Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5248128

BY AARON BARLOW

“All of my professors are talking about this,” commented the student, “but we’ve heard nothing from the administration.” Across the country, classroom teachers are hearing similar words as they prepare with their students for possible shut-downs sparked by COVID-19 (coronavirus) fears.

We’re all doing what we can—which is a lot—with the limited information we have—for our administrations, for the most part, are providing limited support and information and have cut us off from the decision-making.

Most of us on American faculties, fortunately, have at least some experience with online education by this point. Though we know it is second-best compared to in-person instruction, it has a place and we have learned to go there when it is appropriate.  Right now, we are preparing the digital tools we might need in a closure of our physical spaces, reminding our students about email protocols (putting class and section numbers in subject lines, etc.) and making sure all of them are able to access class websites from home. We are also teaching them how to use WordPress, Blogger and other sites if Blackboard (or another such service) is overwhelmed or campus servers cannot handle the traffic on locally housed programs (one of the excuses, one of the few things we do hear from administrators, is that we can’t rely on online tools in a shut-down for they will crash from overuse). We’re setting up protocols for Google Docs, Dropbox and more, and are showing our students how to access class material there. Some of us are preparing to use YouTube or Facebook or Skype or any of the other possibilities out there if college resources fail us. We are taking advantage of the texting students are already doing, creating networks and groups among students to facilitate their discussions. We are quietly exploring alternatives for students who lack computers at home. We are doing even more, making sure students understand how assignments might be changed and how other things related to our courses would be different if the physical campus closes.

There’s a limit to what we can do, though. There’s a wall we cannot penetrate. The administrative castle’s drawbridges are already up, doors closed and bolted. Only the most enlightened and prudent of our administrations have made public any plans they have or might be considering for closure. Many, unfortunately, have even blocked faculty from discussions on how to best respond to COVID-19. As a result, we on the faculty don’t know what the ground rules might be in the event of a closure and have not had the opportunity to contribute to their development.

If campuses close, is learning supposed to stop, to be made up later? Or are students going to be expected to work from home? What’s it going to be?

Only on a few campuses are faculty involved in developing answers to these questions. On most, even our inquiries to our administrations are shunted aside or ignored.

Which is odd, for we are the ones who will bear the brunt of college action on COVID-19, no matter what the decisions might be. We and the students.

Faculty, even in the face of stalling and stalled administrations, are still trying to take responsibility, acting to prepare response to potential situations as best we can. But faculty are no longer trusted by administrations, who believe, it seems, that their decision-making power gives them the knowledge to make the best determinations for all.

Administrators, we are being shown once more, have bought into the elitist conceit that those at the top are there because of superior knowledge and grasp of situations–so, have no need for consultation, let alone participation in shared governance with those below.

Fortunately, faculty are professional and don’t simply wait to be told what to do. We are not panicking (we know our schools may never need to close) but we are making sure we are prepared—even when our administrators keep us in the dark.

What we are seeing in this darkness, right now, is the failure of the top-down mindset that has come to dominate American culture.

Let’s hope that we, the ones really doing the work (and I don’t just mean college and university faculties), can save us from those who talk about the doing but aren’t involved in the doing themselves.

In the meantime, we are all doing what we can–even though we expect never to have to use the plans we are making.