The Role of Student Affairs in Promoting Social Justice in South Africa

Abstract

Student affairs, as an integral part of universities, has taken on a key position in contributing to social justice as one of the central imperatives of higher education in South Africa. This article sketches the development of this role and outlines some important tasks for contemporary student affairs. Three conceptual models within the social justice framework are utilized: participatory parity, universal design for learning, and student engagement. These models are uniquely useful to strengthen student affairs’s contribution to the development of social justice in South Africa. It is suggested that student affairs leaders articulate a more explicit position on social justice in order to contribute more cogently to students’ awareness of positionality, privilege, and exclusion.