Fear Isn’t Keeping Them Out, It’s Indifference (Why Campus Attendance Has Plummeted)

March 8, 2022

It’s an almost universal phenomenon.

Whether you barely closed in-person learning for the pandemic, campus leaders are facing the same reality: A raft of learners aren’t coming back to your campuses. In-person, that is.


The question is, why?


The answer has puzzled me for a while now. It got harder to answer because even formerly growing campus sites are facing the same challenges. After shutting down to in-person gatherings for even a few months, 20-30% of their students disappeared. In fact, of the 2.6 million students who started college in fall 2019, 26.1 percent, or roughly 679,000, didn’t come back the next year, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. 


I know of a few schools that have surged past their pre-COVID attendance numbers. But for every campus that has seen that favor, there are 100 that haven’t.


What’s going on?


At first, we surmised that it was the lack of a vaccine that created the lag. Nope.


Then it was the variants, but even relief from Delta and now Omicron still hasn’t led to a surge that erases the loss.


Then we wondered if people were just generally fearful.


Nix that theory too. Many people who can’t find their way back to in-person learning have no trouble finding their way to Target, an NBA game, dinner out, a tropical vacation, family reunions, or a Foo Fighters concert.


What gives?


The Emotion Isn’t Fear…It’s Indifference

So, this is a theory here (I’m not a social researcher or psychologist), but I offer it in the hope that it’s helpful. After all, you can’t battle a force you don’t understand and can’t name.


What I’m picking up from my hard conversations with campus executives who have opened their experience management channels is the fact that the exodus isn’t driven by fear…it’s indifference.


Their students know where their local campus is. They didn’t forget. They have been poked and lured enough by your array of free re-engagement events available to them.


After the disruption that happened during COVID, they simply grew indifferent to in-person learning.


Indifference is defined as a lack of interest, concern, sympathy, or unimportance. 


They don’t hate in-person learning; there’s just no surge of strong emotions. It’s simply not as important.


It’s like they’ve assessed their life, reconsidered what matters most, and decided that attending traditional school just wasn’t that important in the end.


Which is discouraging, I know.


But hang on, there’s a lesson here for all of us.


You might be thinking to yourself exactly what a district leader expressed to me in our conversation last week. She said, “well Joe, you don’t read my inbox and you’re not in my conversations. People hated what I did or didn’t do about politics, racial justice, masks, vaccines, or politics and they left mad. Flippin' mad.”


For sure all those things are factors. But I’m not sure it explains a decline as massive as what we’re seeing.


Regarding the people who left your system because they were angry at you, you likely have them seared into your memory not because they’re a large group of people, but because they were a loud group of people.


Loud does not equal large.

And it’s probably not nearly half as large a population as you are imagining. There’s something deeper going on here.


Another recurrent line many campus leaders have echoed lately is that public education (K-12 and Higher Ed) is the subject of a lot of scorn.


When you study what’s happening in the rest of the world or throughout history, what’s happening in the West is hardly coercion. A loss of privilege is not coercion.


Do some people have an axe to grind with their local schools? Sure…and sometimes with good reason. Just witness the rise of unconventional educational alternatives.


But that’s likely still a small minority of the people who disappeared from your campus during the pandemic, despite what you read in the comment section on the Internet.


Double click on that and you’ll see that while the online world can be a hostile place, the real world is a lot less polarized.


While that may come as a shock, recent research suggests that the online world distorts how divided we are. In other words, if you talk to most people, they’re somewhere in the middle.


And when it comes to people who stopped attending your in-person learning, they don’t despise your system. They just don’t think about it much.


Just because ten people wrote you nasty emails doesn’t mean that everyone left because they dislike you or your system.


Many People Didn’t Really Leave Your System. They Just Stopped Coming.

So, if it is indifference, what’s going on?


Here’s the strangest part.


If you talk to a lot of people who no longer attend in-person learning and are currently occasional online participants, they’ll tell you they’re still a part of your learning community.


Dissect that a little further and here’s what you’ll probably find. Most people didn’t leave. They just stopped coming.


I know that makes no logical sense, but maybe that’s how they see it.


That’s what indifference does—you stop coming, but you never really think of yourself as having left.


It’s the friendship that gradually drifts into ‘yeah, that’s right, we used to hang out all the time, but I guess not anymore.’ You’re not enemies by any stretch. You just drifted apart.


Weird, isn’t it?


But that’s indifference.


People Grow Indifferent When They Don’t See Value

Indifference works like this: You become indifferent to people and things when you no longer see value in them.

It’s just not significant enough for you to carve out time for it anymore.


If this is indeed what’s happening with campus attendance, the verdict is as sobering as it is disappointing.


People didn’t see value in on-campus attendance, so, with the catalyst of a few months or longer off, they dropped it.


It’s easy to push back and argue that people should see their education as something that adds significant value. That’s true. Except we’re not talking about learning as much as we are about face-to-face learning.


Maybe your people haven’t bailed on the principle or the idea of education merely as much as they’ve left the current expression of learning.


So, what do you do about that?


The Antidote to Indifference is Passion

The hardest part about indifference is that it engenders neither love nor hate.


It’s more like a shrug that grows into obliviousness. There’s just not a strong well of emotions when it comes to indifference.


The antidote to indifference, then, is passion.


You are never indifferent to things you’re passionate about.


And this is where some further hard news kicks in and ultimately some great news.


First, the hard news, then some much better news.


What Are You (Honestly) Passionate About? People Coming To Your Actual Classroom…Or The Mission Of Your System? 

This is a moment when it’s critical for leaders to get honest with themselves.


Your misdirected passion as a campus leader can misdirect your team and organization’s passion.

As goes the leader, so goes the team.


To that end, if you started to explore the dark underbelly of why campus superintendents and presidents want to get everyone back in their classrooms, you might discover that these leaders:


  • Don’t like seeing empty rooms
  • Want to see their parking lots full
  • Rave about campus life and the traditions found on their campuses


I know that’s a superficial assessment, and your motives are far more nuanced than that, but as a district and campus leader for several decades, I get the emotion here.


Perhaps the key to the future isn’t to just create all the sights, sounds, and “good feels” that we have all come to treasure.

Maybe it’s less about getting excited about pressing “re-set” and being more excited about the mission and what all this mess now makes possible.


Here is another sobering fact that campus leaders must face as the future arrives. Are you ready for this?

The mission of the system gets accomplished as well or better outside the campus walls than it does inside them.

As a result, heading into a hybrid, digital, decentralized future, maybe it’s time to start thinking beyond the building.


Start Thinking Beyond Your Buildings

Historically, the whole system of education has wagered almost everything on gathering people in buildings.

Buildings will be around for decades to come, and I believe it is great when people gather together.


But if your system is going to realize its full mission, your campus buildings will have to stop being the epicenter of your mission.

In the future, if preparing for a prosperous society means coming to your campus, in a set building, with a set faculty member, at a set hour, you need a new strategy.


The easiest way to think about this is the same way instructional leaders have thought about study groups for the last 25 years.

No campus leader today feels threatened by the idea that thousands of learners will be meeting in their homes, coffee shops, or other community places to connect with other learners. The system does spur learning without it actually happening in a centralized facility.


This is where the potential for a distributed learning model starts to move in a new direction.


Many people who are indifferent about driving to your buildings (perhaps) aren’t indifferent to your mission. Leaders who are willing to go to them will be far more effective (and profitable) than leaders who continue to expect people to come to them.

The good news is that decentralized learning scales in a way that centralized education doesn’t. It costs less and can produce far more.


A Renewed Mission and a Brighter Future

It stinks to realize you’re battling indifference and so are your colleagues. And it’s not fun to have your ideals and biases challenged...But I'm not sorry.


I know from experience that as my ideals become exposed and my insecurities get unmasked, I become a better leader.

So, if the best way to battle indifference is to fuel someone’s passion level, perhaps one path forward is to get people more passionate about the MISSION of your campus than the tactical METHODS of delivery.


If your only winning method is having everyone attending class on-site and this strategy is bringing diminishing enrollment returns year after year, perhaps refocusing on the overall mission of the campus is a better direction.


The mission of your system can be accomplished in your buildings, in their homes, in workplaces, in your community, and literally across the globe.


Moving from a system that defaults to in-person learning to a campus that connects and equips learning anytime and anywhere can renew a community passion that might be flickering out. And in the process, it might renew yours as well.

Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to name the problem. I hope this helps name a problem and perhaps point the way toward a solution.


Leading Your Mission Forward Can Feel Like A Mystery. It Doesn’t Have To.

Leading your organization forward can feel like a mystery. Although every growing system experiences growing pains, being equipped to respond to those challenges – structurally and culturally – is what sets apart a thriving mission from one that’s stuck and hoping for more relief.


P.S. Whenever you are ready here are the 2 best ways I can help you:


1) Get your FREE guide: 5 Evidence-Based Practices to Reclaim More Team Engagement with Less Effort: www.higherperformancegroup.com/reclaim


2) Schedule a Call. Let’s talk about the obstacles (and opportunities) that you & your team are currently facing.  www.higherperformancegroup.com/schedule

More Blog Articles

By HPG Info July 8, 2025
How a single leader can sink your team (and how one good one can save it) Last month, a superintendent I work with shared what happened during her presentation of the strategic plan to the board. Twenty years of experience, proven results, polished presentation, and promising data. Halfway through, one executive team member sat back, arms crossed, occasionally checking his phone. A board member started shuffling papers. By the end, three others had adopted the same disengaged body language. What should have been an energizing strategic discussion devolved into polite nods and no real commitment. That same week, a university president I consult with described identical dynamics in her executive team meeting. Different building, same pattern: one person's negativity was infecting the entire senior leadership. This painful parallel revealed a leadership truth that research confirms: one person can significantly impact your team's performance by as much as 30-40%. But one person can also save it completely. The Brutal Science: Your Star Leaders Might Be Your Biggest Problem You've hired brilliant people. Advanced degrees, proven results, impressive credentials. But here's what organizational behavior expert Will Phelps discovered when he planted one "bad apple" into 44 different work groups: Performance dropped 30-40% consistently. It didn't matter if the person was: The Skeptic (aggressively questioning every initiative) The Withdrawer (withholding effort on strategic planning) The Pessimist (negative about every proposal) The result was always the same: One leader's negative behavior infected the entire team. "I'd gone in expecting that someone would get upset with the slacker or downer," Phelps said. "But nobody did. They were like, 'Okay, if that's how it is, then we'll be slackers and downers too.'" Your leadership team isn't choosing to underperform. They're unconsciously mirroring the energy around them—what neuroscientists call "emotional contagion." Where One Leader Changes Everything However, one group in Phelps' study remained energetic and produced excellent results despite the presence of the bad apple. The difference wasn't intelligence, experience, or positional authority. It was one person who understood what MIT's Human Dynamics Lab calls "belonging cues"—micro-signals that create a sense of psychological safety. This leader didn't take charge or give motivational speeches. Instead, he did something much simpler: When resistance emerged during budget discussions, he leaned forward, made eye contact, and responded with genuine curiosity. Not fake positivity, but authentic interest that "took the danger out of the room." Then came the pivot: "That's an interesting concern—what would you suggest we do differently?" Result? Even the resistant member, almost against his will, found himself contributing constructively. The Neuroscience Behind Leadership Infection MIT's Human Dynamics Lab studied hundreds of executive teams using "sociometers"—devices that measure micro-interactions between leaders. Their finding changes everything: You can predict team performance by focusing on how leaders interact rather than what they say. The five factors that drive executive team performance: Everyone talks and listens in roughly equal measure High levels of eye contact and energetic gestures Direct communication between all members, not just with the CEO Back-channel conversations and side discussions Members who explore outside the team and bring information back Notice what's missing from this list? Degrees. Experience. Strategic expertise. Belonging cues matter more than credentials. The neuroscience is clear: simple safety signals reduce cognitive load in decision-making, which in turn increases strategic thinking, drives innovation, and creates breakthrough results (Edmondson, 1999). Your leadership team dynamics are literally working for or against your mission. The Executive Infection Gap: When Smart Leaders Create Stupid Results Every negative interaction in your cabinet costs you: Faculty who disengage because they sense leadership division Students who suffer when initiatives fail due to leadership dysfunction Community members who lose confidence witnessing leadership conflicts The research is concerning: 30 seconds—that's how long it takes for negative energy to spread in executive meetings If one senior leader checks out, others follow unconsciously When leadership teams can't create safety, organizational initiatives die Allowing negativity to spread among your senior team affects every student you serve. From Infection to Connection: The Framework That Works ❌ The Typical Approach (Actually Destructive): Hope the resistant leader comes around Cabinet meeting scenario: Your executive team member constantly questions every initiative, rolls their eyes during presentations, and makes dismissive comments. You address it privately, but nothing changes. Other team members start to disengage. Result: Strategic planning stalls. Good initiatives die. High-performing leaders start looking elsewhere. ✅ The Breakthrough Approach (Game-Changing): Respond to resistance with curiosity and inclusion Same scenario, different response: When the executive team member questions an initiative, you lean forward and say, "You're raising important concerns—help us think through what success would look like from your perspective." Then pivot: "What do the rest of you think about these points?" Result : The resistant leader feels heard instead of dismissed. The team stays engaged. Opposition turns into constructive problem-solving. The ROI of Executive Team Belonging The numbers prove leadership safety wins: School districts with high-functioning leadership teams see 23% better student outcomes Campuses with psychologically safe executive teams show 45% higher innovation rates Simple safety interventions can improve leadership team performance by 30-40% in weeks Your leadership team dynamics aren't just "nice to have"—they're driving every outcome in your organization. Transform Your Leadership Team Starting Today The Executive Safety Test: Step 1: Record your next cabinet/executive team meeting Step 2 : Count belonging cues vs. safety threats among leaders Step 3 : If threats outnumber cues, your leadership dynamics are creating the problem Three Daily Practices: Lean forward when team members raise concerns Respond to resistance with "What am I missing?" and actually listen Create micro-moments of safety in every executive decision The Leadership Team Safety Discussion Protocol: For your next executive team meeting: Have each member share when they felt most and least safe to speak the truth in recent meetings Compare responses—what patterns emerge among your senior team? Practice responding to resistance with curiosity instead of defensiveness Identify any leaders who might be unconsciously spreading negativity Remember: resistance usually signals important information, not disloyalty The Choice Every Leader Must Make You can manage resistance or mine wisdom from it. You can hope that negativity will dissipate or actively foster a sense of belonging among leaders. You can let one senior leader infect your team or become the person who transforms it. You cannot do both. The most brilliant superintendents and presidents consistently choose connection over control among their senior teams. They've learned that executive safety isn't soft—it's strategic. They've discovered that belonging cues among leaders aren't touchy-feely—they're performance drivers. Because leadership team safety is simple . Simple safety scales throughout the organization. Scalable safety creates sustainable performance for students. And sustainable student performance is what brilliant leadership actually looks like. The Hidden Factor Behind High-Performing Teams Here's what I've learned from working with hundreds of leadership teams: The difference between teams that foster belonging and those that spread disconnection isn't just about individual awareness—it's about Team Intelligence (TQ) . When MIT studied executive teams, they discovered you could predict performance by ignoring what leaders said and focusing entirely on how they interacted. Teams with high TQ naturally create the belonging cues that prevent negative infection and amplify positive energy. The TQ Advantage: 40% faster problem resolution in complex situations 27% higher team member satisfaction and retention 35% more strategic objectives achieved on time The breakthrough teams I work with understand that one resistant leader doesn't have to destroy team performance. When teams develop TQ, they learn to respond to resistance with curiosity, mine wisdom from opposition, and transform potential "bad apples" into contributors. Ready to Transform Your Team Dynamics?
July 2, 2025
The 7-Part Framework to Turn Your Bumbling Into Brilliance Here's what happened last Tuesday at a board meeting that was hard to watch. A brilliant superintendent with a post-graduate degree and twenty years of experience spent 45 minutes presenting their "comprehensive student achievement initiative leveraging pedagogical frameworks aligned with district strategic priorities." The board nodded politely. A parent in the back raised her hand: "Can you explain this so my 13-year-old would understand?" The superintendent couldn't. That challenging moment was a graduate course in communication: The most brilliant leaders use language a 13-year-old understands. Smart words are simple, scalable, and sustainable. Fancy words don't edify—they confuse. And to be unclear is to be unkind. Full disclosure: I LOVE words. Early in my career as a young executive, I felt I needed to use a fancy lexicon to prove my competence to my colleagues and community. I was that guy dropping "paradigmatic frameworks" and "synergistic methodologies" in every meeting. Then a colleague lovingly pulled me aside after a presentation and said, "Joe, I think you meant the etymology of this word, not the entomology... That's the study of bugs." No lie, that happened. And I've been on a professional learning track ever since to reform my language to be less fluff and more function. The Brutal Truth: Your Intelligence Might Make You Sound Unintelligent You're brilliant. Your degrees prove it. Your experience confirms it. Your results validate it. But here's what's happening: You sound smart, but communicate unintelligibly Your scholarly vocabulary creates barriers, not bridges Your complex explanations confuse the very people you're trying to help The research is clear: When people encounter complicated messages, they ignore them, seek simplified versions, or research meanings Your brain burns 20% of your body's energy despite being only 2% of your body weight Complex messages literally exhaust people—and exhausted brains don't make decisions The crushing reality: Every fancy word you use to sound smart makes you less effective as a leader. Where Brilliance Meets Clarity The most brilliant leaders pass this test: Can a 13-year-old understand what you just said? If not, you're not communicating intelligently—you're just showing off your vocabulary. Why this matters: It represents your community's actual literacy level It cuts through jargon instantly It forces you to focus on what actually matters It reveals whether you truly understand your own ideas "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Einstein Most leaders fail this test spectacularly. Smart Words Are Simple: The Science Behind Clarity Meta-analyses of narrative transportation research prove that when people become deeply engaged with simple, clear messaging, they experience significant changes in: Attitudes Beliefs Behaviors The neuroscience of understanding: Simple language reduces cognitive load Reduced cognitive load increases comprehension Increased comprehension drives action Action creates results Your fancy words are literally working against your mission. The Team Intelligence Gap: When Smart People Communicate Stupidly Every confused message costs you: Students who don't apply because they don't understand the value Donors who don't give because they can't grasp the impact Faculty who don't engage because they're lost in the jargon The deeper problem: Your brilliant individual leaders are producing average team results because they've confused sounding smart with being effective. The brutal reality: 15 seconds—that's how long people scan content before bouncing If your message needs a translation, you've already lost When leadership teams can't communicate simply, initiatives die in complexity To be unclear is to be unkind to the very people you're trying to serve. The 7-Part Framework To Force Clarity What students want (in everyday language) The problem they face (no jargon, just truth) Why you understand (personal, not professional language) Your track record (results, not rhetoric) Three simple steps (if it's confusing, fix it) What to do next (one clear action) What's at stake (consequences they can picture) Test every sentence: Would your community understand this? From Scholarly Confusion to Simple Brilliance: Real Examples K-12 Transformation: Standards-Based Grading ❌ The "Smart" Approach (Actually Stupid): "Comprehensive Standards-Based Assessment Implementation Initiative" "As part of our commitment to educational excellence and aligned with district strategic priorities, we are implementing a comprehensive standards-based grading framework. This pedagogical shift represents a fundamental reimagining of our assessment paradigm, moving from traditional percentage-based evaluation metrics to proficiency-based learning progressions..." ✅ The Brilliant Approach (Human-Friendly): "Finally Know If Your Child Is Actually Learning" What parents want: You want to know if your child is ready for next year—not just their grade average. The problem: Your child brings home a "B" but you have no idea if they understand math or just turned in homework on time. When they struggle with algebra next year, you're blindsided. What we do: We teach each skill until your child masters it We report exactly which skills they've mastered and which they're still learning We give extra help on skills they haven't mastered yet The result: Schools using this approach see 23% better student performance and 40% fewer students needing help later. Higher Ed Transformation: AI-Powered Mental Health Support ❌ The "Smart" Approach (Actually Stupid): "Innovative Digital Wellness Ecosystem Leveraging Artificial Intelligence" "In response to evolving student needs and technological advancement opportunities, we are launching a comprehensive digital wellness ecosystem that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to provide personalized mental health support interventions..." ✅ The Brilliant Approach (Human-Friendly): "Get Mental Health Help Before You're in Crisis" What students want: You want to feel better without waiting three weeks for a counseling appointment. The problem: You're struggling with anxiety or depression, but you're not "sick enough" for crisis help. You suffer alone until things get really bad. What we do: Text our AI counselor anytime, day or night (completely private) Get immediate help tailored to your specific situation Connect with human counselors when you're ready The result: Universities using this system see a 60% decrease in students in crisis and a 45% increase in students completing their degrees. The Pattern Every Brilliant Leader Must See Notice the transformation: Confusing messages focus on the institution and use big words to sound impressive Clear messages focus on the person's problem using words they actually use The brilliant leaders understand: Smart words are simple words Simple words are scalable across all audiences Scalable words create a sustainable impact Sustainable impact is the only measure of true intelligence If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough to lead it. The ROI of Speaking Clearly The numbers prove clarity wins: Organizations with simple, clear messaging see email marketing returns of $36-$40 for every dollar spent Systems that test their messaging for clarity generate ROI improvements of up to 760% Teams that communicate simply create breakthrough performance that scales Your fancy vocabulary isn't impressing anyone—it's costing you everything. Transform Your Team's Communication Intelligence The Clarity Test Step 1: Take your most important initiative Step 2: Explain it in simple, human language Step 3: If you can't, you don't understand it well enough to lead it The gap between complex and simple is the gap between failure and success. Three Questions Every Brilliant Leader Must Answer Would any parent understand what problem this solves? Can anyone follow the steps to solve it? Would people actually care about the outcome? Team Intelligence Discussion Protocol For your next leadership team meeting: The Clarity Audit: Have each team member explain your most important campus initiative in simple, everyday language Compare responses—how different are they? Which explanations would actually help someone? The Jargon Purge: List every fancy word you use to describe your work Replace each with a word a 13-year-old knows Test the new version with actual people The Kindness Check: Review your current website, emails, and presentations Ask: "Are we being kind to the people we're trying to help?" Remember: To be unclear is to be unkind The Choice Every Brilliant Leader Must Make You can sound smart or be effective. You can impress colleagues or help students. You can use fancy words or create real change. You cannot do both. "I would not give a fig for the simplicity that exists on this side of complexity; but I would give my life for the simplicity that exists on the far side of complexity." —Oliver Wendell Holmes The most brilliant leaders consistently choose clarity over complexity. They've done the hard work of mastering complexity so they can deliver simplicity. They've wrestled with the big ideas so they can explain them in small words. They've earned the right to speak like a human being instead of a textbook. Because smart words are simple words. Simple words scale. Scalable words create sustainable impact. And sustainable impact is what brilliant leadership actually looks like. Ready to Lead with True Intelligence?  Stop hiding your brilliance behind big words. Start communicating with the clarity that creates change.
Show More