
As the pandemic has closed campuses, forcing higher education to reinvent itself, many colleges are also meeting this unprecedented moment with a renewed sense of purpose about their role in the community.
Faculty and staff members, as well as students, are contributing and producing medical equipment, preparing buildings for use as health-care facilities, providing Wi-Fi to local residents, and offering services like public information, small-business support, legal aid, and spiritual counseling. From Bonnie Resinski, the costume designer and wardrobe manager for the Center for Fine Arts at Saint Francis University, in Pennsylvania, who realized she could turn yards of fabric left over from a 1998 production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest into medical masks, to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who are developing a design for a simple, inexpensive emergency ventilator, the sector is responding to what the Tufts University president, Anthony Monaco, has called “a Dunkirk moment for our country.”
It is an extraordinary time of daunting challenges, but also opportunities “to establish our higher-education institutions as pillars of the community,” says Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, president of Michigan’s Oakland University. Public trust in colleges and universities has been declining for years, fueled by rising tuition, concerns about the value of a degree, political and ideological debates, and doubts over whether the system still serves the common good. Making the case for higher education’s role in society means assuming public responsibility in a crisis.
To explore how colleges are contributing to the “war effort” to contain and fight the coronavirus — and mitigate its social and financial effects — The Chronicle collected examples from around the country. Too many people have mobilized on too many fronts for us to recognize them all. Rather, this project gives a sense of the prevailing and novel ways that administrators, faculty and staff members, and students are managing, with great determination and ingenuity, to help.
How is your institution contributing to the “war effort” against the coronavirus? Tell us here.
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News
Reinforce the Front Lines With First Responders
Saint Michael’s Fire and Rescue, run by the Vermont college’s students and alumni, has kept up its 24-hour emergency service. -
News
Expand Access to Wi-Fi
Colleges are expanding access to fast, reliable internet to help out their communities. -
News
Connect the Generations Online
To counter loneliness and support distance learning, students are pairing up with senior citizens and schoolchildren. -
News
Stitch Remnants and Fabric Into Masks
Fashion and theater students and faculty and staff members are sitting down at their sewing machines to whip up masks for hospitals, nursing homes, and other facilities. -
News
Use 3-D Printers to Create Face Shields
Professors are mobilizing colleagues and students to fire up 3-D printers to protect health-care workers. -
News
Donate Personal Protective Equipment
Students and faculty and staff members have headed to every corner of their campuses to collect unused personal protective equipment. -
News
Turn Buildings and Parking Lots Into Covid-19 Testing Sites
To expand access to testing in the local community, campuses are offering up space. -
News
Convert Campus Spaces to Health-Care Facilities
Empty dormitories, gymnasiums, and conference centers stand ready to help hospitals that see their capacity overwhelmed. -
News
Distribute Food and Supplies to the Local Community
Colleges are stepping up to help out the hungry during the crisis. -
News
Provide Legal Aid to Vulnerable Populations
Suffolk University Law School, in Boston, has organized volunteers to help create mobile-friendly legal forms. -
News
Mix and Prepare Hand Sanitizer
The shortage has sent chemists to their labs to help fill demand. -
News
Create Web-Trackers to Pinpoint Community Resources
Maps offer real-time information about business closures and testing. -
News
Redeploy Journalism Students to Support Local News
A journalism class at the University of Missouri has switched gears to find information to serve local readers. -
News
Support Small Businesses With Relief Funding or Rent Abatement
Colleges are offering financial relief for hard-hit small businesses. -
News
Produce Ventilator Designs and Parts
In response to the national shortage of ventilators, universities are collaborating on new designs. -
News
Reinforce the Front Lines With First Responders
Saint Michael’s Fire and Rescue, run by the Vermont college’s students and alumni, has kept up its 24-hour emergency service. -
News
Expand Access to Wi-Fi
Colleges are expanding access to fast, reliable internet to help out their communities. -
News
Connect the Generations Online
To counter loneliness and support distance learning, students are pairing up with senior citizens and schoolchildren. -
News
Stitch Remnants and Fabric Into Masks
Fashion and theater students and faculty and staff members are sitting down at their sewing machines to whip up masks for hospitals, nursing homes, and other facilities. -
News
Use 3-D Printers to Create Face Shields
Professors are mobilizing colleagues and students to fire up 3-D printers to protect health-care workers. -
News
Donate Personal Protective Equipment
Students and faculty and staff members have headed to every corner of their campuses to collect unused personal protective equipment. -
News
Turn Buildings and Parking Lots Into Covid-19 Testing Sites
To expand access to testing in the local community, campuses are offering up space. -
News
Convert Campus Spaces to Health-Care Facilities
Empty dormitories, gymnasiums, and conference centers stand ready to help hospitals that see their capacity overwhelmed. -
News
Distribute Food and Supplies to the Local Community
Colleges are stepping up to help out the hungry during the crisis. -
News
Provide Legal Aid to Vulnerable Populations
Suffolk University Law School, in Boston, has organized volunteers to help create mobile-friendly legal forms. -
News
Mix and Prepare Hand Sanitizer
The shortage has sent chemists to their labs to help fill demand. -
News
Create Web-Trackers to Pinpoint Community Resources
Maps offer real-time information about business closures and testing. -
News
Redeploy Journalism Students to Support Local News
A journalism class at the University of Missouri has switched gears to find information to serve local readers. -
News
Support Small Businesses With Relief Funding or Rent Abatement
Colleges are offering financial relief for hard-hit small businesses. -
News
Produce Ventilator Designs and Parts
In response to the national shortage of ventilators, universities are collaborating on new designs.