The Essential Role of Urban and Metropolitan Universities

The 27th Annual CUMU Conference held in San Diego, California, in October 2022 was the first in-person conference convened by CUMU since the 2019 conference held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While plans for the 2020 CUMU Conference in San Diego began in 2018, it became clear by the summer of 2020 that the pandemic would not be temporary. Adapting to the rapidly evolving social context unfolding in real time requires us to pay close attention. From enduring a global pandemic to witnessing unremitting accounts of racial and systemic inequity as well as an insurrection at the United States Capitol–a place once considered an impenetrable symbol of democracy–it became abundantly clear that context must inform content.