written by: Heather D. Shea, Ph.D., 2023–2024 ACPA President
TW: mentions gun violence
This is the final installment in the three-part series for Developments exploring the concepts and application of critical hope from my presidential address at the ACPA 2023 convention. In the first part of this series, I discussed the mobilization of resources and care in the aftermath of the February 13th tragedy at Michigan State University. In the second part, I wrote about how we might foster critical hope. Today, I am revisiting both themes one year after the tragedy at MSU. In the final installment of this series on critical hope, I reflect on the journey from the aftermath of tragedy to the path forward with love and hope.
As a student affairs educator, I’ve witnessed the varied responses to crisis on campus, understanding that individuals cope differently. Yet, amidst the tension between current reality and our aspirations lies the essence of hope. It’s not about ignoring challenges but rather embracing them as opportunities for transformation. As bell hooks expressed, hope arises from witnessing positive transformations amid struggle. We must not merely admire hope from afar but inhabit it fully, living within it. In the face of crisis, we have a collective responsibility to assess reality and be adaptable, iterative, and non-linear as we explore possibilities for a better future filled with love.
There is clearly tension between our current reality and what we see as possible in our world. That isn’t an argument against hope. That IS hope. As a creative non-linear thinker, I have hope and can imagine those possibilities from here, even if the path to get there is unclear. We’ll need to create those paths together. I’m not naïve, I know in today’s reality we are in a different place, and that reality informs our collective work toward a shared vision—as bell hooks said in her 2013 book Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope, “my hope emerges from those places of struggle where I witnessed individuals positively transforming their lives and the world around them.”
Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite authors, says in her book, Animal Dreams, “The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof. What I want is so simple I almost can’t say it: elementary kindness. Enough to eat, enough to go around. The possibility that kids might one day grow up to be neither the destroyers nor the destroyed. That’s about it. Right now, I’m living in that hope, running down its hallway and touching the walls on both sides.”
Drawing inspiration from Kingsolver’s words, I find solace in the simplicity of hope rooted in kindness and sustainability. As I conclude my term as your ACPA president, I am committed to continually nurturing critical hope within our student affairs and higher education community. Along with the continuing and incoming leadership we are living in our critical hope. Our hope that we will overcome this despair and fear from outside attacks, our hope that we will create more sustainable futures in our field, and our hope that ACPA will be a hope others can live in as well. We work to transcend despair and fear, envisioning a future where ACPA, especially as we celebrate our 100th anniversary—serves as a reminder of our resilience and dedication to transformative change over time. I invite you, dear reader, to contemplate what ACPA must evolve into to embody this critical hope for you and those around you. Together, let us forge a path forward, guided by love and empowered by hope, towards a brighter tomorrow.