By
AUGUST 25, 2021
Talk to people who work in higher education right now, and you'll quickly find someone ready for a change.
There's the assistant director for student diversity at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas who is leaving his job this month, feeling unsupported by his supervisors. The career-services coordinator at Oklahoma State University who just wants to not feel guilty about using paid leave for mental-health days. The assistant director of sorority and fraternity life at a private college in California who wanted to move closer to family in New York — and who promised herself she would resign by the fall even if she didn't have a new job. The associate dean of students at Lawrence University, in Wisconsin, who is pledging to stop checking email in the evenings. The tenured professor and department chair at the University of Northern Colorado who, fed up with the culture of "just gotta do more," quit because she wanted to focus on being a parent.
Employees' dedication to higher education's mission has fueled colleges for many years. Even before the pandemic, the work seeped into nights and weekends. Many staff members stayed in their jobs despite the heavy workload, low pay, and rare opportunities for advancement. Some saw their work as intrinsic to their identities. Benefits like health care, perceived stability, and reduced tuition also persuaded many workers to stay.
But the pandemic has caused many people to renegotiate this dynamic. The Chronicle interviewed nearly 60 current and former higher-education professionals this summer about how the pandemic and the approaching fall term have affected their attitudes about work. They expressed a desire for long-established dynamics that have governed the relationship between colleges and their employees to change in ways big and small.