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Volume 66 No. 13
Reporting truth. Serving our community.
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
SU and the Spanish Shippensburg University flu pandemic of 1918 hiring policy reveals unintended impact Chase Slenker Staff Contributor
Photo courtesy of Flickr
The fourth floor of Old Main was converted into a hospital to house sick students who had fallen ill with the flu in 1918. Matthew Unger Asst. News Editor
Although COVID-19 was the most recent pandemic to hit the campus of Shippensburg University, it was not the first. In fact, in October of 1918, a completely different virus descended upon the campus of what was then the Cumberland Valley State Normal School (CVSNS) — the Spanish flu. The worldwide pandemic of Spanish flu began in late spring 1918, according to archives.gov. The first phase, which lasted until the fall of that year, was not as severe as what was to come. Starting in the fall of 1918, the Spanish flu pandemic increased in severity, leading to much more illness and death, according to archives.gov. The Spanish flu began its scourge among the students and faculty of CVSNS in early October 1918. At first, it looked as if CVSNS would be spared from the virus that had seemingly wrecked through Pennsylvania — one of the hardest hit states of the pandemic — but on Oct. 6, three cases of flu were detected on CVSNS’s campus, according to The Normal School Herald. Within just days of the first cases, over 40 teachers and students had caught the flu, according to The Normal School Herald. During this time period, the campus of CVSNS was much smaller than modern-day Shippensburg University. Even so, the school infirmary had become crowded with sick students, and the fourth floor of Old Main had to be converted into a hospital to house even more who had fallen ill. Although it was hoped that classes could still continue on campus amid the outbreak, it was determined that due to the high number of individuals who had become sick, which, including day
students, was near 100, school had to be cancelled for two weeks, according to The Normal School Herald and the 1919 Cumberland yearbook. During this cancellation period, those who could move back to their homes did, and faculty members who were not sick acted as nurses to those students left on campus who were infected. They specifically formed nursing squads to help out, according to The Normal School Herald. According to Shippensburg University archives technician Melanie Reed, CVSNS had a “Girl’s League” that helped to make facemasks for those on campus to help with the outbreak of flu. However, there is no indication that the facemasks were required to be worn. Most of the cases of Spanish flu were mild for those affected at CVSNS, according to The Normal School Herald, and near the end of October 1918, most of those affected had recovered or improved. However, the Spanish flu was not done with CVSNS, as it would return again that December and cause yet another outbreak. That time, the first floor of the girls’ dormitory (Horton Hall) was turned into an infirmary, according to the 1919 Cumberland yearbook. In all, the Spanish flu caused the deaths of around 675,000 Americans and over 50 million people worldwide, according to cdc.gov. The impact was so severe in the U.S. that it was estimated that the life expectance for the average American was lowered by more than 12 years. In regard to CVSNS, there were a few alumni who had died from influenza-related complications in early 1919, including a graduate of the class of 1918 and a graduate of the class of 1913, according to The Normal School Herald.
Photo courtesy of Picryl
Deaths from the Spanish flu increased dramatically in the United States and Europe in October 1918, when the flu first arrived on the campus of Cumberland Valley State Normal School, now Shippensburg University
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When a position at Shippensburg University (SU) needs filled, a search committee is formed under the SU Search Process Guide. Section I of the guide states the committee “must be approved by the Human Resources Office and should include race and gender diversity.” According to Aaron Dobbs, Association of Pennsylvania State Colleges and University Faculties (APSCUF) chapter president, the search committee process “can be an onerous, months-long process.” “When we talk about diversity, we need to include representatives and proponents for diversity that we want to see in our institution, our faculty and our search committees,” Dobbs said. SU has demonstrated due care, ensuring that search committees for new positions include racial and gender diversity; however, faculty and staff have reported that this requirement is regularly filled by the same small group of racial minority faculty and staff. Faculty and staff of color wishing to stay anonymous shared with The Slate that they are asked to serve on search committees at a disproportionate level when compared to their white counterparts. According to former APSCUF Chapter President Kara Laskow-
ski, “If nobody in your department meets the search committee diversity requirement, you must find a diverse member outside of your department to serve on the committee.” Laskowski also added that certain faculty are “serving on one search committee after another or multiple at a time, often outside of their discipline for a long period of time.” Megan Silverstrim, director of Communications and Marketing at SU, said, “The university has not been made aware of any negative implications to current faculty or staff who have agreed to serve on search committees.” Serving on a search committee is optional, and faculty and staff may decline to serve on a search committee; however, tenure-tracked faculty looking for promotion or staff concerned about maintaining their job amidst staffing reductions rarely turn down the request. This is particularly true in racial minority faculty and staff, who have expressed under the condition of anonymity that not accepting such requests could result in other negative consequences. The largest problem with this unintended side effect is that it takes a substantial amount of time and effort from individual members that they no longer can put toward scholarship or other promotion-building activities. “When you are asked to spend time on service to a committee
because of your skin color or sex (gender), which reduces your time for scholarship, and yet still are not recognized for that work, how does that feel,” Laskowski said. “Not coincidentally, this work is disproportionately performed by women and [people of color].” From interviewing other faculty members, they have repeated the general message that their issue does not lie as much in serving on committees more frequently to fulfil this requirement, but that their contributions impact their ability to research, serve students or conduct other promotion-generating scholarship. One potential solution identified by racial minority faculty and staff is to broaden the policy to specify other types of diversity, reflecting the broader emphasis on intersectionalities that Manuel Ruiz, assistant vice president for Inclusion and Belonging, has emphasized regarding the Campus Climate Survey results. This is an area that Laskowski mentioned is worthy of further exploration, saying, “Specificity is important but by limiting it to two factors, there arises the risk of limiting other potent and salient types of diversity.” Those interviewed reinforced Dobbs’ comments regarding the importance of diversity in search committees but expressed these concerns as a prevalent unintended consequence on faculty and staff of color.