National Collegiate Honors Council

 

Date of this Version

2024

Document Type

Article

Citation

Honors in Practice (2024) 20; National Collegiate Honors Council; Guest editor: John Zubizarreta

Comments

Copyright 2024, National Collegiate Honors Council. Used by permission.

Abstract

Since the 1980s, the Maryland Collegiate Honors Council has offered an annual conference on a host campus in late February. In 2020, MCHC slipped in the conference just before the apocalyptic arrival of COVID-19 in March. Because this conference is hugely popular statewide, we decided to organize it virtually in 2021. Our topic—In Honors…Black Lives Matter—was too important for us to wait out the pandemic. We charged nothing, partly to encourage students and member institutions to participate and partly because it cost us nothing. Attendance tripled. Students who could not miss class or work were able to attend. Programs were spared from spending precious resources on travel and lodging. Family members were able to attend. Diversity followed access because students could attend at no cost on their phones. By necessity, our 2022 conference was also virtual. For 2023, we went hybrid with Friday in person and Saturday virtual. Students chose the day they preferred to present. They split evenly. This model reduced the conference cost to $80 for both days and $30 for virtual only, cut our carbon footprint, eliminated waste, removed time and transportation barriers for students, democratized participation, made cancellation unnecessary, and reduced the financial barrier for smaller honors programs. A student who was homeless even attended from his state-funded hotel room. This revolutionary experiment in public access to honors models the “NCHC Shared Principles and Practices of Honors Education,” particularly as regards equity and inclusion. Moreover, this model is one that other jurisdictions could emulate, regardless of size.

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