Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Student Belonging in Campus Activities - JCAPS Vol. 5 Issue 2

I have always admired effective bumper stickers. Not nearly every idea can be summarized on a 4” x 12” sticker that can be read from ten feet away, but those that can be, while also revealing a fundamental truth, are particularly powerful. Two of my favorites, adorning my Toyota Tercel hatchback when I was an undergraduate student, stated: “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention” and “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.” Both are designed to interrupt and invite a better, more accurate way of thinking by calling attention to inequity and injustice.

This is the first-ever Special Issue for the Journal of Campus Activities Practice and Scholarship. Since first deciding to release an issue focused on a single topic, our goals have been to capitalize on the global wave of attention on equity and social justice and provide a lens to focus on how this wave can inform our work in campus activities and the scholarship that supports such work. We sent out a broad call for contributions to this special issue and cannot be happier with the result. The JCAPS is in no position to attempt to summarize these articles in fewer than ten words on a sticker, yet they all succeed in interrupting and informing our thinking – and, therefore, our work.

In this Issue, the authors focus on issues of identity to better represent the underrepresented, introduce critical methods designed to disrupt and inform, and provide concrete suggestions to include ALL of our students more comprehensively. We even discuss critical architecture in a thought-provoking article on gender-inclusive restrooms. I, along with the JCAPS Editorial and Advisory Boards, am proud to publish this first Special Issue focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and student belonging in campus activities. Future special issues will certainly follow, but we are immensely pleased with the result of our inaugural effort. Happy reading!