COVID - higher education and faith communities

Sorting through the impact of COVID and devising a forward strategy for higher education has largely taken place within individual campuses or state systems, with some professional organizations offering recommendations. Faith communities have also suffered greatly and are looking for ways to pull out of the current tailspin they are experiencing. Two sources of information may help both higher education and faith community leaders - Brookings Institution and the Interfaith Youth Cord.

The Brookings Institution, which conducts research and publishes paper on a variety of topics, has recently focused on the implications of COVID in three brief, and important, articles:

• Coronavirus weakened rule of law
• Conflicts between blue cities and red states
• Adapting workers to a modern economy

These articles offer compelling complications and opportunities for higher education in particular. The fact that the rule of law and democracy in general has weakened is a matter of grave concern for all. Without multi-lateral initiative and willingness of governments to do what is in the best interest of all nations, the big challenges of climate change, wealth inequality, and the rise of authoritarian governments cannot be addressed. At the local U.S.A. level (and perhaps elsewhere), the different priorities of liberal-leaning urban areas and sprawling conservative rural areas is standing in the way of determining mutually beneficial solutions. Assessing the prominence of faith issues on campus is important to identifying how to address students' concerns. Working from an informed perspective will allow for more sophisticated and updated models that empower citizens to act with mutual benefit in mind.

That the employment market has been disrupted is quite the understatement. As mature career workers saw their jobs disappear and new graduates could find no work over the last year, the disruption has become deeply painful. The opportunity for higher education is to see the trends, recenter programs and curricula to respond, and move quickly to serving as an engine of talent and economic prosperity for U.S.A. citizens and the immigrants surging at its borders.

In addition to the Brookings Institution, the Inter-Faith Youth Core has fostered many discussions about how faith groups can help their communities. They recently released research in partnership with PRRI on the faith-based implications of COVID vaccination. The video-conference discussion of the findings explores the implications of the research, concluding that herd immunity in the U.S.A. will be close to impossible to achieve unless faith communities get involved. The problem is most pronounced among protestant evangelic, minoritized Catholic, and other groups that have been influenced by conspiracy theories. These groups have historical and cultural reasons for their hesitation about vaccines that have to be taken seriously. Science-based responses will then have to be offered by the leaders and clergy of faith-based groups in order to persuade members of the positive personal as well as community benefits of full vaccination.

Higher education can play a role by accurately assessing where we are in addressing COVID and in devising ways to move ahead with the likelihood of it being with us for quite some time. Faith groups can build bridges, forge common ground, and advance ideas that embrace both science and faith. Organizations such as Brookings and the Interfaith Youth Core are important sources of external information to guide leaders in their deliberations and action.