COVID-19 has been apocalyptic for higher education, and indeed for our nation as a whole; it has intensified pressures already threatening liberal arts education. Our conversations aim to enable colleges and universities across the country to learn from one another in addressing today's challenges and opportunities, and they will encourage these institutions to draw on the rich heritage of the liberal arts tradition, while acknowledging its historical limitations, in shaping their responses. Our goal is to think and talk in public about the enduring value of the liberal arts for the particular concerns and challenges of our time.