Understanding Colleges’ Responses to COVID-19

When the pandemic hit with full force in March, a faculty member and group of students at Davidson College saw the need for up-to-the minute data on how colleges were responding. So they started the College Crisis Initiative (C2i), a project that has now collected and analyzed information on nearly 3,000 schools’ transitions to online education and fall reopening plans.

Their data dashboards have gained national attention, and C2i has become a go-to resource for journalists, researchers, and college leaders across the country as they work to better understand what approaches schools have taken, what is and isn’t working, and how the current crisis will impact the future for the higher ed system and its students.

To unpack what they’ve learned, Third Way’s Michelle Dimino joined Dr. Chris Marsicano, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Higher Education and Founding Director of the College Crisis Initiative at Davidson College, and two Davidson seniors serving as project leads for C2i, Sam Owusu and Emily Rounds for an on-the-record conversation.