BLUF: Community colleges face immense challenges during the pandemic, and in the aftermath, there is a need for a New Deal to support students and staff as full people, with wrap-around services; however, there is a risk that privatized, profit-driven algorithms and AI such as ChatGPT could replace community colleges, making it essential to design human, community-centered solutions.
The article recounts the experience of an English faculty member in a community college who, in the early days of the pandemic, transitioned to online teaching with the aid of for-profit Silicon Valley tools and found that vulnerable students and employees were left behind. The author argues that the community college system should be transformed into a transformative force that leads to a more just and caring socio-economic system through a New Deal that supports students and staff as full people. The author identifies the mental health crisis and profound learning loss exacerbated by the pandemic and warns against purely technocratic and technological solutions that aim to meet shareholder demands, such as privatized, corporate spaces run by profit-driven algorithms and AI like ChatGPT, which could replace community colleges.