This book is an exploration of the idea that interludes – or disruptions to our usual rhythms, rituals, and routines – offer individuals and institutions alike an incomparable opportunity to examine the governing assumptions that undergird academic work and to experiment with alternative modes and models of intellectual life. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as the prime example of an externally imposed interlude on a mass scale, the book argues that the compulsion of most colleges and universities to “return to business as usual” reveals that the “business” of the academic enterprise...