The Campus Caregivers Project

Envisioning a better future for caregivers on campus.

Caregivers deserve better.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed our inability to support those who support others.

The failure of our institutions to support our most vulnerable workers has profoundly harmed so many members of our community. As the pandemic wanes and the rebuilding begins, we must do better for the caregivers among us.

Join the VFC as we document the conditions of caregivers on campus, and take action to fight for a better future.

The Caregivers' Survey

Caregivers are people who have at-home care responsibilities: for children, for parents, for siblings, for partners, for other loved ones. With the collapse of external caregiving resources, like schools, elder-care facilities, and offices, many of us are being asked to shoulder an impossible burden: full-time care and full-time work.

This project focuses on the students and staff who are serving as caregivers while working on college campuses, from TAs to tenured professors, librarians, adjunct instructors, and administrative staff. We already know that caregiving during the pandemic is harming the emotional, physical, and financial well-being of our community. Because caregiving responsibilities disproportionately fall on women and people of color, we also know that this harm is inequitably distributed. We have an obligation to respond.

Since October of 2020, the Visionary Futures Collective has been inviting campus workers around the world to share their experiences working from home while caring for parents, children, and other loved ones. So far, we have received over 300 responses from caregivers at universities who shared details about the kinds of financial, logistical, and communicative support they are receiving from their institutions.

What we learned is that campus workers overwhelmingly feel abandoned.

Interested in the data? View our public spreadsheet here.

Tell Your Story: Take the Survey



About the data

The information published on this website was collected through a public google form that was first made available in October of 2020. The questions were modified once, in November. The information shown here represents the merging of the two forms.

The information shown here was last updated on February 18, 2021. It represents 311 respondents from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Of these respondents, 15% are caring for more than two people. 33% are caring for adults 18 or over. 5% are students, 10% are contingent or precarious, and 85% have some job security. 70% of respondents are faculty or other instructional staff.



Caregiver Feelings



Over 300 campus caregivers answered our question: how do you feel your institution is supporting you? This map shows the percentage of respondents from each state that reported feeling "abandoned" by their institutions. White indicates no response; blue indicates a high level of support; and red indicates little or no support at all.

Over 150 respondents provided information about their level of job security, which allows us to identify caregiver feelings in relation to their position on campus. While this chart makes it clear that students are struggling, it also shows that people in all positions are struggling, too.

Advocacy Toolkit

The Visionary Futures Collective has put together a collection of advocacy resources that you can use to improve support for caregivers on your campus. The activities, data points, and testimonies below all draw on more than 300 responses to our Caregivers Survey.

Not sure where to start? Our public spreadsheet lists seventeen ways that institutions can take action to support caregivers.

The grid below contains nine strategies you can use to support change on your campus, organized loosely around three approaches to creating change: Shared Vulnerability, Radical Transparency, and Collective Action.

Each strategy is accompanied by a testimony submitted by campus workers. You can view the text of the sound clips here.

Black and white photo of a white female telephone operator wearing a mask.
Shared Vulnerability
Our survey shows that 88% of academic caregivers feel undersupported.

Create spaces where colleagues can safely share what they are experiencing and what they need.

Make privacy a priority: try one-on-one meetings or anonymous surveys.

Black and white photo of a white female telephone operator wearing a mask.
Shared Vulnerability
Our survey showed that 67% of caregiver accommodations came from supervisor generosity, not institutional policies.

Seek out conversations with supervisors across divisions or departments to share strategies for support.

Black and white photo of a white female telephone operator wearing a mask.
Shared Vulnerability
Starting difficult conversations requires identifying our relationship to power and acknowledging the vulnerabilities of our community.

Check out the "Collective Responsibility Labor Advocacy Toolkit" for resources on using conversation to disrupt power and creating change.

Black and white photo of a white female telephone operator wearing a mask.
Radical Transparency
Our survey shows that only 18% of institutions are communicating their caregiving policies clearly, and less than 50% are communicating effectively in any way.

Take action: bring visibility to the policies and resources on your campus that may help those in need access support.

Black and white photo of a white female telephone operator wearing a mask.
Radical Transparency
What information would help you advocate for change?

Gather campus-specific data about things like:
* How many people are caregivers.
* How much money caregiving costs.
* How caregiving is impacting productivity.
* How desperate people feel.

Black and white photo of a white female telephone operator wearing a mask.
Radical Transparency
Use public platforms to make information about the conditions of caregivers visible.

Publish an op-ed in a student newspaper, city paper, or on your scholarly society's blog. Make caregiving a priority in staff or faculty meetings. Talk about caregiving at conferences and on list serves.

Black and white photo of a white female telephone operator wearing a mask.
Collective Action
Publish a collective statement about caregiving and labor for your institution or your scholarly society.

Don't forget to be inclusive: caregiving policies should support faculty, students, and staff of all kinds.

Not sure where to start? See this example from UCLA.

Black and white photo of a white female telephone operator wearing a mask.
Collective Action
Organize for mutual aid: What kinds of resources are most urgently needed by caregivers, and how can you organize to collect and distribute those resources?

Not sure where to begin? Consider models like the MLA's emergency grants program or The Sportula.

Black and white photo of a white female telephone operator wearing a mask.
Collective Action
Get your union involved... and get involved with your union.

Join The Collective