Meeting the Moment: Accelerating the Disruption of Higher-Education

GW President Thomas LeBlanc and other college leaders discussed the resilience of higher-education through the pandemic during the 23rd annual Milken Institute Global Conference.

October 19, 2020

Milken Global Conference 2020

From left: Jeffrey Selingo, Carol Christ, Michael Crow, Thomas LeBlanc and Michael Sorrell spoke Wednesday on a panel at the Milken Institute Global Conference about disruptions to higher-education due to COVID-19.

By Tatyana Hopkins

The COVID-19 pandemic aimed at the heart of some of the implicit assumptions around higher education, said George Washington University President Thomas LeBlanc.

“We assume we can travel, and we assume we can convene,” he said. “We also assume that we could take advantage of our location as living laboratories for the work we do at universities.”

Noting that GW’s location in the nation’s capital just blocks from the White House has been a fundamental part of the university’s identity and the foundation of #OnlyAtGW moments, Dr. LeBlanc said not being able to have students on campus to engage with Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court, the State Department and other national institutions as they have for decades has raised some interesting questions about the future of higher education in the face of the pandemic.

Dr. LeBlanc joined a discussion with presidents of other leading universities about how they have transformed the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic into opportunities to reimagine, rethink and redefine higher education as part of the 23rd annual Milken Institute Global Conference.

“It’s caused us to pause and think about how much of our unique advantage is our location and how much is the connections that we have in this location,” he said. “I think it’s as much the latter as the former, and so we’re taking advantage of those connections to recreate those kinds of programs and opportunities [in the virtual setting].”

The panel included Carol Christ, chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley; Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University; and Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College. The Atlantic and The Washington Post contributor Jeffrey Selingo moderated the panel.

The Milken Institute Global Conference is a nine-day event that seeks to create a space for attendees to connect with experts across industries and to engage in critical dialogue about persistent global challenges in health, technology, philanthropy, industry and media.

The theme this year was “Meeting the Moment,” which focused on the dual crises of the global pandemic and social injustice. It featured conversations reflecting on the events reshaping our reality and highlighting the need for intersectional thinking and leadership on topics ranging from breaking the cycle of mass incarceration to retirement security in the face of the pandemic.

Mr. Selingo said during Wednesday’s discussion with university leaders that the higher education ecosystem has become more closely scrutinized than ever before. He said as universities across the country have grappled with questions of reopening safely, maintaining the quality of education on virtual platforms, balancing budgets and prioritizing diversity and inclusion, the public has been increasingly questioning the value of higher education. 

Dr. Sorrell said the higher-education sector has long been criticized for shying away from engaging in leveling the playing field and avoiding the issue of the high cost of college and other systemic barriers to access. While he said the pandemic presents an opportunity for institutions to address structural inequality, they must make a commitment to it.

“My sense is, there are still the majority of institutions holding on to yesterday; they're holding on with the expectation and the hope that things can return to their comfort zone,” he said.  

Dr. Sorrell and Dr. Crow agreed that universities should embrace entrepreneurial thought in their budget models to address inequality and to persist regardless of circumstances in broader society.  

Dr. LeBlanc suggested that more flexibility for students could help universities, whose budget models are highly reliant on tuition, meet the challenges of constantly rising costs of delivering education to a limited homogeneous population of 18- to 22-year-old, full-time residential students.

“You change the academic calendar, you use the summer better, you can get people through the campus in three years, and then they're off campus for a year,” he said. “There are other models from that strict homogeneous residency model that we've long depended on that I think are going to be not only critical to diversifying the revenue streams, but also serving society's needs as we go forward.”

Dr. Christ agreed that while the pandemic has revealed the resilience and creativity of faculty and students, universities should consider long-term ways to deliver instruction and create community in more creative ways.

 “It's my hope that we're going to emerge from this with a sense of place elasticity in which people don't have to be in the same place for all the years of their undergraduate or graduate education and can pursue a somewhat hybrid education,” she said.  

Dr. LeBlanc said regardless of disruptions to higher education, universities should keep in mind that they are part of a community, which they will help recover and work through the tumultuous political climate.

“I think our greatest role is to role model for both the young people and society at large,” he said. “When we convene, whether it's virtual or not, we need to focus on facts and science…  and not allowing shouting and the sorts of things that are happening out in greater society.”