Fasten your seatbelts, communicators. It's going to be another bumpy year (or five or 10). Student activism, campus protests, racist incidents, sexual assault, student misconduct, free speech, academic freedom, and data breaches are just a few of the issues that have made the past few years on college campuses challenging and sometimes exhausting. Add heightened tensions fueled by political polarization, stir in a campus population dominated by students accustomed to sharing their thoughts and experiences on social media, and it becomes clear why issues management is an increasingly critical role at higher education institutions.

As a student at the University of Washington, Sarah Reyneveld saw firsthand the power of putting ideas into action.

During an interview with the student newspaper, the university president is asked whether the institution's efforts to increase awareness of campus sexual assault have been helpful, particularly since more incidents have been reported in the current academic year. The president responds that more people coming forward is a positive sign, then says: "I'm not pleased that we have sexual assaults, obviously. The goal would be to end that, to never have another sexual assault. That's probably not a realistic goal just given human nature, and that's unfortunate, but the more we understand about it, the better we are at trying to handle it and help people get through these difficult situations."

In June 2006 on my first day as a financial aid counselor at a private Midwestern university, I took a group tour to familiarize myself with the campus. One of the other participants was a young woman named Jillian, who was excited to see the recreation center. When our tour started, the guide bounded down a flight of stairs, all of us following except Jillian, who uses a wheelchair.

Joan Garry, principal of Joan Garry Consulting, believes the best nonprofits are like twin-engine jets. In advancement, the board chair and institution president are co-pilots. The staff and lead volunteer engines need to be strong, effective, and efficient. But, of course, there will always be turbulence. "If you haven't had a crisis at an institution, it's not because you're good—it's because you're lucky," she warns. The author of Joan Garry's Guide to Nonprofit Leadership, Garry shares advice on dealing with disorder.

Landing in a Tough Spot: Navigating the challenges of gifts of land

After a few volatile years following the financial crisis that ended in 2009, economic experts say the state of the U.S. economy is looking up. Financial markets have again reached record highs, and economic indicators are trending positive, but the average American family is less optimistic about its financial future amid concerns over college affordability. In a combustible election year full of populist rhetoric, candidates for both federal and state offices are decrying higher education's price tag and mounting student loan debt.

Within hours of the June 2016 Brexit referendum in which 51.9 percent of voters in the United Kingdom opted to leave the European Union, many U.K. universities created special teams to address their most immediate concerns: student and staff recruitment and retention. University College London convened a Brexit planning group, chaired by its president and provost, with top representatives participating from offices such as communications, development, international, education and student affairs, the registrar, and human resources, as well as the college's unions.

Since 2011, Princeton University has been fighting a lawsuit that challenges the institution's nonprofit designation and tax-exempt status. The lawsuit, filed by four Princeton, New Jersey, residents, could have widespread ramifications for nonprofits across the United States.

For any college or university, receiving $200 million is a dream come true. So when the University of California, Los Angeles, received that amount from casino mogul Kirk Kerkorian in 2011, officials named the new entity in charge of those assets—you guessed it—the Dream Fund.