Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. Well, the world of academia, as
Speaker 1: we've been talking of throughout our broadcast, that of academia
Speaker 1: and higher education definitely changing in the midst of this
Speaker 1: health crisis. So the questions are we've been you know,
Speaker 1: pursuing Jason, is what's going to be the longer term impact.
Speaker 1: Let's bring in Hell and John and she is president
Speaker 1: of Simmons University. She joins us on the phone from Boston.
Speaker 1: President John, and nice to have you here with us.
Speaker 1: You guys have been closed like um, much of academia
Speaker 1: is certainly in the hardest hit areas and cities. UM. Now,
Speaker 1: I think for about a month or so, give us
Speaker 1: a little bit of an update about how you came,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, how things are operating, um, and
Speaker 1: what you see for the outlook like when we get
Speaker 1: on the other side of this. Well, hello, and thanks
Speaker 1: for having me. Happy to do this. Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: say that things are going about as well as anyone
Speaker 1: could possibly imagine they could go under the circumstances. And
Speaker 1: and I say that with recognition that there is great
Speaker 1: disruption and difficulty and challenge all around. I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to be in the least bit pollyannish about this. So UM,
Speaker 1: I would say the fact that we were able to
Speaker 1: pull off within two weeks almost across the entire nation,
Speaker 1: finding an alternative way to deliver on the goals that
Speaker 1: students finish their courses and graduate if they're eligible for graduation,
Speaker 1: is astonishing. And I think we're all just sort of
Speaker 1: living with the with the speed and the change that
Speaker 1: that required. But we're also settling down to this maybe
Speaker 1: business as usual for some time, and so business as
Speaker 1: usual for some time. Let's dig into that if we can,
Speaker 1: President Rondon, because I do feel like that is the
Speaker 1: big question when it comes to education. You know, Carol
Speaker 1: and I have high school juniors. They're sort of looking
Speaker 1: at a very different landscape as they apply to college.
Speaker 1: We have a lot of you know, friends who are
Speaker 1: of college students who have come home to uh you
Speaker 1: basically have like they feel like they're in high school again,
Speaker 1: you know, living their parents house with nowhere to go. Um,
Speaker 1: how do you sort of keeping sort of keep an
Speaker 1: eye on everybody as well as sort of keep in
Speaker 1: touch with them to anticipate and an unanticipated future. I
Speaker 1: guess even looking as as far ahead or or as
Speaker 1: close at hand as the fall, well, maybe maybe I
Speaker 1: should just throw out a couple of things that I
Speaker 1: think are clearly the considerations until the fall, and then
Speaker 1: we can talk about we're staying in touch on that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. So most places have have been extremely
Speaker 1: clear nothing is going on on summer campuses that otherwise
Speaker 1: would have for example, summer programs of any level to
Speaker 1: the extent possible, many many people are moving those online
Speaker 1: because many summer students need those opportunities to fill in
Speaker 1: credits that they're trying to finish before they finish a degree,
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. So there's a certain sense of
Speaker 1: urgency about continuing this level of provision of the education,
Speaker 1: at least through the summertime. The big deal is, of course,
Speaker 1: the go no go decision from what are we able
Speaker 1: to do on September one? In around September one, and
Speaker 1: there are a couple of major considerations here. Nobody wants
Speaker 1: to bring students back if it's not safe, and how
Speaker 1: will we know when it's safe. So everybody is following
Speaker 1: all of the medical information we see every single day
Speaker 1: to try to get up six on this. I would
Speaker 1: say that most of us are going to be in
Speaker 1: the position of having to make a decision about opening
Speaker 1: on September one, no later than July one, But will
Speaker 1: we have the data that we need even then. So
Speaker 1: that's a big, big issue. If we can't open on
Speaker 1: the first, can we open later? Are there alternative ways
Speaker 1: of doing a deferred opening? So a lot of people
Speaker 1: are thinking about that. The last, of course option is
Speaker 1: to have a have a plan ready to go their way.
Speaker 1: So is it possible to offer a high quality virtual
Speaker 1: experience for a semester or a part of a semester
Speaker 1: in the events that we think we can open second
Speaker 1: semester or partially through for a semester. That is a
Speaker 1: very tall order because it's so much bigger than what
Speaker 1: anyone is delivering today. I doubt that very many institutions
Speaker 1: could entertain that option. And what do you do then?
Speaker 1: You know, this is a conversation we had with one
Speaker 1: of our reporters earlier, like what's the financial adjustment? Potentially,
Speaker 1: because part of a big part of you know, going
Speaker 1: to a great institution, a great college, you know, like
Speaker 1: your own, is the experience of being around other students
Speaker 1: from all over the place, and you know, face to
Speaker 1: face with professors and you know teachers. That's a big
Speaker 1: part of it, and it takes the learning to a
Speaker 1: whole other level. You know what financial adjustments might have
Speaker 1: to be made if it's a virtual online class, Well,
Speaker 1: there's no question, and Carol that the cost of the
Speaker 1: education will have to be discounted. There is excuse me,
Speaker 1: there is a different experience if you're doing this online.
Speaker 1: You're perfectly correct. And actually Simmons has about five years
Speaker 1: of experience with graduate professional education. Now I said graduate professional,
Speaker 1: not undergraduate professional, and it's very different. But we have
Speaker 1: enough experience to say, if done well, it's a great alternative.
Speaker 1: It is not a replacement for a four year undergraduate
Speaker 1: coming of age experience. Nobody would argue that that is
Speaker 1: not the same thing. But if it's the way to
Speaker 1: step in and it's high quality and it's a discount,
Speaker 1: that could be a viable alternative. And if you think
Speaker 1: of it that way, it actually becomes a tool for
Speaker 1: a student over the course of his or her education too,
Speaker 1: maybe still in a course that they need in the summer.
Speaker 1: With an online course, that kind of thing not not
Speaker 1: the steady state plan, but a good alternative in the
Speaker 1: short term. But when I say good all alternative, it's
Speaker 1: not what we're looking at that's out there today. Nobody
Speaker 1: would claim that what we're doing now is a good alternative.
Speaker 1: It's it's a it's to get us through the problem alternative.
Speaker 1: That's it. So we've only get about a minute left
Speaker 1: in this segment. But then we're going to bring you
Speaker 1: back President trying and so quickly. What are what are
Speaker 1: the communications you're you're making to your incoming class, because
Speaker 1: I would imagine that's different from returning students. You're absolutely
Speaker 1: right about that, good question. We have had so far
Speaker 1: too admitted students events on a virtual basis. They have
Speaker 1: been attended at almost double the rates are on campus events.
Speaker 1: Our admissions today look pretty flat to last year at
Speaker 1: this time. So there's no question in my mind people
Speaker 1: are still in the process. They're probably hoping against hope
Speaker 1: that this gets all resolved in a reasonable way. So
Speaker 1: but so far, we are working very hard with our
Speaker 1: students to say we will have a plan for you
Speaker 1: in the fall. Now I think they're doing what we
Speaker 1: expect them to do, which is to keep working at
Speaker 1: their best choices, and I think to the extent you
Speaker 1: can do virtual admissions opportunities like this, people are remaining engaged.
Speaker 1: Helen Droning is our guest. She is president of Simmons University.
Speaker 1: She's joining us on the phone from Boston. So, you know, President,
Speaker 1: you were talking about, you know, the incoming class for
Speaker 1: fall of I am curious though about what this means
Speaker 1: for the incoming class of fall of one. Jason and
Speaker 1: I both have you know, juniors and seniors. I'm just
Speaker 1: curious about we've already heard about. Maybe test scores aren't
Speaker 1: so important. I know my daughter is, you know, concerned
Speaker 1: about interviews um the school she's interested in, or reaching
Speaker 1: out to her virtually about you know, do a virtual tour.
Speaker 1: But how do you approach that? So I think that
Speaker 1: the gods, Carol, is the class of Ken step back
Speaker 1: a little bit, uh and not yet too urgently concerned
Speaker 1: about this as they watch how this goes through. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the class that would graduate in this year and the
Speaker 1: class that would enter in this fall both are going
Speaker 1: to be the ones that are the test cases. And
Speaker 1: as you can imagine, the disappointment around the end of
Speaker 1: year is just awful and uh, There are no easy
Speaker 1: answers to that, because you don't you know, you know,
Speaker 1: you can't remake the experience of the moment right here.
Speaker 1: You can't redo it now, that's right, that's right. So
Speaker 1: I would say the class of take any opportunity that
Speaker 1: comes along, a virtual opportunity, physical opportunity, when that day comes.
Speaker 1: Take any of these opportunities, because I think what's happening
Speaker 1: now is your all of us are showcasing how much
Speaker 1: can we offer to a student. How much can we
Speaker 1: offer a student flexibility? How much can we offer a
Speaker 1: student the kinds of services that you would expect on campus,
Speaker 1: even if you're not on campus. How flexible are we
Speaker 1: in addressing the questions and concerns you have relative to
Speaker 1: what we already think you're gonna worry about. I think
Speaker 1: it's a great opper time opportunity to be a consumer
Speaker 1: if you're in the class of Yeah, I do think.
Speaker 1: I do think that, um, you're going to see such
Speaker 1: a wide variety of responses from different colleges and universities.
Speaker 1: They can learn an awful lot in this process. It
Speaker 1: does seem like that, I mean, that's certainly how we're
Speaker 1: trying to spend it with our junior in high school. UM,
Speaker 1: so president trying to I have to ask you, and
Speaker 1: we've had some really interesting conversations with the number of
Speaker 1: university presidents about this. What's the effect on a on
Speaker 1: a you know, one year old sort of going through
Speaker 1: I mean, this is traumatic in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: You alluded to that a minute ago. I mean, you
Speaker 1: can't get this moment back. How do we help them? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, we all in higher education are extremely aware
Speaker 1: of the burden this is placing our students. And it's
Speaker 1: not a surprise to either of you. I'm sure that
Speaker 1: you are very aware already. That's a level of anxiety, depression,
Speaker 1: and other associated mental health issues on college campus is
Speaker 1: today is a major concern long before we were worried
Speaker 1: about coronavirus or you know, or or the pandemic so
Speaker 1: um for example. In our case, we have maintained our
Speaker 1: health center and our counseling center, and students do, indeed
Speaker 1: stay in touch with the therapists that they've been working
Speaker 1: with or the health care providers that they've been working with,
Speaker 1: and we will provide that to that opportunity to students
Speaker 1: if they find that a useful alternative when they're not
Speaker 1: physically present for as long as they're students, which will
Speaker 1: obviously end in the May semester, I mean in the
Speaker 1: May time frame. So I know many, many, many colleges
Speaker 1: and universities are doing the same thing. Um. Lots of
Speaker 1: schools are doing check in. They have their student life
Speaker 1: staff calling students, especially students that they know had a
Speaker 1: difficult time leaving campus because you know, there was no preparation.
Speaker 1: There was no opportunity to say, but how do I
Speaker 1: get home? As these are my circumstances, and most of
Speaker 1: us have retained some portion of our students on campus
Speaker 1: are off campus but under our supervision, because they just
Speaker 1: couldn't I mean, they couldn't go home. Yeah, the international
Speaker 1: students could not get out of the country in many cases,
Speaker 1: so there was no option. So we've had to maintain
Speaker 1: all of these services and sports systems to the greatest
Speaker 1: ability virtually that we possibly can. I think it is um.
Speaker 1: You know, it's such a loss to not complete your
Speaker 1: senior Psychologically, it's a loss. It's um socially, such an
Speaker 1: enormous loss because even if we plan, which certainly we
Speaker 1: do in many other places, do an alternative event in
Speaker 1: the future when we can do it, you know for
Speaker 1: sure not all those classmates will be able to make that.
Speaker 1: Life goes on and it will never be the experience
Speaker 1: they helped for. So that the grief about this is
Speaker 1: pretty profound, and it's and it's natural and normal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've got to say from someone who I deferred for semesters,
Speaker 1: who started in January and then I of course graduate
Speaker 1: in December, it's just not the same experience. I know that,
Speaker 1: And it's certainly not on the magnitude of what everybody's
Speaker 1: going through now, but you certainly miss something in the experience,
Speaker 1: and I know that. Um. One last question just got
Speaker 1: about forty five seconds. How do you think when we
Speaker 1: get on the other side of this our world will
Speaker 1: be changed? I actually think, Carol, if we're smart, we
Speaker 1: will have learned so much about how to be better
Speaker 1: in the work that we do and better in our
Speaker 1: relationships with people that will use things like all these
Speaker 1: technologies we have to their best advantage rather than sometimes
Speaker 1: to the lowest common common denominate or worst advantage. And
Speaker 1: I also think that people will have such a greater
Speaker 1: appreciation for in the moment relationships that they will never
Speaker 1: take them for granted. Again. Well, this is a great
Speaker 1: way to end. And I have to say Gloria Larson,
Speaker 1: former president of Bentley University, a friend of mine and
Speaker 1: a friend of Bloomberg, who has been on this air
Speaker 1: a lot, you know, said we've got to talk to you,
Speaker 1: and she was so right. So thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I know this is a hard time for everyone, but
Speaker 1: I feel like your words will certainly stay with all
Speaker 1: of us and certainly our listeners. Helen Joyn and thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you, President of Simmons University joining us on the
Speaker 1: phone from Boston. I have to say the conversations that
Speaker 1: we've had with heads of colleges and universities, Jason, have
Speaker 1: been um, just fantastic and at least of the best
Speaker 1: we've had. Absolutely very thoughtful about where we are today,
Speaker 1: and it's interesting to, you know, to think about sort
Speaker 1: of the commonalities but also some of the differences, you know,
Speaker 1: depending on their populations and depending on what they're doing.