student activism

Coke Money and the Public Relations of Higher Ed Divestment from Apartheid

by Amanda Joyce Hall

At Emory Univerity in the 1980s the close relationship between Coca Cola and the administration allowed Coke to leverage its financial support of the university to press the administration to suppress and coopt student movements for divestment from Apartheid South Africa. 

Why Iowa Students are Walking Out in Protest

Restrictions on "divisive concepts" are among the legislative developments that make Iowa high school students fear their educations are being treated as a political football. 

Adults Support Empowering Youth – Until Youth Dissent

by Dara Walker

American youth are seldom credited for having a clear understanding of the policies that affect their lives. COVID safety walkouts are the latest example of student activism to be dismissed.

Student Protests over COVID Policy (and Adults Ignoring Them) is Part of a Long Tradition

by Jack Hodgson

"Their message: Education needs to be delivered in cooperation with young people. They have a right to advocate for their own welfare, feel safe in school and receive teaching, not just supervision."

“This Is Our Community” With Help From its Historic Black University, Elizabeth City Confronts the Tragedy it Tried to Prevent

Historian Melissa Stuckey of Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina has researched and taught about the town's history of racism and civil rights protest, knowledge that has been made tragically relevant by the police killing of Andrew Brown, Jr. 

50 Years Ago, ‘The Dude’ Didn’t Abide. He Helped Lead Thousands in Protest at UW After Students Shot at Kent State.

Before inspiring "The Dude," Jeff Dowd was a Seattle activist who led students to block Interstate 5 in Seattle to protest the war in Vietnam and the killing of students by the National Guard at Kent State. 

50 Years After Kent State: Four Deaths Shocked a Nation and Thrust Me into Student Activism

by James Thornton Harris

An HNN Contributing Editor reflects on how the Kent State killings pushed him to student activism and the legacy of protest fifty years later. 

Reviving the Original Purpose of Pass-Fail

by Jonathan Zimmerman

We should use this moment to recapture some of the initial spirit of the option, argues Jonathan Zimmerman.

Harvard's Communist Uprising, 50 Years Later

by Daniel Pipes

That takeover and bust culminated my political education.