemented for all Spring 2020 classes, and for every student to be given a passing grade for every class.... Although online classes help slow the spread of the virus, they still require intellectual and sometimes emotional labor.

This labor should not be the focus of students right now. They should be self-isolating and focusing on their health, so they don’t get the virus. It’s unreasonable to expect students to still be productive in a time of crisis.... Students should be planning how to survive the virus and quarantine themselves, not how they’re going to pass their classes.

The petition was updated because not every student wanted a pass/fail grade. Still, it concluded on a defiant note:

We need all classes to end, all students to pass, and all students to be reimbursed. Willfully, The Students of the University of Arizona

Perhaps this kind of petition isn’t surprising in the entitlement era of “free” college for all. But it’s a real missed opportunity to advocate for postsecondary reforms that would outlive the COVID-19 outbreak—including moving more courses online, which could help make college courses more affordable and accessible for a greater number of undergraduates.

There are several other sensible reforms as well.

Independent Institute Senior Fellow Richard Vedder, author of Restoring the Promise: Higher Education in America, recently argued that higher education’s high fixed costs could spell “academic Armageddon” for many universities coping with the COVID-19 outbreak:

A large number of employees have legally enforceable lifetime employment contracts. A campus Edifice Complex and over-exuberant expectations of growth have led to significant indebtedness at some schools.... The residential schools are perhaps hardest hit. They run massive food and lodging operations in addition to delivering educational services.

While many postsecondary institutions struggle with innovation and change, Vedder rightly notes:

Yet, remember, this is America, for heaven sakes! We excel in conquering adversity.... How did universities survive World War II? Enrollments dropped dramatically nationally. Universities downsized, and used their facilities to aid and train soldiers. That lasted for years. Presumably this current health threat will be shorter-lived.... Old ways can change...online replacement of class instruction is obvious, but ... go further. For example, have residential universities sell dorms, pay off related indebtedness, use surplus cash to get through the current crisis, but be barred from getting back into a business they don’t belong in, namely housing students.

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Australian Islamic school shortchanges its teachers

Members of the Independent Education Union NSW/ACT Branch in the Islamic School of Canberra have today won the right to take industrial action, as long running enterprise agreement negotiations continue to stall.

The IEU has been calling for school management to pay salaries and conditions in line with those received by teachers in other schools in the ACT and other Islamic schools in NSW.

The union has been in negotiations with the School Board for a new enterprise agreement since 2016, after the previous agreement expired in 2013. The school was sold in 2018 by the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils to Islamic Practice and Dawah Circle Inc.

Initial discussions with the new school management were cordial, but negotiations stalled at the end of 2019 when the employer applied to terminate the enterprise agreement. The IEU notified a dispute to the Fair Work Commission about the school’s failure to bargain in good faith and applied for a Protected Action Ballot Order on behalf of its members.

“Staff employed at the school are an extremely dedicated group of employees who have stuck it out for their students during a very difficult period,” said IEU organiser Lyn Caton.

The teachers have today confirmed their concern and dissatisfaction by returning unanimous support for taking industrial action.

IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Mark Northam says he has “nothing but praise for the members at the Islamic School of Canberra, who have collectively indicated their desire to achieve parity with like schools.”

“Members at this school have the full support of the union in their ongoing struggle to achieve fair wages and conditions.”

Valuing teachers and support staff is a responsibility of all school employers.

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