Op-eds like this are the natural results of treating students as customers for ~20 years nytimes.com/2020/04/26/opi…
Even at elite, wealthy institutions the commodification of education has made IHEs desperate to have their students back on campus, regardless of public health, because students = revenue
Of course we need widespread testing, of course we need contact tracing, of course we need better health infrastructure to treat COVID19 in a timely and compassionate manner, we need that EVERYWHERE
As Paxson points out, this crisis will hit some IHEs harder than others because of a failure to #FundOurFuture and see higher ed as a public good. Affordable, quality higher education is in the living memory of most Americans. It has been done and can be again.
This is not the time to give into desperation for student's voucherized financial aid funding. Higher ed needs funding not tied to students, funding that recognizes our contributions to society and the economy (and we don't mean quarterly capitalism)
Plans for reopening higher education cannot require students, faculty, or staff to martyr themselves. In our planning for what happens in the near future, we must keep an eye towards a more distant future in which austerity is not a rule. /end
