Student activism in the United States

Student activism in the United States
Wing1990hk · CC BY 3.0 · source
Name	Student activism in the United States
Location	United States
Period	19th–21st centuries

Student activism in the United States describes organized and informal collective actions by students at Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan, Ohio State University, University of Chicago, Stanford University, Cornell University, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, Northwestern University, New York University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of California, Los Angeles and other American institutions. Activists have mobilized around issues including civil rights, Vietnam War, Cold War, Iraq War, Affordable Care Act, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX, DACA, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, LGBT rights, Environmental movement, Occupy Wall Street, Gun control, and Tuition reform, often linking campus politics to broader movements led by figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, Cesar Chavez, Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Howard Zinn, John Lewis, Bayard Rustin, Stokely Carmichael, Ella Baker, James Meredith, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Alice Paul, Phyllis Schlafly, and organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Students for a Democratic Society, Young Americans for Freedom, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and American Civil Liberties Union.

History

From antebellum protests at Harvard University and Yale University through antebellum abolitionist campaigns led by students sympathetic to Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, student activism evolved through nineteenth-century reform movements including temperance linked to the Women's Christian Temperance Union and suffrage allied with National American Woman Suffrage Association. In the early twentieth century, students at Columbia University, University of Chicago, and University of California, Berkeley organized around progressive causes connected to leaders like Jane Addams and institutions such as the Hull House. Mid-century activism intensified with the Civil Rights Movement—students at Howard University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, Fisk University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Tougaloo College engaged in sit-ins, Freedom Rides coordinated with Congress of Racial Equality and Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and marches alongside March on Washington organizers. The 1960s saw mass mobilization at University of California, Berkeley with the Free Speech Movement, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations at Columbia University and the University of Michigan, and formation of Students for a Democratic Society which issued the Port Huron Statement. The 1970s and 1980s included protests against nuclear proliferation and support for United Farm Workers under Cesar Chavez. The 1990s and 2000s brought diverse campaigns: anti-Iraq War protests, Gulf War demonstrations, divestment drives influenced by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu for apartheid divestment, and activism for LGBT rights tied to organizations like Lambda Legal and events such as Stonewall. The 2010s–2020s saw activism around Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, March for Our Lives, climate strikes inspired by Greta Thunberg, and campus movements supporting DACA beneficiaries.

Major Movements and Campaigns

Key campaigns include the Free Speech Movement at University of California, Berkeley, the sit-in movement led by students from North Carolina A&T State University and Fisk University, the Freedom Rides involving Students for a Democratic Society affiliates, the Columbia 1968 protests against Institute for Defense Analyses ties and New York City expansion, anti-Vietnam War teach-ins at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Michigan, divestment campaigns targeting Apartheid South Africa and later Darfur, Israel–Palestine divestment campaigns involving Students for Justice in Palestine, feminist actions linked to National Organization for Women and protests over Title IX adjudication, labor solidarity with United Farm Workers and American Federation of Teachers, anti-rape and survivor advocacy tied to Know Your IX and SNAP, and recent gun safety mobilizations like March for Our Lives organized with support from Everytown for Gun Safety.

Organizations and Networks

Student organizing has taken institutional and informal forms: national groups such as Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Students for a Democratic Society, Young Americans for Freedom, College Democrats of America, College Republicans, Young Democratic Socialists of America, Turning Point USA, YDSA chapters, Student Government Association bodies at Ivy League campuses, campus chapters of American Association of University Professors, labor alliances with Service Employees International Union, faith-based student groups like InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and Hillel International, identity-focused organizations like Black Student Union, Latino Student Organization, Asian American Student Association, Native American Student Association, and networks like the National Youth Rights Association and umbrella coalitions such as United Students Against Sweatshops.

Tactics and Strategies

Students have employed sit-ins pioneered during the Greensboro sit-ins, building occupations exemplified by Sproul Hall and the 1968 Columbia University protests, teach-ins at University of Michigan and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, marches in coordination with March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, boycotts and divestment modeled after anti-apartheid campaigns, social media mobilization via platforms used by Black Lives Matter activists, legal challenges with American Civil Liberties Union support, voter registration drives tied to Rock the Vote, coalition-building with groups like United Farm Workers and ACLU, direct action inspired by Occupy Wall Street, and policy advocacy through student governments and lobbying of legislatures such as statehouses in California, New York, Texas, and Florida.

Impact on Policy and Society

Student activism contributed to passage and enforcement of statutes such as Civil Rights Act of 1964, influenced higher education reforms including Title IX implementation, accelerated desegregation orders rooted in Brown v. Board of Education outcomes, pressured universities to divest from Apartheid South Africa leading to institutional policy changes at Harvard University and Stanford University, helped shape public opinion during the Vietnam War era influencing Nixon administration policy debates, advanced LGBT rights culminating in litigation by groups like Lambda Legal and legislative changes, and catalyzed contemporary policy attention to gun safety after Parkland shooting and the subsequent March for Our Lives campaign.

Demographics and Campus Contexts

Participants have spanned primary schools to graduate school populations, with notable waves at Historically Black Colleges and Universities including Howard University and Morehouse College, public flagship universities like University of California, Berkeley and University of Michigan, private institutions such as Columbia University and Princeton University, community colleges and trade schools. Student demographics reflect intersections of race and class evident in organizing at Tuskegee University, Fisk University, City College of New York, and suburban campuses, with international student involvement from places connected to Anti-Apartheid Movement and Global Justice Movement. Movements often differ by campus governance structures like board of trustees at Ivy League schools and state-level oversight in California State University and University of California systems.

Legal and Institutional Responses

Legal responses include litigation involving the American Civil Liberties Union and Supreme Court precedents such as Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District and Healy v. James, administrative actions by university presidents and boards at institutions including Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley, law enforcement interventions by municipal police in New York City and Chicago, campus policing reforms tied to scrutiny of campus police departments like those at Yale Police Department and University of California Police Department, disciplinary sanctions under institutional codes of conduct, federal inquiries linked to Title IX Office investigations at University of Montana and other campuses, and legislative responses by state legislatures debating laws on protest and free speech in Texas, Florida, and California.

Category:Student movements in the United States