A Pandemic’s Paradox

How colleges became major players in the debate to reopen

Little did I know, sitting in my first-year intro to public health course reading “what is public health” on the welcome slide, that three years later I would be beginning my senior year completely online due to a global public health crisis. 

Little did I know that public health would become the determining factor for how our society functions on both an individual and collective level. 

Little did I know that the topics surrounding my collegiate education would quickly become the focal point of our country's conversations, debates and political landscape. 

Little did we all know that on March 11 the coronavirus would be declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

During these past six months, we have all been put to the test physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. We have had to completely rebuild how we move through our day-to-day lives, how we interact with others and how we proceed in this new “contactless” world. 

Some have managed to do it more gracefully than others. Some have lost everything. Some have protested. All have stumbled along the way. Yet, there is one group in particular that—no matter what they do, no matter how hard they try to adapt and no matter how thoughtful they are about re-opening—seems to draw even more criticism, attention and scrutiny from the public. It is as if their very existence is antithetical to preventing the spread of the coronavirus. They are a pandemic’s paradox. They are institutions of higher education. 

If a university decides to offer only online courses, they are criticized for being an insufficient and overpriced form of education. If a university decides to conduct in-person courses, they are criticized for being reckless and harmful to the health and well-being of all in the community. As for hybrid programs, universities across the country have proven this approach to be ineffective: many have had to close down again with cases soaring just weeks after fall semesters began. 

Universities are far from the only organizations that have experienced this phenomenon, but they are one of the most talked about.  

Institutions of higher education are multimillion-dollar businesses with complex leadership structures and competing needs of multiple stakeholders; many are equivalent to the size of small cities. It is clear why they have become major players in this pandemic: decisions made by one administration impact hundreds of thousands of students, faculty, staff, their families and their respective communities. 

The decision to reopen university doors for in-person classes and housing has implications far greater than just for those who attend or work there. This decision risks the lives of family and community members across the entire country. 

All it takes is one college party for a single positive case to multiply into hundreds. All it takes is one student getting sick to spread it to an entire dorm or class. All it takes is one super spreader event to close the school down again. And all it takes is one infected college student to go home to start an entire new hot spot of the virus. Decisions made by these universities about re-opening single-handedly influence whether community spread is flattened or amplified.

Given the impact of their decisions, institutions of higher education must carefully weigh all options during this pandemic. In today's circumstances, their choices have life-or-death consequences. 

Bringing college students back to campus and asking them to social distance is in many ways like giving a dog a squeak toy and asking them to be quiet. It can be done, but it will not in any way be easy or natural. Rather, going to college in a pandemic, if done safely, should and will feel paradoxical.

Though I desperately long for in-person classes, walking through our beautiful campus and engaging with classmates and staff, I am grateful that our university made the hard but right decision to remain fully online. 

In times such as these, we are reminded of what truly matters. At the end of the day, it is not about getting all A’s in class or being the most profitable school. It’s about how we treat others. It’s about people. Santa Clara’s choice to stay fully online is a decision that prioritizes people over profit. It is a decision that I hope we can all learn from and make ourselves.