DHL 2020 – Dr. Pam Eddinger
THE CHALLENGE BEFORE US: A NEW ‘SOCIAL CONTRACT’ IS NEEDED BETWEEN COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES.
Insights from the Pandemic: The Reckoning & the Hope at Our Nation’s Community Colleges.
“But here’s the light amidst the darkness. As much as the pandemic revealed the failure of social and economic systems, it has also shown us a radical transformation in the nature of community colleges.” – Dr. Pam Eddinger, President, Bunker Hill Community College
Dr. Pam Eddinger, President of Bunker Hill Community College, delivered the 2020 Dallas Herring Lecture roughly six months into the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Eddinger focused on the myriad of ways in which community colleges emerged to serve as hubs for their community ina moment of need, including providing laptops and WiFi, food pantries, mental health counseling and even housing.
Dr. Eddinger highlighted the historical context of systemic racism and disinvestment in marginalized communities, which the pandemic brought into stark relief. She went on to note that a pandemic recovery would occur, but that it was vital for both society and community colleges that the recovery be just and equitable.
“I believe the crack of lightning that was COVID really did light up the inhumane conditions in our communities. And difficult as it is to witness the misery, I think we will seize this moment of clarity to think anew about our role as colleges in our community and how we can be agents of change in the coming decades.”
Summary provided by Nation Hahn, Advisor, John M. Belk Endowment
& Joshua Perrin, Founder, Sound and Sense Communications
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