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Colleges and universities shut down in March as the coronavirus pandemic spread across the country, and pivoted quickly to online classes. This summer, they confront a decision about how to move forward, hampered by new challenges and uncertainties arising from COVID-19. With many colleges facing economic concerns due to declining enrollment nationwide, universities now finding themselves without revenue from sporting events, bookstores, summer camps, housing, dining facilities, and campus parking. Additionally, the pandemic has stalled the economy, cratered state budgets, and greatly diminished endowments. Heading off or returning to college seems as much a risk as an adventure.

What will college look like in the fall? Rice University, the University of Texas system, and the Texas A&M system are among universities that are currently planning to reopen campuses in the fall while other universities such as Cambridge and California State have announced they will remain online. In addition, what might be the long-term effects, beyond COVID-19, of the changes we are seeing in universities as they adapt to the pandemic?

A discussion on the decision-making process for colleges and universities on reopening, as well as what universities and their campuses may look like this fall and thereafter.

Schedule

Thursday, June 18, 2020
7:30 p.m. Moderated Discussion
8 p.m. Audience Q&A (Questions welcome via YouTube Live and Facebook Live)

About the Speaker

David W. Leebron, JD, has served as Rice University’s seventh president since 2004, a period of growth and transformation for the university. A native of Philadelphia, Leebron is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was elected president of the Harvard Law Review. Following a judicial clerkship on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, he taught at the UCLA School of Law in 1980. After two years in private practice, he joined the faculty at the NYU School of Law in 1983. In 1989, Leebron joined the faculty of Columbia Law School, where in 1996 he was appointed dean and served in that position until coming to Rice. He is a member of the political science faculty at Rice, and has written in the areas of international trade and investment, torts, privacy, corporate law and human rights. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and serves on the boards of the Greater Houston Partnership, Fulbright Canada and the IMAX Corporation. Leebron was awarded the Commandeur de l'Ordre National du Mérite by the government of France and the Encomienda de la Orden de Isabel La Católica by the government of Spain, and holds an honorary degree from Nankai University in Tianjin, China.

About the Moderator

Laura Isensee covers education for Houston Public Media, including K-12 and higher education. Her work has also appeared in Reuters, The Miami Herald, and The Dallas Morning News. She’s won multiple awards for her work in print and radio, most recently best serious feature in 2019 from the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Association. A native Houstonian, Laura graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her master’s in journalism from Columbia University.

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