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ABOUT THE CONFERENCEThe Student Affairs Conference at NYU is a one-day professional development opportunity open to administrators, faculty, and graduate students to share ideas and expertise regarding a wide array of issues in higher education and student affairs. The Conference is co-sponsored by the NYU Division of Student Affairs and the Association of Student Affairs Professionals from the Higher Education & Student Affairs program in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Now in its 13th year, the Conference is annually attended by over 300 professionals from 30-35 institutions located not only in the New York metro area but from well beyond including New England, several mid-Atlantic states, and the mid-west.If you are interested in getting on our listserv to get updates about the conference, please simply send us an email at sa.conference@nyu.edu. DATE, TIME, LOCATION & COSTThe 13th annual conference will be held on Friday, February 15, 2013 in the Kimmel University Center on the campus of New York University. Check-in will commence at 9:00 am, followed by 2 rounds of morning workshops, the luncheon/keynote, 2 rounds of afternoon workshops, and a post-conference social that will begin at 5:00 pm. There is no charge to NYU staff and fulltime graduate students to attend the conference (the cost is subsidized by the University). Non-NYU participants will be charged a fee of $40 which covers the full conference, including a light continental breakfast, the luncheon/keynote, and snack food at the cash bar social. ABOUT THIS YEAR'S THEMEAGENTS OF CHANGE: CULTIVATING A CLIMATE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
Although long considered the primary vehicle for improving one’s position in society, there are those who now are questioning whether the educational system in the United States has essentially morphed into a replication of the social class structure and, by doing so, is more perpetuating the socio-economic gap than reducing it. Given the proliferating cost of higher education, those with lesser means are faced with the choice of foregoing the opportunity of higher education or encumbering a substantial and potentially life-changing debt to attend even an institution that is on the “lower” rung of the educational class spectrum. But economic disparity is not the only form of social injustice that may impact our students’ lives. At the campus level, certain student groups may not enjoy the same degree of access to the decision-makers; their needs and interests may not be reflected in institutional programs, activities, and the curriculum. On the personal level, regardless of their economic situation, our students may be members of groups that lack political power, have limited access to social and cultural opportunities, are denied equal marital status, have limited opportunities for community leadership, or have no opportunity for full citizenship. If inequities in higher education are to be eliminated, our institutional and political leaders must be urged to consider the role that higher education may play in perpetuating conditions of social injustice and administrators and faculty members should strive to alleviate inequities that may exist on our own campuses as well as to find ways to prepare our students to address conditions of inequity that may impact themselves and their peers. The purpose of the 2013 Conference is to provide opportunities for participants to learn more about issues of social inequity, to encourage participants to become advocates and agents of change on campus and in society, to consider ways to make our campuses more inclusive and socially equitable, and to provide a forum for participants to share strategies to empower our students to address the social inequities which they may encounter in all aspects of their lives. A HISTORY OF THE CONFERENCEThis February, the Student Affairs Conference at NYU will be celebrating its 13th year. Each year, the conference has a theme that challenges us to reflect on a critical aspect of our profession. Past conference themes include:
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