The COVID-19 pandemic has changed virtually everything we do in higher education. Some of its effects will continue to be felt for several years, while others will change us in permanent ways. The abrupt and total move to online instruction in spring 2020 will likely result in an increased online presence among our institutions’ course offerings. Some quarters have expressed the hope that higher education will move online more exclusively, but there will be a strong push to return to primarily in-person instruction post-COVID. The ultimate permanent change for some of our colleges and universities will be their disappearance from the higher education landscape. This will be the fate primarily of institutions that were on unstable fiscal ground (with eroding enrollments and tuition discounting at play) before the pandemic and that now are overwhelmed by the costs and lost revenues resulting from the pandemic as well as precipitously low enrollments. Some have already closed their doors, and others will likely soon follow.
Character (Still) Counts: Moral Injury and the Case for Character Education
Many academic leaders remember the Character Counts! initiative from the 1990s and early 2000s. It was visible in schools and youth programs nationwide, emphasizing as core values the Six Pillars
Teresa Maggard Stephens
June 15, 2026
