How COVID-19 complicated a college merger

Institutional change is hard and a gradual process is best accomplished through a series of baby steps taken over months or years to bring it to fruition. That said, Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) has undergone extreme change on a short timeline, which defies my above logic but perhaps speaks to institutional resiliency.

RCSJ was established as a new institution with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s (MSCHE) approval on July 1, 2019. The merger joined two community colleges from two counties into one, with the caveat MSCHE would be back in approximately six months to assess if headway was being made based on the original substantive change request information. A few of areas the MSCHE team would review when they returned to campus were policy development progress, institutional effectiveness, and strategic planning development. All of these areas fall within the President’s Office under the Institutional Policy umbrella.

The Institutional Policy Office in the interim has made progress in these three areas. Policies were systematically reviewed with stakeholder meetings held on both campuses, the practice of electronic review and tracking of revisions continued, and the policy library was maintained. Work has begun and continues on aligning the two campuses’ institutional effectiveness practices. And finally, a timeline and strategy to implement a three-year strategic plan process was developed in October 2019, the initial kick-off took place in November 2019, which started a cascade of in-person meetings over the next several months, with the final product ready to present to the RCSJ Board of Trustees pinned down to June or July 2020.

Seven months into the merger, MSCHE did return for a review site visit on March 10, 2020. While preparations for this visit were underway, the day prior to MSCHE’s arrival, the State of New Jersey’s Governor issued both a Public Health Emergency and a State of Emergency Executive Order due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This was followed by another Executive Order on March 16, suspending all face-to-face instruction effective March 18. The following week the college was closed for spring break. This break was when faculty and staff shifted a two-campus commuter college, accustomed to in-person delivery, to an entirely online delivery more than mid-way through the college’s spring semester and strategized how to effectively and immediately communicate this abrupt change to the student body. No small feat, as others I am certain can attest.

New Jersey, with its close proximation to New York City, was significantly impacted by the pandemic, exerting huge financial implications for businesses, schools, and residents. Subsequently, the governor on March 21 issued Executive Order 107 directing all New Jersey residents to stay at home until further notice. At the time of this writing, the State of New Jersey is re-opening in phases; I and my colleagues remain working from home as higher education has not been released to return to work. All summer session classes and student support services will continue to be provided online --- not ideal, but doable.

From a policy stand point, all policy work was already done electronically, so no problem there. What has been unfortunate is the abrupt move from face-to-face meetings with policy owners to a web-based format with frustratingly poor connectivity at times, particularly when our two campuses are in the midst of building rapport and a collaborative foundation. In addition, due to the pandemic, the alignment of institutional effectiveness is now on hold until we can return to campus, and the last two in-person dinner meetings to review the strategic plan’s finalized goals and objectives with the internal and external constituent groups were forced by necessity to an online format. The strategic plan final draft is complete and ready for presentation at our virtual board meeting in July.

We live in a new era of complexities that will certainly define a new normal and change our practices socially, personally, and professionally. We are in the center of a perfect storm with a trifecta of pressures converging:  the rising anxiety and stress due to escalating coronavirus deaths, massive unemployment generating financial insecurity, and the disturbing recent events calling forth understandable nation-wide civil unrest. These are difficult times and as educators we face many daunting challenges, but we are also positioned to make things better by showing understanding and respect for all.

To end on a positive note, out of darkness comes a sliver of light. Remember the strategic plan I mentioned was about to be published? This document will now have a companion piece that will be a strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion action plan and will serve as its foundation. It may even preface the overarching strategic plan with a “holding a space” notation within for a future insertion. That is what I would call “belt and suspenders”! The design has and will now become the talk of many of our future virtual meetings. And let’s not forget policy work that is tethered tightly to the strategic plan. Our important work goes on. The storm will clear.

A better way is on its way.

Stay well --- stay healthy.