Heated battles over free speech have erupted on college campuses across the United States in recent months. Some of the most prominent incidents involve efforts by students to prevent public appearances by speakers espousing controversial viewpoints. Efforts to silence offensive speakers on college campuses are not new; in these endeavors, one can…

In recent decades many people came to know Howard Zinn for his outspoken advocacy on a wide range of progressive causes, including civil rights, free speech, workers' rights, education reform, and opposition to U.S. imperialism. The author's own first encounter with Howard Zinn's special combination of scholarship and activism occurred several…

This introduction to the special issue on student political activism and attitudes notes the importance of college student attitudes toward politics, education, and society in affecting campus politics, academic choices, and society. (MSE)

The vast changes that crumbled the ivory tower of 1940 were unforseen, unplanned, and largely unintended. Educators did not control developments but were carried along on social and demographic currents: the demands of war, returning veterans, economic growth, the baby boom, Vietnam, campus revolt, economic decline, and changing public support.…

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)

The relative calm among students in France in the 1970s is explained in terms of the institutionalization of politics within the university, increased diversity on campus, and the relatively increasing returns of higher education. Conflicts of the 1970s are characterized as corporalistic-particularistic-materialistic. (JMF)

A former professor, current professional organization administrator, and scholar discusses the nature of changes occurring today in higher education, focusing on the contemporary academic climate, politicization of academic life, and what is happening to general education and the liberal arts. Topics discussed include cultural and ethnic diversity…

This article provides an analysis of the meaning and role of ideology within the framework of modern radical educational theory. Ideology is placed in an historical context; the importance of ideology as a resource for mobilizing social action is stressed. The role of radical faculty is discussed. (PP)

The status of student political activism in the 1970s and 1980s in such nations as the United States, Britain, India, Japan, Italy, Canada, West Germany, Greece, Zambia and Latin America is examined. The volume consists of 13 chapters written by scholars who all agree that student activism is not now at peak levels of the 1960s, yet student…

This paper examines the potential contributions of a feminist critical perspective to an understanding of assessment in higher education. It uses as a foundation the nine principles of feminist assessment (published in 1992 as an outgrowth of a project on women's studies programs) and an American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) list of…