Since January – How Chinese Student Affairs Professionals Navigate COVID-19

By Ariel Tan

Introduction

For many Chinese people, the COVID-19 pandemic feels like déjà vu. As someone who went back to China in the beginning of the outbreak in Wuhan and came back to the U.S. right before Trump’s China Travel Ban, I was truly living this experience twice. At multiple points between February and March 2020 I was torn on how I should react to this outbreak news. The balance between my professional ethics and personal instinct challenged my perception of truth. Having already seen the outbreak happen once in China, I was unsure of what to do with my increased level of awareness under the context of western media. Chinese media primed me by describing its containment effort as “war” against COVID-19 and, but U.S. media challenged the severity of COVID-19 is just like the flu [1]. When Stanford moved its instruction online [2], there was an increase of questions from students and staff on how COVID-19 would impact our community. Professionally, I advised others to follow campus and government protocol, but personally, I felt that these efforts were not enough.

During March 2020, I was coordinating student move-outs and preparing residential halls for the local government to be use as a quarantine space. Working in higher education as a Chinese person, I had the opportunity to witness two systematic and social responses to COVID-19 in a space that often value and promote equity, access, and safety. As the entire field of higher education dived into online teaching and virtual programming, I was reminded of how narrow-minded and western-centric we could be. I think about the overlooked crisis management skills from other international institutions in February, I think about the mistrust towards Chinese medical professionals during the planning process, I think about the overemphasis on cultural differences instead of collaborative understanding on the “mask-wearing” debate…I think about how it’s easy to be engraved into our own norms and overlook best practices from other cultural background and lived experiences.

I also think about: how are my other Chinese colleague doing? In this essay, I reached out to four colleagues of mine, interviewing their experiences navigating COVID-19 as a Chinese staff working in U.S. higher education.

Working as a reslifer: Kelly

Kelly is a residential life staff in a small private college in the Northeast. Like me, she went back to China during the Lunar New Year for celebration and family reunion but cut her trip short during the epidemic outbreak. Upon returning to the U.S., Kelly was self-quarantined in a school-funded and off-campus location while working remotely. Being a residential life staff means that she is one of the most student-facing roles in a university, so being extra cautious is not only beneficial to personal health, but for community care as a whole. Unlike me who lived so far away from the epicenter Wuhan, Kelly had ties to the city. “Because my mom worked in Wuhan for a while, our family is a frequent visitor of the city. I would even consider myself a half Wuhanese.” As a result, she became aware and remained cautious since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. Kelly initially purchased disinfecting supplies and masks for her family in China, but ended up not having a chance to send them off from the U.S. In a period where mask-wearing is considered a cultural mark, these supplies became a part of her current preventative care. Kelly advocated for herself by wearing a mask, as many Asian communities did long before the U.S. government took action. Living in a place where the information from China and the information from the U.S. contradicted each other [3], Kelly was approached by colleagues and friends about whether mask-wearing is effective. In response, she always recommended people to use their own judgement and do their own research.

“People need to look for information outside of the mainstream media. If you have been paying attention to other news around the world, you would know that something is off and unsettling since mid-February.” Kelly’s concern spoke my mind – it is true, that if people had been paying attention to Iran, South Korean, Japan, and Italy before COVID-19 became a pandemic, they wouldn’t be surprised when the outbreak spread aggressively here in the U.S.

Earlier news focused on the high mortality rate among older patients [4], contributing to the illustration that young people are invincible when facing this virus. “I told my colleague”, Kelly recounted, “Well, here is a counter-narrative: a 23-year-old soccer player, young and physically fit, and yet has passed away not too long ago because of the virus [5]. Young people are still susceptible, and we still need to worry.” While her colleagues found this news surprising, evidence and information like these are not hard to find. Kelly shared that in February, “[…] a specific memo came from the president of the college, asking students to not go to a well-known Asia-town, which implies that this community is more likely to transmit COVID-19. But in a twist of irony, the first tested positive case within our region actually came from a Jewish individual.” As the pandemic unfolds, more and more news has surprised the American public. Empty cities with no traffic zooming by, business closing door-by-door, extreme shortage of medical supplies, increased amount of community transmission…but every news that caught people off-guard should have been anticipated. But bias overshadowed people’s critical thinking, overlooking existing information that were warning signs.

Working with International Students: Stephanie

Working in a large public institution in the New England area, Stephanie’s office started having COVID-19 management conversations very early on. This was to better support their international students, especially those who were traveling overseas in January. Working with many Chinese students exposed her office in becoming more informed on how to handle the eventual spread of COVID-19. Stephanie also increased her colleagues’ awareness of this outbreak through her own insights and resources. Using an analytic lens, Stephanie pointed out that for a society that values collectivism like China, strong measures like an immediate lockdown was effective because of the role-playing social norms: everyone is responsible for playing their parts well in this battle against the COVID-19 outbreak. The Wuhan lockdown was unprecedented and aggressive, surprising Chinese people just as much as it surprised the world. But it didn’t take too long for people to adapt to this alternative lifestyle, because a united front is what China valued and needed for a time like this. While such a measure was commented by the World Health Organization to be effective, western societies view it as a violation against civil rights [6]. For lenient measures such as social distancing, Stephanie noted that it would be hard to say whether the U.S. public would support it or obey it 100%. She recalled that in the early stage of the Italy lockdown, people demanded personal freedom and protested such policy [7]. In individualistic societies and democratic governments, people prioritize individual liberty, freedom, and desire. Western government had to be mindful about the impact of strong measures in people’s daily life and public reactions.

Working in the Midwest: Caitlyn

As a staff working closely with international students in the Midwest, Caitlyn also started to follow COVID-19’s trend in the U.S. prior to public recognition. From Caitlyn’s perspective, because of her Wuhanese friend, she spotted this outbreak in China even earlier than the public’s response. With her resources and network, Caitlyn challenged transparency of the Chinese government during the early stages of the outbreak. Chinese communities had an interesting disposition within Asian activism spaces in the U.S., and Chinese people were often perceived as politically uninvolved [8]. But during the COVID-19 outbreak, Chinese people were not inactive or uncritical. For many Weibo users, late January and early February was a period of social unrest. People restlessly uncovered information, raised awareness, connected resources, and ultimately questioned social justice and equity concerns within this country [9].

In January, Caitlyn already noticed that the outbreak was evolving into a concern of international affairs. Aside from checking in international students’ travel plan and emotional health, Caitlyn had the disappointing conversations with her students about event cancellations twice: once with Chinese student groups about February events in response to the regional outbreak in January, and once with other student groups about cancelling all programs in response to the global pandemic today. As a Chinese person, Caitlyn practiced social distancing and reduced social gathering 2 weeks prior to the government recommendation on preventing COVID-19. But as a U.S. higher education professional, the response towards the outbreak was much more complicated than claiming personal agency. Following the steps of some other U.S. institutions, her institution considered moving classes online in February due to the spread of COVID-19. However, some stakeholders were against online instruction because it seems too liberal, since the President had not yet recognized COVID-19 as a serious threat. The pushback brought Caitlyn a new understanding of political differences. “I mean, I’ve always known that partisanship is a thing here, but I didn’t think it would impede decisions related to pandemic measures, related to people’s ability to live and survive.” Similar to how FOX news changed its own course of reporting within a week [10], Caitlyn’s institutions, like hundreds of colleges and universities across the U.S., dove into the realm of online education and residential hall closures once numbers climbed [11]. It was hard not to wonder: given that the U.S. had ample time to learn from other countries in adapting applicable prevention measures, why was all the reaction so slow and scrambled?

Footnote/References

1. President Donald Trump comparing COVID-19 to the common flu in March 9th, 2020 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1237027356314869761
2. Stanford was one of the first schools in the U.S. that moved its instruction online in response to COVID-19. https://www.stanforddaily.com/2020/03/06/winter-quarter-classes-finals-to-be-conducted-remotely-due-to-coronavirus-concerns/
3. An article discussing why mask-wearing is encouraged in Asia but not in the U.S. https://time.com/5799964/coronavirus-face-mask-asia-us/
4. A news report discussing the high mortality rate among older COVID-19 patients in mid-February. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51540981
5. A news report on the death of Elham Sheikhi, a young national soccer player in Iran who passed away on February 27th, 2020. https://english.alarabiya.net/en/coronavirus/2020/02/27/Young-female-Iranian-futsal-player-dies-of-coronavirus-in-Qom-Rokna
6. An article including information on China being applauded and being criticized for its lockdown approach for Wuhan. https://time.com/5796425/china-coronavirus-lockdown/
7. An article discussing protest and unrest related to the lockdown measures in Italy. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolefisher/2020/03/21/historyand-psychologypredict-riots-and-protests-amid-pandemic-lockdowns/
8. A publication discussing Asian American activism in U.S. college campuses and the disposition of Chinese communities in these spaces. https://graphics.dailybruin.com/aapi/
9. Weibo
10. An article detailing the change of FOX news report on matters related to COVID-19. https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-video-shows-fox-news-shift-take-covid-19-seriously-2020-3
11. U.S. higher education changing their operational and instruction methods to cope with COVID-19 pandemics. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/20/live-updates-latest-news-coronavirus-and-higher-education

Working in Beijing: Jenny

For people who had close relationships to both China and the U.S., COVID-19 manifested into our lives and interacted with our surrounding cultures beyond medical terms and border controls. Unlike Stephanie, Caitlyn, Kelly or me, Jenny works for a satellite office of a U.S. public research institution in Beijing, China. When I contacted her, she was still in her hometown, working remotely due to the prevention measures in China. With her experiences working with diverse national and cultural contexts, the differences between U.S. and China’s response came as no surprise. In response to the outbreak in Wuhan, Jenny’s institution reacted quickly, such as issuing community letters and sharing public information in February. Their president also sent out an anti-stigmatization letter to the community at large, raising awareness to the increase of xenophobia against Asian students related to COVID-19. In Jenny’s context, COVID-19 shifted how many Chinese people live their ordinary lives, but it also disrupted how Chinese international students pursue their studies. Parents of international students began messaging Jenny on social media groups, resulting in 700 to 800 worrying messages daily. The first wave of messages was travel concerns – with multiple travel bans against China and alerts coming from different countries, parents in January worried about their students’ access to international higher education. As the U.S. showed more evidence of epidemic outbreak and anti-Chinese sentiment, parents became troubled about their children’s safety overseas. During the U.S. heated debates on whether COVID-19 was a hoax and how does #flattenthecurve work [1], Chinese parents were in passionate discussion on how to ensure the safety and health of their children: should our children return? When and how should they return? Shall we request a plane for transport? Are the embassies still open in China? How would returning to China impact our children’s visa? How does the Leave of Absence work? Will our children be displaced by the school if the school shuts down? Jenny really empathized with these parents and was moved by Chinese students’ effort in comforting and calming their parents. “In a crisis like this, there’s just no perfect solution. Parents, schools, and everyone are getting pulled in different directions and receiving an overwhelming amount of information. ” From Jenny’s perspective, the COVID-19 has been a dynamic and evolving situation. Rapidly changing policy from the federal government, from the state, from the school meant that there’s no way to envision a long-term plan or proactive approach to this matter. As a result, these additional unknowns and ever-changing guidelines complicated and compounded the frustration and confusion of COVID-19 for students, parents and staff alike.

Looking Ahead

After talking with everyone, all our conversation boiled down to a rather cliché but ever more important message: COVID-19 affects everyone, and unity is what is needed to defeat this crisis for humanity. While Jenny’s counterpart in the U.S. was following the local government guidelines, her team in China was supporting Chinese public health measures. The success of her team was the ability and flexibility to understand individual differences and to combine solutions. “For both students and staff, working from home and transitioning to online learning are both learning curves, and sitting in front of a computer for all of your daily functions could be overwhelming. Therefore, we must adapt to our environment and come up with new strategies, so students and staff can both be protected and supported.” In Caitlyn’s case, while she applauded decentralized offices’ expertise and best practices, lack of campus-wide communication led to misinformation and limited support during the actual implementation. Public universities were a prototype of public bureaucracy, and what Caitlyn experienced was a microscopic view of what many citizens have experienced during this outbreak in the U.S. Some sectors felt under-prepared, and some states felt under-supported [2]. People’s privileges were more apparent than ever [3], and the lack of equity embroiled with misinformation further chipped away a sense of unity. To put it in simpler terms, Caitlyn stated that there was no doubt that the U.S. reacted too slow to COVID-19. But is it the lack of information, lack of access to resources, or lack of coordination? Perhaps it is a lack of empathy: the inability to see how other country’s suffering could translate into a disaster in the flagship of a first-world country.

The same critical consciousness applies to China as well. While Stephanie’s peers in China were celebrating COVID-19’s regional containment and recovery, she warned people to look beyond borders and think as a collective: “If this virus continues to spread in other places, it could return to China again. Government could rely on strict travel policies and border controls for now, but this isn’t sustainable in a globalized world and hurts everyone in the long run.” The stock market turmoil, for Stephanie, was only the tip of an iceberg. As many economists pointed out, an economic slump or recession in the U.S. would be inevitable because of COVID-19 [4]. Behind economic numbers are people’s livelihood, hopes, and dreams for the future. As such, “People shouldn’t think that “It’s not our troubles anymore”. As humankind we are all in this together.” For Stephanie, who currently holds 4 PhD offers, she had no choice but to reconsider her academic decisions to maintain stability and security. Stephanie also reflected on her future in the U.S. “I have a lot of more questions now because of this outbreak: Is this the life that I’ve always wanted? Do I want to be a part of this country? What does it mean to be an Asian person with the current context? These are all very honest and vulnerable discussions I have to have with myself.”

Kelly read an article somewhere that talked about making sacrifices when facing adversity. It is true that with social distancing and alternative instruction methods, people need to find a different way of living life and leading higher education. But people’s attachment and determination for normality and productivity puzzled Kelly. Universities were eager to launch their online programs and to modify practices, and people continued their political interpretations of COVID-19. “But we are in a pandemic, nothing is normal anymore. People need to recognize this and to think about the basic needs instead of hypothetical ideals. People need to evaluate their actions more seriously and realistically.” Because of the Wuhan lockdown, citizens of Hubei Province suffered more psychological, financial, and medical pain than the rest of China [5]: people give up freedom and jobs in exchange of control and peace not only for themselves, but for the rest of its country. Humanity, as of today, is fighting against a titan named COVID-19. As such, it is imperative for people to overlook partisanship, international conflicts, personal preferences, and the normality of having a life with leisure and convenience, so that we, not only as a country, but also as a species can move forward from this natural selection episode.

Footnote/References

1. A viral article introducing the importance of slowing down the rate of the epidemic. https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21171481/coronavirus-us-cases-quarantine-cancellation
2. New York taking COVID-19’s fight into their own hands due to limited federal support. https://ny.curbed.com/2020/3/13/21177322/new-york-covid-19-coronavirus-cancellations-nyc
3. An article comparing how ordinary people and celebrities were impacted by COVID-19 differently. https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/famous-people-normal-people-tests
4. An article discussing U.S. intelligence reporting the outlook of COVID-19 in the U.S. in January and February. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-intelligence-reports-from-january-and-february-warned-about-a-likely-pandemic/2020/03/20/299d8cda-6ad5-11ea-b5f1-a5a804158597_story.html
5. An article discussing the impact of the Wuhan Lockdown on its people. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/world/asia/china-coronavirus-cost.html

Writer’s Bio

Guicheng “Ariel” Tan is a researcher and Area Coordinator at CSU, Long Beach. Her current study investigates the job search experiences of international student affairs professionals. This project aligns with Ariel’s larger research interest in studying the relationship between cultural integration and identity development. Born and raised in Shenyang, China, Ariel received a B.S. in Psychology with Honors from the UC San Diego, College Counseling Certificate from the UC San Diego Extension Program, and M.A. in Higher Education and Student Affairs at New York University. Her previous study focused on the effect of sexualization of female video game characters on self-regard, and the relationship between biculturalism and Chinese students’ college adjustment. Passionate about connecting theories with practices, Ariel loves to reflect, to challenge, and to discover narratives using data and dialogues.