Presidential transition, a global pandemic and social justice movements: a year at Lee
Photo by Rhianna Barrow
This March marks one year since the onset of COVID-19 in Tennessee and Lee University. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee confirmed the state’s first case of COVID-19 at a press conference on March 5, 2020. On March 25, Dr. Paul Conn announced a Lee student tested positive for COVID-19. Since then, the university has faced a year of changes and challenges.
The day after the announcement of the positive test, Dr. Conn announced the campus would not be reopening after an extended spring break. Lee students and faculty turned to Zoom and virtual learning to finish the semester.
In March 2020, a COVID-19 Task Force was created. Headed by Dr. Debbie Murray, vice president for Academic Affairs, the task force set out to monitor the status of COVID-19 on campus, locally, nationally and internationally.
In addition to the global pandemic, the summer of 2020 saw social justice movements take place all across the country. In Cleveland, Tenn. junior political science major Kelsey Osborne started a petition to remove the Confederate monument between Ocoee, Broad and Eighth streets.
Jarad Russell, director of Residential Life and Housing, recently finished his dissertation, which focuses on the racial attitudes of white college students. According to Russell, seeing his dissertation line up with the ongoing social justice movements has been a valuable learning experience.
“The social justice pieces that have been happening since last spring really challenged my thinking about a lot of different things. I have been really trying to understand where we are at as a university in terms of our understanding and where our students are at,” said Russell. “Particularly, [I’ve been focusing on] our white students that are maybe coming from predominantly white backgrounds and haven’t really thought through a lot of these things yet. How can we challenge them to increase their understanding in those areas?”
On June 18, 2020, Conn announced the establishment of the Office of Racial and Ethnic Relations, headed by Gloria Scott-Richmond.
“The institution of the Office of Racial and Ethnic Relations has been such a positive influence on our campus,” said Vice President for Student Development Dr. Mike Hayes. “That was something that we’ve thought about for a long time. I’m thrilled that we’ve been able to do that.”
Since its establishment, the Office of Racial and Ethnic Relations has coordinated several events on campus. To honor Martin Luther King Jr. week in January 2021, the office planned an entire week of events for students.
Photo by Christopher Vega.
In August 2020, Dr. Mark Walker stepped into the position of the President of Lee University.
Walker is looking forward to seeing Lee University’s mission continue to impact students during his presidency.
“The opportunity to impact more students was probably the primary thing I was looking forward to,” said Walker, referencing his goals as president. “Also, working with the Presidential cabinet. They’re such a high-quality performing team … I was really looking forward to being a team leader with them.”
To keep up with the progressing changes of COVID-19, the task force collaborated with the Office of Student Development, Residential Life and Housing and other Lee administrators to plan the implementation of COVID safety measures.
“It was a very collaborative, cooperative, committed effort — that took a lot of work,” said Walker. “But the whole purpose was to make this as safe as possible, so we can do what we do best at Lee — provide our students what they come here for.”
According to Russell, after the administration decided to allow students to return to campus, a lot of responsibility fell to the Residential Life and Housing department.
“A lot of the details were left up to my department in terms of figuring out what that would look like,” said Russell. “[We decided] to get feedback from all angles, from all departments, all areas that we supervise and see what things we hadn’t considered yet.”
At this point in the planning process, Russell said the Residential Directors’ expertise in their dorms became vital.
“I think having their expertise on their buildings, combined with my overarching view, was helpful to make sure we didn’t miss any of the little details,” said Russell. “The biggest shifts were just in the dorms themselves. Trying to maintain social distancing, remove lobby furniture — things that seem like small details but really change the student experience quite a bit.”
Russell emphasized the important role the Residential Life and Housing staff has played in keeping students safe and accountable.
“Residential Life and Housing has been at the forefront of [instituting changes on campus],” said Hayes. “I think they’ve done a tremendous job — from Jarod and the RA’s to the community builders, to the resident chaplains — they’re the people who have really been able to bear so much through this. The RA’s have done a tremendous job and really helped their peers navigate a really complex time.”
With safety measures such as Masks in Motion, no residence hall visitation and virtual chapel services, Lee students returned to campus.
“It was nice to see people — even if they begrudgingly did it — getting on board,” said Russell, concerning the implementation of COVID-19 safety measures. “For the most part, it was really positive feedback from all of our students in terms of understanding where we were at and why we were putting these things into place.”
As positive cases in Tennessee continued to rise, Walker began recording Q&A sessions sent to the student body via email. These videos included student COVID case updates, administration updates and encouragement for students.
“It was very intense because there was so much to look at and so much you had to try to understand about all the research,” said Walker, concerning the COVID-19 safety measures. “There was no playbook for that for anybody. The uncertainty of that was a major challenge.”
According to Hayes, the pandemic presented pressures the university has never encountered. He said these pressures forced the university to figure out how to care for students at a distance.
“It’s been intriguing to make sure that we’re caring for students in the residence halls and largely in different ways,” said Hayes. “We just can’t do it the way we’ve always done it … We want to engage [students] in a different way but definitely still engage them.”
Russell agrees engagement in community has been redefined throughout this year.
“I think [community] looks different now,” said Russell, concerning the intentionality and authenticity community requires. “I think it’s allowed students to form more intimate relationships.”
Walker said his view of community stretched this year as well.
“We didn’t realize how important community was to us until we didn’t have it like we’d had it before,” said Walker. “When we are able to get back into community like we did before, I think we’re going to cherish it more and not take it for granted.”
As Walker looks forward to the oncoming years of presidency, he says praying and looking to his wife Udella, Chancellor Conn and his presidential cabinet for guidance and support will continue to be important to him.
“The grace of God that I really have discovered this year, and then the grit — the endurance of those that I have the pleasure of working with — were so motivational and inspirational to me personally. It shows what you can do under extreme circumstances,” said Walker.
The Lee University mission statement, according to the website, is to develop students’ knowledge, appreciation, understanding, ability and skills in ways which will prepare them to be responsible citizens in a complex world. The maintaining of this mission is central to Walker’s vision of the future of Lee University.
“Our mission is preparing students for responsible Christian living in a complex world,” said Walker. “Our world is becoming increasingly complex, and when I look at that, I think what the world needs is Lee. The world needs Lee students and Lee graduates. It’s a better place with Lee graduates in the world.”
Russell is looking forward to the coming years of Walker’s presidency because Walker has expressed an interest in student development. Some universities, according to Russell, focus solely on academics rather than student development. As the director of Residential Life and Housing, helping students know they matter is important to Russell.
“Dr. Walker’s real interest in student development — really seeing the importance and value of challenging students and teaching students outside of the classroom — bodes well for what we’re trying to do in Student Development,” Russell said.
With a world full of developing complexities, Walker said it is important for students to remember what God has called them to do.
“Our mission is so poised to bring so much of what the world needs,” said Walker. “I believe we’re sending out resilient, intelligent, skilled, authentic Christian adults to engage the culture with the character, values and creativity of Christ to bring transformation to the world.”
Walker is expected to be officially inaugurated as president of Lee University on April 23.
