Elite colleges are boasting unprecedented numbers with respect to diversity, with some schools admitting their first majority-minority classes. But when the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial unrest gripped the world, schools scrambled to figure out what to do with the diversity they so fervently recruited. And disadvantaged students suffered. In his new book, Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price, Anthony Abraham Jack, Ph.D. (FAN ’19) exposes how woefully unprepared colleges were to support these students and shares their stories of how they were left to weather the storm alone and unprotected.

Drawing on the firsthand experiences of students from all walks of life at elite colleges, Jack reveals the hidden and unequal worlds students navigated before and during the pandemic closures and upon their return to campus. He shows how COVID-19 exacerbated the very inequalities that universities ignored or failed to address long before campus closures. Jack examines how students dealt with the disruptions caused by the pandemic, how they navigated social unrest, and how they grappled with problems of race both on campus and off.

Jack will be in conversation with Jeff Selingo (FAN ’20, ’21, ’22), New York Times bestselling author of three books on education and the job market. For more than twenty-five years, Selingo’s in-depth reporting and storytelling have provided practical insight about the future of higher education and the workforce to university leaders, corporate executives, as well as students and parents.

This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Class Dismissed from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Jack and Selingo that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.

“Jack powerfully illuminates the aspects of the student experience that exist beyond the gloss of the university brochure, showing how inequality reverberates both on and off campus and providing readers with specific frameworks for what equitable university policies could look like.” – Clint Smith, Ph.D. (FAN ’23)