Andrew Pérez, a first-generation student at Harvard University, spent part of his senior year at his family’s home after the pandemic closed the campus. Like other students expecting to graduate from college this year, there will be no ceremony for Pérez, no pomp and circumstance, no cap and gown.

Harvard will mail his diploma. At times, Pérez feels disappointed. He also realizes the power in his pathbreaking. His success, he says, shows his nephews and other first-generation students that college, Harvard even, is for them.

Timothy P. White, chancellor of the 23-campus California State University system since 2012, is supposed to be celebrating his imminent retirement, not dealing with the many academic and financial challenges created by the coronavirus.

Earlier this week, White made what may prove to be one of the most consequential decisions of his tenure: announcing that most CSU classes will be online in the fall. He explains his decision in this interview.