Trusteeship - May/June 2020 - 45

FOCUS ON THE PRESIDENCY

How Do We Meet Our Mission During a Pandemic?
How does a campus respond when experiencing a new reality?

BY MARY CULLINAN
N 1989 , when I was a faculty member

at California State University-East Bay,
the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the
Bay Area during the World Series and
upended campus operations. In 2005, when
I was the provost at Stephen F. Austin State
University, Hurricane Katrina pounded
our campus, downed thousands of trees,
and left thousands of students, faculty, and
staff without electricity or supplies. In 2008,
when I was the president of Southern Oregon University, a major recession hit the
country and devastated university resources.
Campuses plan for emergencies. We
create crisis management teams. We organize tabletop exercises and drills. We create
communication plans and emergency notification protocols.
However, in the last few months, we've
been facing a situation that differs in scale
and type from past crises. Across the state
and around the country, universities as
well as businesses, families, and individuals
face a new reality, a new normal. We're all
learning what a pandemic is, what terms
such as social distancing and sheltering in
place really mean.
At Eastern Washington University,
located in the state that started as the epicenter of the crisis, we began urgent preparations in January.
First, I'm grateful that Eastern has
long had an emergency response team
and comprehensive emergency protocols. Coordinating with local emergency
teams throughout the region, we routinely
model emergencies ranging from fires and
floods to flu epidemics. That preparation
helped us significantly in getting ahead of
COVID-19 when we first glimpsed it.
Second, we have clear priorities. We're
committed to the safety and health of our
students, faculty, and staff. And we under-

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stand our mission: to support our students
on a path to a degree and, as a public
regional university, to serve the needs of
our communities. Our priorities and mission clarify and guide decision making.
Third, we understand that constant
communication is urgent as situations
change. Will we delay opening spring
term? Will we put all our classes online?
What about labs and internships? How will
students' financial aid be affected? What
about students on the G.I. bill? Do students
have access to technology for taking classes
online? How will we handle residence halls
and dining? Will we lock down our buildings? What about childcare? Recreational
facilities? Study abroad? Professional travel?
Will the library remain open? How much
campus work can be handled from home?
Our phones began ringing constantly.
Our emails were flooded. Social media
platforms were hot with rumors and
misinformation.
To serve as the communication center
for the university and external constituencies, we established a coronavirus website
with resources for employees, students,
future students, and families as well as our
board of trustees and campus advisory
groups. We used texts and social media to
push out information. I began writing daily
to campus constituencies with updates and
information, and I worked with faculty and
staff to organize virtual informational panels and town hall meetings.
I've never seen a campus work together
so quickly or with such decisiveness.
At this writing, our governor has not
directed the university to close. However,
we are all working from home as much as
possible. And we've made hard decisions:
we cancelled spring events and extended the
start of spring term; we discontinued face-

to-face classes, labs, internships, and practica. We offered resources to faculty as they
learn new technologies and put their courses
online. We set up a fund for students who
need laptops to take courses remotely.
We created ways to offer remote or
online academic advising, mental health
support, and other student services. We
closed some residence halls and figured
out how to provide shelter and food for
those students who have no safe place to
go during this terrifying time. We canceled
athletic practices and spring competitions.
We figured out how to recruit students
without face-to-face visits. We changed
admission dates and procedures. We're
rethinking grading options. We've temporarily frozen most faculty and staff searches.
As of this writing, of course, we have no
idea how the pandemic will proceed. We
haven't yet cancelled June commencement
ceremonies. We don't know what decisions
will be made in coming weeks or how
profoundly and even tragically our Eastern
community and our region will be affected.
We know that our campuses, our families,
our economies are being transformed in
large and small ways. We know this is a time
for us to think creatively, to be flexible, to
realize that things we thought were always
going to be the same are now changing.
And, even as we struggle to adapt, we
know this is a time to support each other.
This is a time to ask, "How can I help?"
That question frames the ways in which
we're working to meet our mission and
goals during this tumultuous time.
We support our students. We serve our
communities.
Mary Cullinan, PhD, is the president
of Eastern Washington University.
Email: president@ewu.edu.

MAY. JUN. 2020 TRUSTEESHIP 45

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