Pandemic impacts, cultural conflicts and moral dilemmas among faculty at a Hispanic-serving research university

Abstract

ABSTRACT More research is needed on how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped professional cultures and its implications for equity and justice. We conducted focus groups with STEM faculty at an exemplar case university, chosen because of its high expectations for research and teaching and its federal designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). We use cultural schemas – which outline core content of professional culture – as analytical lenses. In addition to the schemas of scientific research excellence and devotion identified in previous literature, we find evidence of a cultural schema of radical connection and service to undergraduate students, many of whom are Latinx and in families who faced disproportionately high risks from the pandemic. We argue that work-work conflict and work-family conflict are rooted in cultural schemas of the academic profession that clashed more intensively during the pandemic. These clashes intensify moral dilemmas for faculty and reinforce inequalities and injustices. We urge the federal government to expand the expectations for HSI designation beyond achieving a certain demographic profile to require and equip campuses to fully serve their diverse student bodies and fully sustain the faculty and staff who support them.