Campus Challenges and Strategic Priorities in a Time of Change

The pandemic has challenged a number of stubborn assumptions about higher education—e.g., that change is slow, that faculty can’t adapt, that student learning can be neatly separated from students’ everyday lives, or that all students have the same opportunities to succeed. Based on a survey administered in the fall of 2020, this report presents findings during a historic period as campuses managed the uncertainties of a global health pandemic and reacted to calls for social justice spurred by the murder of George Floyd and police violence against African Americans. This report paints a picture of how campus challenges and strategic priorities persist in ways we have come to expect as “business as usual,” but also how bubbles of normalcy can burst under the force of external pressure.