Incorporating our Contemporary Issue into Building a Sense of Belonging
Jen Imel & Riley Sparks Contemporary Issues Committee Throughout the history of higher education, universities have been challenged and tasked with confronting our shortcomings in areas of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. Beginning by looking at the discriminatory conception and leading up to where universities have fallen short today, it is no wonder our current contemporary issue focuses on creating equitable and socially— just practices on our campuses, specifically in our housing and residence life departments. Our president, Quiana Stone, has selected Cultural Equity Practices in Housing and Residential Life: A Call to Activism and Social Change as our contemporary issue for the 2021-2022 term. This asks the question; how do we turn our discussions into actionable steps to support diverse populations on and off our campuses?
The Contemporary Issues Committee plans to put forth materials with each Trends publication that will help GLACUHO members think deeply about how our institutions are cultivating these environments, where we fall short, and how we can actively work to affect positive change on our campuses. To begin, we will examine our current understanding of sense of belonging and how universities and practitioners can do more to support a sense of belonging for our students, staff, and faculty. Sense of Belonging Defined Sense of belonging can be defined through how comfortable, connected, and supported a campus community feels. According to Gopalan and Brady (2019), “In college, feeling a sense of belonging may lead students to engage more deeply with their studies, leading to persistence and success.” Students who feel a greater sense of belonging are more likely to be retained on campus, access resources that will help them succeed, and create lasting connections (Goplan et al, 2019).
