H O LY C R O S S M O R E AU CO L L E G E I N I T I AT I V E Like so many other educational institutions, when Holy Cross College made the decision to move online in March due to the
Teaching “The World in Pandemic” by Justin McDevitt, J.D., M.A. Asst. Director for Alumni Relations and Career Development Moreau College Initiative at Westville Correctional Facility and Instructor with Global Perspectives
growing threat of COVID-19, most faculty had to accept that we would have to change the way we teach. Instead of standing at the head of their classes, we had to settle for the prospect of seeing our students’ faces on a screen for the next few months. I still remember the faces of my students the last time I saw them in person: worried, skeptical, resigned. Unlike most professors, however, I have not had the chance to see those faces since then. At all. It’s not because my class was canceled. It’s because my students are still in prison. If you read the previous issue of Connections, you might remember that I’m part of an effort at Holy Cross called the Moreau College Initiative (MCI), a program that holds its classes at Westville Correctional Facility, about an hour west of South Bend. Our students at MCI are fully Holy Cross students and would hold their own in any classroom on the main campus. They are exceptionally bright and work incredibly hard, yet they naturally lose out on so much that makes the college experience memorable and impactful. Few have ever seen with their own eyes the main campus of the very college that will grant them their degree. Instead, faculty at Holy Cross College and the University of Notre Dame work to bring that education to them. Until we couldn’t. Sadly, along with nursing homes and meat packing plants, the nation’s prisons and jails were among the most vulnerable places when the pandemic began to set in. And, since we aren’t able to offer the same level of technology that students have on main campus, our students in MCI have had to continue their college education without all the bells and whistles. Instead, they’ve been watching the lectures we record, leading discussions among themselves, completing the assignments they’ve been given, and corresponding with us through an approved account in the prison email system. All without leaving their unit. They’re doing their best under the circumstances, but I know we’d all like to return to “normal.” Under normal circumstances, I always start my class by asking the same question: “What’s happened in the world since the last time we met?” They’d often talk about politics, the NFL season, some scientific breakthrough or tech advancement, or even the latest celebrity scandal. The news they watch on TV in the dorm is one of their only windows into the world outside the walls. In early March, though, there was only one thing on their mind. And, when
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HOLY CROSS COLLEGE Connections | FALL 2020 / WINTER 2021
