Author: Megan Ross

by Institute for Policy, Ethics and Culture (IPEC)

All of us in the University community have been deeply submerged into a world dominated by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Several months into responding to this health crisis, many parts of our lives have been challenged, disrupted and changed. The shock, dislocation and sometimes despair people feel are often not explicitly health related, but result from encountering aspects of the crisis that, while seemingly peripheral, are actually integral to this new “pandemic culture.” IPEC members have been discussing the reach of this crisis into almost every aspect of our lives and we want to make available to you what is also “in crisis” as seen from our various areas of expertise in policy, ethics, and culture.

To address this, we began the “1,000 words project,” in which we asked IPEC members to explore the nature of the crisis, dislocations and challenges as they see it from their unique perspectives. To date, we have pieces that consider changes to social relations and physical distance, the crisis of resistance to expertise, the challenge of math communication, the impact of science denialism, emerging challenges in marketing, the significance of trust, and the ethical perspectives that guide responses to the crisis.

by Diversity Council

During this global pandemic, we must continue to value diversity, equity and an inclusive community. We’ve all seen the disparate effects of the disease itself and the stay-at-home policy response in our lives and our communities. The disease has disproportionately taken the lives of people of color, the elderly, and those with pre-existing health conditions. The work-from-home period eliminated child and elder care, placing additional care burdens on faculty and staff with care responsibilities, reducing their professional productivity. The disease has emboldened discriminatory actions targeting immigrants and foreign workers, as well as their descendants. Many students have struggled to finish their schoolwork without the on-campus support systems on which they depend. Many in our Michigan Tech community, and their families, have faced economic hardship from job losses. This disease has caused a devastating effect on our economy on every level: our students, employees, the community and the world as a whole.