Winter 2012
Journal of College Admission
This issue of the Journal began in a conference room at NACAC headquarters on a Saturday in March 2011. Gathered for our semiannual meeting, the Editorial Committee faced a daunting question: How do we pay tribute to a 75-year-old organization and its flagship publication? Before we could formulate an answer, there were boxes to tackle.
For the bibliophiles and historians out there, the Editorial Committee’s afternoon spent poring through boxes of back issues of Journals would have equaled pure bliss. From the moment we pulled the first copy of an old Journal from a box, the air was redolent with the musty-wonderful smell of library stacks. (Since we’re in nostalgia mode for this issue, I wonder: Will readers of the future appreciate such smells? Will old Nooks® and Kindles evoke similar memories of endless hours of research in library carrels? Somehow, I think not.)
The Journal’s publication history does not span the association’s 75 years. The first Journal was a mimeographed affair from 1956, and only one copy exists in the NACAC archives. As the members of the Editorial Committee began to peruse the earliest copies of the publication, the room filled with myriad exclamations. We gasped over editorial cartoons that, to our modern eyes, appeared shockingly prejudiced. We tittered at the “Schedule of Events” for ladies accompanying their husbands to the first annual conferences—museum visits and afternoon teas sounded perfectly delightful, indeed. We marveled at the reappearance of many article topics across decades, strangely akin to Whac-a-Mole; articles on counselors’ caseloads, managing parent anxiety, integrating technology (from punch cards forward), and crafting diverse freshman classes appeared over and again.
At some point that afternoon, one of us wondered aloud, “How would the author respond to this article today?” With that query, our concept was born. Searches for authors, which would have taken hours of digging through the afore-mentioned library stacks, were conducted on laptops and iPads in minutes. An eavesdropper on our group may have mistaken us for a missing persons bureau as shouts of “He’s alive!” and “I found her!” filled the room. On the occasions when we discovered authors who had passed away, we shared their career accomplishments with the group before moving on to the next article. It was a fascinating, inspiring day.
In the pages to follow, you will find a representative sampling of the articles, cartoons and photographs published in the Journal over her 56 years of publication. In a type of “call-and-response” format, the original articles are “answered” by contemporary replies. In some cases, the original authors of the articles have the unique opportunity to revisit their writings; in other instances, modern writers reflect on pieces that are simultaneously obsolete and pertinent to our profession in 2012.
As NACAC celebrates its diamond anniversary, the Editorial Committee is proud to present our contribution to the historical record of this exemplary organization. We hope that researchers in 2087 enjoy chronicling the second 75 years of NACAC history as much as we have delighted in reporting the first 75.
Heather K. O’Toole Jeter
Editorial Committee Chair