Mantella op-ed: Fight for in-person classes crucial for all learners

In an op-ed in Crain's Detroit Business, President Philomena V. Mantella wrote:

The highly politicized discussion of allowing any in-person instruction during COVID-19 has masked the question of why.

Why fight to provide access to learners in every mode of delivery possible? Why fight to bring students back on campus? Why are we testing our university's culture and capacities daily under extraordinary conditions? Why consider a course fraught with peril?

Here's why – we know the pain of the near-term is worth the long-term fight for individual students, their future and ours. This is especially true for first-generation college students.

The "why" is embedded firmly in education's fundamental purpose: To provide opportunities and enable individuals to pursue lives of meaning and professions of purpose.

Higher education's battle to maintain face-to-face learning, while following all public health guidance, is a struggle worth fighting for, especially if it improves success for those who have to fight just to gain access to our doors.

Read the full article in Crain's Detroit Business.