College students across the United States are engaging in protests, sit-ins, and walk-outs, but when do these political acts result in tangible institutional policy changes? This paper draws on qualitative data from interviews and focus groups with 502 participants across the United States to examine when and why college student political…

This article examines African American, Latina/o, and White high school students' assertions of cultural and ethnic identities as they struggle for their educational rights in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. In doing so, this study illustrates the ways in which alternative spaces outside the formal context of schools facilitate expressions,…

Contemporary university administrators are usually wimps, and timidity in facing easily enraged campus radicals only invites outrageous demands which, in turn, subvert intellectual life. This must be changed. For much of human history leaders had to display physical valor and this trait should be restored to the college administrator job…

Last spring, at the height of the frenzy over accusations that three Duke University men's lacrosse players had gang raped a Black exotic dancer during a party, faculty from Duke's African and African American studies department chose to take a stand. With emotions running high, the faculty took out a full-page advertisement in student newspaper,…

In 2004, a group of high school students at a private American school in Mexico City started the first gay-straight alliance in Mexico. A small group of conservative parents and a Mormon principal organized in opposition. This paper details the students' struggle to keep their club and offers lessons learned about student activism, school change,…

The relationship between the history of the student and contemporary student life is explored, and enduring patterns are identified in three areas: the social origins of students; student culture and activism; and the perceived academic quality of students. It is concluded that students should be heard and taken more seriously. (MSE)

Several theories about student unrest in the late 1960s and early 1970s are noted, and the situation and student population of La Trobe University at the time are described. It is proposed that the unrest was both an outgrowth of the political climate and a developmental experience for the individual students. (MSE)

The backgrounds, values, and behavior of the Canadian New Left, based on a study of undergraduates at the University of Toronto, were compared with characteristics associated with the American New Left in the course of testing a model to predict student protest. Differences and similarities of radical students from the two countries are discussed.…

On each campus exists a social order that has persisted from an earlier time. In the 1960s, cultural currents strong enough to feel like a revolution in consciousness opened new ways of thinking and behaving. Collegiate rebellion has returned as the children of the 1960s rebels enter college. (MLW)

Surveys participants in the 1985 Columbia University divestment protest to develop a perspective on recruitment and commitment to social movements, emphasizing the importance of political solidarity. Group processes such as consciousness raising, collective empowerment, polarization, and collective decision making influence movement participants…

Reports of a 1974 study that examined the influence of dormitory residency on student leisure activities, especially student activism. Using questionnaires from 760 University of Hong Kong resident and nonresident undergraduates, demonstrates that living in dormitories increased likelihood of becoming activist through increasing social interaction…

Student activists of the 1960s participated in different student movements with distinct racial and national identities. The causes and consequences of racial segmentation that made white students and students of color behave differently are examined. Even the abrupt decline of campus movements in the 1970s reflects profound racial segmentation.…