I am writing this on March 17, but by the time you read it, the world will have changed. It is changing by the hour. One week ago, the college where I work shut down. It has been a rather chaotic week, to say the least. But, before this crisis morphs into whatever it will become, it is worth recording a couple of observations.
First, the details. I am a professor of economics at Mount Holyoke College. Last Monday (March 9) at 3:45 pm, the college sent out an announcement restricting travel and the size of campus meetings. On Tuesday (March 10) at 5:30 pm, we got another announcement saying that the campus was shutting down. Technically, we didn’t close; the students were told that they needed to leave campus by March 20 and that all courses were now going to be online. Since all of the students live on campus, the eviction notice affected everyone. None of our classes are online, so every course was also affected. This decision obviously raised a large number of logistical questions. On Wednesday (March 11), there was a Faculty Forum in which the President and Senior Staff, looking quite haggard, answered questions about the decision. There has subsequently been a steady stream of announcements covering assorted details.
Since last week, not only have other colleges shut down, but many other types of business and government offices have followed suit. Let me be very clear at the outset: this essay is not an argument about the shutdowns themselves. That is a question which will be discussed for decades. There are, however, two other societal questions about which the experience of the last week at one liberal arts college provides insights.
Interesting read! I have to admit that I am surprised at how slow governments in Europe have acted since the beginning of March given that China had already been battling against the corona-virus for almost 2 months. I was hoping that these valuable lessons learned through China’s experiences would be more closely monitored and studied. On the other hand, I returned the UK in February from China and definitely did not see two things: the speed at which this virus could spread across the globe; and how little governments were willing to learn from other’s mistakes/experiences.
The speed is a manifest of how connected we all are in this world, yet I feel sad that this pandemic might be used by many interest groups against the international spirits that we need dearly and eventually marks the end of globalization that my generation have grown up knowing. When it’s finished the norm will probably be different from what we had before the pandemic.
Hope you and your family stay safe!