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fter more than a year of disruption to our professional activities, much less our personal lives, there are signs that we have turned the corner on the COVID-19 pandemic. It may be years before we recover from the financial impact – both for individuals who have lost their jobs and our departments where reduced enrollment and occupancy have impacted budgets and reserve funds – but the glimmer of hope is welcome.
However, at least for those of us in the United States, it is hard not to think that we are experiencing what the late baseball player Yogi Berra called “déjà vu all over again.” A mass shooting that took the lives of eight souls, including six Asian women, puts a spotlight on acts of bias against the Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American (APIDA) community. Such acts of violence have increased significantly since the pandemic outbreak but certainly have existed for generations. These incidents only add to the growing awareness of violence against individuals related to race, ethnicity, and other identities.
As an organization, we are committed to ongoing learning, reckoning, and engagement to disrupt and dismantle the systems of individual biases that contribute to injustice throughout our communities.
As an organization, we are committed to ongoing learning, reckoning, and engagement to disrupt and dismantle the systems of individual biases that contribute to injustice throughout our communities. In addition to highlighting diversity, equity, and inclusion as ACUHO-I’s primary areas of focus, we are undertaking a number of specific initiatives:
In addition, we are quickly approaching the ACUHO-I Annual Conference and Expo, to be held June 22–24. While we will not be gathering in person in Columbus, Ohio, our ever-evolving virtual platforms will provide us with opportunities to connect with colleagues across the world, help make sense of this past year, and chart a course for us, individually and professionally, into the future. In addition, please look for ways that you can support the ACUHO-I Foundation and their special activities that recognize the 70th anniversary of the Association by “Making Opportunity Our Legacy.”
I am continually impressed with the work being done by members of the residence life and housing profession across the globe on our campuses, for the Association, for other colleagues, and for our residents. May you find opportunities for self-care, recharging, and reassessment related to how we do our best work going forward.
Pete Galloway, ACUHO-I President
Talking Stick magazine takes its name from the symbol of international friendship presented to ACUHO-I in 1973 by the Ohiat Band of the British Columbia Indian Nation. The talking stick, or speaker’s staff, is hand-carved, and the inscription explains, “It is a sign of authority carried when proclamations are to be made or a meeting of chiefs is in session. It is a token of common heritage both to Canadians and Americans.”
