Amid rising scrutiny of the value of a college education, it is becoming harder for universities to hide poor teaching behind great research. The quality of the learning experience remains the most valuable asset our universities have. To remain relevant, universities will need to reinvent digital learning environments so that they expand and complement, but do not replace, student-teacher and student-student relationships.

When I was a college student in the early seventies, I received a Fulbright scholarship to study cello and musicology in Germany. Although my parents were not particularly pleased that I was going abroad for an entire year, I found the experience of being separated from my family, friends, and culture in a foreign country to be transformative. In addition to learning how to be alone without feeling lonely, I also developed a different, more global mindset as a Black man.