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Maitripa College commencement held in the Maitripa College Jokhang and broadcast on Zoom, Portland, Oregon, US, May 2021. Photo by Laura Miller.
Maitripa College is a Buddhist institution of higher education affiliated with the FPMT in Portland, Oregon, US. Yangsi Rinpoche, Maitripa College president and faculty member, began teaching a four-year advanced Buddhist studies program at Maitripa Institute in January 2006. Maitripa became a college in July 2008, after receiving legal authority to offer graduate degrees in Buddhist Studies in Oregon. Currently, the college offers a Master of Arts degree in Buddhist Studies and a Master of Divinity degree. Dean of Education Namdrol Miranda Adams shares how the college has adapted during the COVID pandemic.
We concluded our fifteenth year of operations with a joyful commencement ceremony in May 2021, our first in-person activity held at our physical location in over a year. For our four new graduates, as for everyone in our community and the world, it has been a year like no other.
In March 2020, we pivoted our entire operation into an online model for the foreseeable future. This was done in response to emergency orders from the State of Oregon due to the emerging COVID crisis. From the outset, our college was faced with two main challenges. First, how would we survive when two of our primary income streams—investment income and donations—became completely unavailable? How would we care for our teachers and staff members, who in turn care for our students and community? Where would the money come from? Second, would our students stay? Would they still feel it valuable to attend classes, practices, and community events now that those activities were being held in virtual reality?
Maitripa College commencement held in the Maitripa College jokhang and broadcast on Zoom, Portland, Oregon, US, May 2021. Photo by Laura Miller.
We happily discovered that our community’s generosity, resiliency, and dedication exceeded our expectations. Our teachers and staff members took twenty to forty percent pay cuts across the board, according to their capacities, so everyone could remain employed by the college during this time of great uncertainty. The reduced expenses that this brought—along with emergency benefits from state and local governments—allowed us to ensure our employees were cared for while also ending the year in a good financial position.
Our students did decide to continue their studies and even reported a “seamless” transition to online learning. This was a delightful surprise to our staff, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make it happen, and to the students, who continued to learn and grow together.
Our spring term enrollment was up by about twenty percent and our programs and classes continue to be well attended. New and continuing students enrolled in our two degree programs. Our continuing education students and our students who join classes as auditors are enthusiastically looking forward to beginning the 2021-2022 academic year. Classes begin in August and will be offered through online and in-person delivery methods.
Yangsi Rinpoche teaching a Maitripa College class on Zoom, Portland, Oregon, US, April 2020. Photo by Namdrol Miranda Adams.
We will continue to offer the majority of our classes and programs online this summer. Prospective students among our FPMT family worldwide are warmly invited to join the Discovering Buddhism modules we will be offering online this summer. We will offer at least one more academic semester partially online, including philosophy and meditation classes with Yangsi Rinpoche, starting in August. We will begin to slowly shift back to more in-person classes as conditions and comfort levels improve and restrictions loosen.
We are so grateful for our resilient minds and spirits that have carried us through the pandemic thus far. We appreciate the access we have had to the basic requirements of life—including food, shelter, and medicines—that have sustained us during this time. We thank our teachers and the teachings for showing us the way. The destruction COVID brought throughout the world has been unimaginable. We look at the great suffering that this crisis has laid bare before us with clear eyes and compassion. The pandemic has strengthened our intentions to develop and provide a Buddhist education that can help us alleviate suffering, in both conventional and ultimate terms, as our wonderful students aspire to do every day.
Maitripa College staff meeting on Zoom, April 2020. Photo by Alfredo Pineiro.
To learn more about Maitripa College, visit their website:
https://maitripa.org/
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