Presidential Opinion

Suzanne Davis, President, Greenville University writes: College presidency today is not an assignment for the faint of heart. However, by doing the right thing at the right time with the right motives and people, it can be rewarding. To weather the pandemic and eventually thrive in the storm, I found it imperative to increase the institution's resilience and capacity for change. Here are a few other recommendations from what I have learned. 

William Craft, president of Concordia College (MN), writes: It is time to help Americans seize that opportunity again. Fearful of debt, unfamiliar with Pell, fewer low-income people are applying to college. Since COVID swept over us, enrollment across American higher education has fallen by more than one million students. And with that drop, America’s public high school students in the class of 2021 left $3.75 billion in Pell Grants unused. In Minnesota alone, Pell recipients fell by 11% from 2019 to 2021.

Marvin Krislov, president of Pace University (NY), writes: Last semester, for the first time, a number of my students weren't turning in their work. And it became clear that their struggle wasn't about the class but rather about everything going on around them. It brought home to me the tremendous mental health challenges our students are now confronting — and how important it is to be understanding about those challenges.

Mary Dana Hinton, president of Hollins University (VA), writes: For nearly a decade, we have been bracing ourselves as we approach a demographic cliff in the next five years, beyond which lies the specter of declining enrollments and serious budget shortfalls. In the meantime, our current student bodies, from more diverse backgrounds than in the past and with shifting characteristics, have rightly demanded that we provide more support services on campus, and those services have significant costs attached.

John J. Petillo, president of Sacred Heart University (CT), writes: As 2021 nears its tumultuous end and the fall semester wraps up, I cannot help but wonder what chaos and new challenges our students will return to in 2022, beyond the academic trials they face and continuing adjustments to young adulthood. I ponder how well-informed they will be about the world around them and how they will face the significant dangers from within our borders, including the rise of fascist ideologies, racism and demagoguery, the politicizing of religion and media, intense polarization, the decay of liberties and the relentless attacks on truth and our democratic principles. If this year was any indication, we, as educational leaders, might not deserve a good grade for how well we have prepared our charges for the evolving social and political infrastructures.