The disengagement is real. I see it too. Sparse attendance at colloquia and seminars that students ask for. I know they're pulled in so many different directions but there also seems to be a lot of apathy.

Grad students are required to attend in our dept but faculty attendance has waned. I guess apathy is a part of it but reasons vary. For me, it’s because the seminar is at 4 pm and we have young children. I’m either home with one when he gets home at 4 or picking up the other from daycare at 4:30.

The time is overdue to shrink our science.

🎯 Pulled apart, yes and understandably. But lots and lots of shameless apathy at the same time... Not just students, but faculty too.

Same over here. I don’t understand how to fix this.

I think the recovery time for the collective trauma we all lived through might be longer than imagined. And it doesn't help that more and more things keep piling on.

Same thing here. Even here at a directional state U we used to have monthly colloquia w/ 100-150 students in attendance, and many faculty, now it's pretty difficult to get a couple dozen people at one event per semester, even offering extra credit . . .