The Teaching and Learning Innovation Digest - May 2023

sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia,
colonialism, etc.) that continue to organize
our societies and its institutions, including
education. When structural factors are not
taken into account, initiatives aimed at
addressing mental health are left wanting and
benefit those who are already privileged by the
system (Tremblay & Brunette, 2022).
For example, the benefits of nature on
mental health are well documented. Wang et
al., (2022) research on the restorative
nature of campus green spaces argues that
envisioning post pandemic campus green
space, university administrators should pay
closer attention to students’ use of outdoor
spaces. However, without consideration of
how students’ social identities (i.e., race,
class, gender, disability, etc…), and their
intersections with structural issues (i.e.,
poverty, racism, sexism, etc.), impact their
use of green space, only those already
privileged by the existing design of campus
green spaces will garner the mental health
and other benefits associated with it. This is
especially troubling since research on mental
health has found that cultural identity and
belonging to a marginalized minority group
appears to be a factor associated with greater
risk of mental health problems because these
groups experience more socio-economic
inequalities and discrimination (Srivastava &
Srivastava, 2019).
“The return to normal is too low a standard”
The fact that our existing system of higher
education exacerbates inequities must be
considered not just in the matter of the return
to campus but in the larger context of a return
to a system of higher education that has
privileged only a select few. Boettcher et al’s.,
(2020) article on building new and better post
pandemic support for Student Affairs graduate
students reveal how academic programs create
challenges for economically marginalized
students For example, not only is there the
financial burden of textbooks and academic
fees, but also the financial loss incurred from
unpaid but required practicum and internship
hours. This results in students who need
additional employment working multiple jobs,
putting them at a disadvantage, with less time
to devote to their studies or to be involved in
activities that would build their professional
capital and bolster their resume.
Boettcher et al., (2020) exposed how the
pandemic afforded opportunities to do things
differently as a matter of necessity, which
inadvertently reduced some of the existing
inequities in the system. For example, the
expenses associated with professional
activities like conferences are often a barrier
for students, contract faculty, and other
economically marginalized groups. It is not
just the fees associated with these events,
but travel and other incidental costs (i.e. food,
lodging, and childcare). The shift to online
conferences lessened the financial burden
associated with these events and opened up
opportunities for those more economically
marginalized groups to benefit from these
events. Boettcher et al’s., (2020) central
message is that returning “to normal” is too
low a standard and that as institutions of
higher learning transition to a post-pandemic
environment there is an opportunity to “create
transformative change to what is possible and
better in the future”.
Conclusion
The pandemic has presented new challenges
for higher education, but it has also opened
new avenues of possibilities. Particularly, for
rethinking modes of delivery and possible
transformations to postsecondary campuses
(Ashour et al., 2021). As the landscape of
higher education continues to evolve, new
planning and design perspectives look to reenvision
university and college campuses, and
more broadly, higher education. There seems
to be a general consensus in the research
literature that the postsecondary campus will
not disappear with the growing presence of
online learning. Instead, the shape and form
campuses will take may be different from what
most look like now. In his article, “Speculations
on the post-pandemic university campus - a
global inquiry” Deshmukh (2021) argues that
“Forward-looking schools are reimagining
campuses as a series of agile, multifunctional
spaces with robust, scalable, flexible, techenabled
infrastructure which include variation
in occupancy and rules of habitation, based on
public health and big-weather events.”
The pandemic serves as a watershed moment
having exposed many of the cracks with the
existing education system. The possibilities
of more inclusive and equitable campuses
and systems of higher education would
mean taking into account the diversity of its
users and centring the voices, experiences,
and lived realities of those who have been
historically marginalized from these sites
of higher learning (Blaskovits et al., 2023,
Stack, 2021). For example, Blaskovits (2023)
contends that pre-existing gaps in academic
achievement between Indigenous and non-
Indigenous students may widen if specific
attention is not paid to the differential impacts
of the pandemic.
Without structural changes to higher education
that starts from the margins, with those who
are often invisible when it comes to who and
what counts at institutions of higher learning,
the possibilities for transforming higher
education will simply amplify an already
inequitable system.
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