ABSTRACT
An early publication in student affairs, Pieces of Eight (Appleton et al., 1978), chronicles the growth and early development of the field. In the book, the authors argue that student affairs was organized from the bottom up. In a particularly unflattering pronouncement, these early historians ofthe student affairs field stated, "We began by serving needs that had been pushed to the periphery, and some would argue that the field has remained there ever since" (p. 12). The·argument advanced is that a void was created when faculty assumed the research role of the German research institutions. Someone other than faculty had to fill the role of caretakers and disciplinarians in the residence halls, dining halls, and out-of-classroom venues. In the years that have transpired since the writing of Pieces of Eight, a wider perspective on the purposes and underlying assumptions of the student affairs field has emerged. Despite the persistence of the argument that student affairs was "founded by default," others have argued that the field emerged as a result of a strongly defined need (Manning, 1996).
