Abstract
Although thisEditor’s Note is being published in the fall, I am currently writing it in the throes of the Arizona summer heat. As each summer creeps up on me, my spouse, and our dog (a cattle dog/pittix mix who loves to be outside), I wonder: how am I going to do this again? And yet, as someone who has lived in Arizona now for over 10 years—a period of time that has been split across my 20’s, 30’s, and now 40’s—I chuckle each time this question comes into my mind because we always find a way. We go for walks with our dog in the botanical gardens, which provide shade, water, and so much canine-based enrichment through unique smells. We wade in our pool and find ways to make dinner in our small kitchen that do not involve the oven. We spend more time enjoying movies at movie theaters. And when all else fails, I kvetch about how I’m already looking forward to the “two weeks of winter” we will get in Arizona. But those moments are thankfully fleeting, and high summers pass and turn toward monsoon rains that then tumble into more temperate falls. All to say, we find ways to address that persistent Southwest problem of the heat, because dry as it might be, it still blasts.
We certainly are not alone in finding ways to move through these hot summer months. Cultures have been finding solutions to navigating arid desert environments for generations, oftentimes without the ease of turning down the aircon or escaping to cooler climates. While there is mounting empirical evidence that the summer heat we all experience is getting hotter, it is also true that summers have long been hot, and as a result, we have all had to find various approaches to addressing the persistent problem that is the discomfort heat provides. I’m sure we’ve all heard that old adage that “there's nothing new under the sun.” But if that is the case, there certainly are different approaches, unique ways to address those old, persistent, persnickety issues that still seem to kick around.
Just like the annual arrival of summer heat, education has its own set of persistent problems. Tightening budgets, lowering attendance, the ongoing question of the value of a college education, and the ongoing tussle between learning and workforce preparedness are but a few issues we keep kicking around as educators. In our specific field of student affairs, we’ve had our own set of long debates and questions, too. Of course, these concerns are becoming more acute, more pressurized, and more intense, but many of them have been hanging around for more than a few years. If there are no new problems under the student affairs sun, then we better at least get to sorting some novel approaches to addressing them, because clearly the same old responses are not working as well as we may like.
And that's where this issue of About Campus clicks in. In it, authors address some of those persistent problems in our field. They write about food insecurity, belonging and mattering, curiosity, inclusive language, and thriving. These are all well-known issues that indeed make a difference in the context of student learning and development. And what I so appreciate about what these authors provide is that they invite exciting, fresh, and incisive contributions that help us think with profundity about the variety of ways we can approach those issues that continue to nag us. My hope is you’ll find some inspiration in these pages, some ideas on how to go down different paths and try unique strategies to address the educational challenges you continue to face.
Now, let me see if a popsicle will help cool me down…those two weeks of winter can’t be too far off, can they?