Rethinking Student Affairs Practice (review)

Do you see the old lady or the young woman? The rabbit or the duck? Those brain-teaser diagrams illustrate the thesis of Rethinking Student Affairs Practice. Love and Estanek challenge readers to examine their mental models of what is, to recognize that others may have a different mental model, and to think together of how we might get new insight into what could be. Framing an analysis of student affairs in higher education in that way is not new, but they do it engagingly well. This perspective stands on the shoulders of other writers the authors credit such as George Kuh, Elizabeth Witt, and John Shedd (1987), Jane Fried (1999), and Kathy Allen and Cynthia Cherrey (2000).

Love and Estanek frame their "rethinking" around four interrelated concepts: valuing dualisms, transcending paradigms, recognizing connectedness, and embracing paradox. The authors describe the conventional structures of hierarchical, closed, Newtonian systems and imagine the possibilities and new ways of working in quantum, open, connected systems. Through well-designed, thoughtfully sequenced logic, they lead readers to broaden their view of the possible in a well-crafted presentation of complex ideas made understandable by their approachable writing and diverse examples. They challenge readers to adopt lenses for making new meaning of our shared experiences by adopting new mindsets, particularly an assessment mindset, a technology mindset, and a systems mindset.

Following a compelling preface, Chapter 1 sets the tone by presenting their conceptual framework built on lessons from the New Science. This discussion sets up the "both/and" not "either/or" model that they continue throughout the book. The book is subsequently organized into three parts, consisting of eight chapters. Part 1 focuses on how we work—on seeing processes differently. It explores pervasive leadership (creating leader-full organizations), intrapreneurship (using entrepreneurial processes within our organizations), and developing an assessment mindset.

Part 2 focuses on what we work with—seeing resources differently. This part creatively helps the reader rethink resources (to include resources like information), and seeing technology as a mindset (using the metaphor of brush, paint, and artist). Part 3 looks at emerging competencies—seeing beyond the horizon. This part explores adopting a global perspective, doing futures forecasting, and revisiting the concept of mindsets.

The authors' deconstruction of commonly held paradigms was skillful and their rebuilding of a new frame alongside the old was thoughtful. It was challenging and fun to think of my own examples illuminating their new mindsets. What I initially might have critiqued as omissions in their content became instead an interactive process; their ideas encouraged me to go on this journey of reframing, rethinking, and finding my own examples. It quickly struck me that graduate students (particularly doctoral students) would do the same thing, so the potential for this book as a class text is excellent.

The book also made me wonder. First, while they do a thoughtful job of challenging and building on John Schuh and Lee Upcraft's (2001) assessment definitions, that discussion is somewhat belabored and a bit repetitive to make the point. I wonder if the word "assessment" can ever be relanguaged to broaden its meaning as these authors intend? It seems that their assessment mindset is more about continuous learning and perhaps could be termed a "learning" mindset.

Second, I wonder when many of us as scholars will stop using the New Science to describe the approach used in this book and others like it? More, I wonder how we can envision the ways in which a group does leadership together. I wonder what a multicultural organization might look like to challenge further the oppression and power in current conventional structures. I particularly wondered why the authors did not apply their premises to rethinking how we relate to students and student organizations. How can we rethink those partnerships and help students do things in new ways for themselves instead of still doing things to and for them? Our ways of working with student governments, residence hall associations, graduate...