Thesis (M.A. (History)) --University of Limpopo, 2018 / Student activism is a global phenomenon which mostly refers to work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. Most countries have benefited tremendously from student activism. For example, the students have played a central role in the independence and anti-colonial struggles in most African countries. The dissertation focuses on an exploration of the role played by University of the North student activism in the struggle against apartheid from 1968 to 1994. This was a period which was characterised by an upsurge of the nationalist struggle in South Africa led by political organisations such as the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Azanian People’s Organization (AZAPO) the South African Communist Party (SACP) and United Democratic Front (UDF). Student organisations such as South African Student Organisation (SASO), University Christian Movement (UCM), South African National Students’ Congress (SANSCO), Azanian Student Organisation (AZASO) and many others played a significant role. The dissertation deployed both primary and secondary sources. Secondary data was derived from published and unpublished dissertations, journal articles, newsletters, books and autobiographies. Primary information was obtained through archival materials, official university documents, speeches and, unstructured and interactive interviews in order to provide evidence for the nature and character of student activism in the university. Periodisation theory as articulated by Hollander, Rassuli, Jones and Farlow (2005) was utilised to interpret and illuminate the political struggle activities of the student activists. This theory was the most appropriate frame to tackle student activism because it divides the chronological narrative into separately labelled sequential time periods with distinct beginning and ending points. The investigation reveals that the dominant ideology at the beginning of the period under investigation was Black Consciousness inspired by Steve Biko. However with the lapse of time this ideology was watered down by the liberal ideology which underpinned the Freedom Charter. The student activists operated within organisations such as SASO, UCM, AZASO, SANSCO and many others. The dissertation also reveals that while the students were relatively successful in mobilising the support of rural schools and communities, they also faced vicious repression by the apartheid security establishment. The dissertation lays a solid foundation for further critical historical investigation.

Long has been the charge by society for college and universities to produce more engaged citizenship. Institutional initiatives on civic engagement have focused on community service and service-learning initiatives to meet this demand. The existing literature, therefore, is reflective of these civic engagement involvements and outcomes. Little research is conducted on another form of civic engagement, activism. The existing literature on student activism focuses on the student activists of the 1960s. This study intends to address the gaps in the literature related to activism. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to identify the learning outcomes associated with student participation in activism Data from the Higher Education Research Institute's surveys, the 1999 Student Information Form (SIF) and the 2003 College Student Survey (CSS), were used in this study. Multiple regression, along with logistic regression, were used. The results of this study provide some noteworthy findings that improve our understanding of activism and its effect on the learning outcomes of undergraduate students. In addition, this study provides a number of implications for student affairs practice and future research. Student activism has a long and rich history in our colleges and universities and will continue to have a place in our institutions of higher learning. This study reveals that activism is an active part of students' learning experiences while in college. This study supports the notion that (a) learning outcomes are associated with involvement in college student activism, (b) involvements do make a difference, (c) faculty and peer relationships matter, (d) curricular and co-curricular experiences, and (d) gender and ethnicity in activism is worth exploring The examination of specific learning outcomes associated with activism provides student affairs professionals and higher education research and policy-makers a better understanding of what students gain from their activism. In addition, the results of this study contribute to the body of knowledge on the role of college involvements in developing an action-oriented citizen.

This thesis examines gay student organizing to understand the role of college students in the burgeoning lesbian and gay movement of the 1970s. Although students are widely recognized as participants in gay activism in this period, few studies have attempted to explore their particular role. The Gay Academic Union (GAU) at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL, is presented as a case study, using archival and oral history research. Lesbian and gay students participated in the construction of a new political strategy based on visibility and community, which positioned “coming out” as its central metaphor. During the early to mid-1970s, students were especially well positioned to play a role in the gay movement, which relied on small, local organizations to spread gay politics throughout the nation. However, in the wake of the Anita Bryant-led effort to repeal Miami-Dade’s gay rights ordinance in 1977, the growth of national gay organizations and a national media discourse on homosexuality began to eclipse the type of organizing at which college students had excelled. By extending the narrative of gay organizing in the 1970s outside of urban centers, the story of the GAU at Florida Atlantic demonstrates that college students played a crucial part in disseminating the new forms of gay identity and culture associated with the gay movement.

abstract: This case study explores American Indian student activist efforts to protect and promote American Indian education rights that took place during 2007-2008 at a predominantly white institution (PWI) which utilizes an American Indian tribal name as its institutional athletic nickname. Focusing on the experiences of five American Indian student activists, with supplementary testimony from three former university administrators, I explore the contextual factors that led to activism and what they wanted from the institution, how their activism influenced their academic achievement and long-term goals, how the institution and surrounding media (re)framed and (re)interpreted their resistance efforts, and, ultimately, what the university's response to student protest conveys about its commitment to American Indian students and their communities. Data was gathered over a seven-year period (2007-2014) and includes in-depth interviews, participant observation, and archival research. Using Tribal Critical Race Theory and Agenda Setting Theory, this study offers a theoretically informed empirical analysis of educational persistence for American Indian students in an under-analyzed geographic region of the U.S. and extends discussions of race, racism, and the mis/representation and mis/treatment of American Indians in contemporary society. Findings suggest the university's response significantly impacted the retention and enrollment of its American Indian students. Although a majority of the student activists reported feeling isolated or pushed out by the institution, they did not let this deter them from engaging in other social justice oriented efforts and remained dedicated to the pursuit of social justice and/or the protection of American Indian education rights long after they left the in institution. Students exercised agency and demonstrated personal resilience when, upon realizing the university environment was not malleable, responsive, or conducive to their concerns, they left to advocate for justice struggles elsewhere. Unfortunately for some, the university's strong resistance to their efforts caused some to exit the institution before they had completed their degree. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Justice Studies 2014

This thesis examines the historical pattern of protest activity involving students from the University of Manchester and the London School of Economics between the academic years 1945/46 and 2010/11. Gathered through a protest event analysis of the universities’ student press, quantitative protest event data is presented that establishes a continuous pattern of protest activity at both institutions from the mid-fifties onwards. Adding to a small body of scholarship on student activism beyond the sixties epoch, the thesis challenges the assumption that student protest peaked in the late sixties, which currently dominates the student protest literature. The decade’s wave of student unrest is widely presented as exceptional and unprecedented, a golden age of student protest, casting non-sixties student generations as politically apathetic. The quantitative data refutes these claims, demonstrating an ongoing history of student protest on both campuses that sets precedent for the sixties mobilisations and undermines the idea that student apathy is pervasive on the post-sixties university campus. Between 1945/46 and 2010/11, University of Manchester students are involved in 840 protest events, while London School of Economics students participate in 505 protest events, a combined total of 1345 protest events. Using qualitative data drawn from the student press and other archival materials alongside the numeric data, the thesis argues that the British student unrest in the sixties had precedent in the fifties and early sixties, noting tactical and ideological similarities. Further, the thesis refutes the student apathy narrative using protest activity as evidence of student political participation, but also pointing to student engagement in formal and informal political activity, such as political party membership, voluntary action and campaigning for NGOs and pressure groups. Echoing studies on youth political participation, the thesis finds that students remain politically engaged across the twentieth and twenty-first century. Drawing together social movement theory with insights from the archival materials and student press, the thesis identifies factors contributing to the emergence, decline and survival of student protest activity at the University of Manchester and London School of Economics. The thesis establishes that progressive political and social values, student produced movement frames, access to resources on campus, political opportunities and campus activist networks interact to facilitate the emergence of student unrest. It also demonstrates that political factionalism and some forms of authority responses to unrest are key factors in declines in student protest activity. The thesis argues that attempts at co-option and repression by the state and the university, normally understood to prompt declines in protest, may actually provoke further activity amongst students. Applying Nella Van Dyke’s theory of ‘hotbeds of activism’ to the British context (1998), the thesis argues protest activity survives across the timeframe, because both universities have developed student activist networks and subcultures that maintain the traditions and practices of activism on campus. Activist expertise is transferred between student generations through the student unions, student societies and informal groupings, ensuring that that the campus activist networks are primed to seize opportunities for protest activity on and off campus.

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / This study examines student activism and student protests that occurred at South African higher education institutions (HEIs) during the academic years 2015 and 2016. These protests were inspired by multiple grievances experienced by students at HEIs, which included protesting against the maintenance and celebration of imperial symbols at universities as well as the unaffordability of academic and residence fees. These protests were different to previous student protests in that student discontentment and protests were popularised and advocated through social media under Twitter hashtags such as #RhodesMustFall (RMF) and #FeesMustFall (FMF).

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In 2020, George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was murdered by Minneapolis Police. As social media and news outlets reported on Floyd's death, racial justice activists began to organize under the Black Lives Matter movement. The United States was also on lockdown due to the global pandemic – COVID-19. Prior researchers have noted that the lockdown was consequential to the sustained longevity of peaceful protests. Additionally, researchers have concluded that this time saw a heightened number of college students from diverse racial backgrounds. This study examines what explicitly motivated Black and White college students to act on racial justice and engage with these movements. More importantly, this study included 11 participants to inquire about what motivated White racial justice activism and to explore Black students' perceptions of these actions from their White peers. This research used an interpretative phenomenological to analyze interviews and a facilitated Social Justice Dialogue circle on racial justice. Despite the lack of research on racial justice activism amongst White students, understanding theories such as Intersectionality and Critical Race is paramount in being aware of countering anti-Blackness. Ultimately, this study produced five findings explaining how Black and White college participants described their perceptions of White racial justice activism and how race socialization contributed to this interpretation. Findings show that White participants possessing marginalized identities interpreted this as Intersectionality and showed more empathy in engaging with racial justice activism while also expressing uncertainty about self-identifying with this advocacy status. Additionally, participants revealed that social media contributed to inauthentic and performative activism post-Floyd's death by using black squares by White content creators lacking a fundamental understanding of anti-Blackness and the Black Lives Matter movement. Participants looked more profound into how society has socialized Whiteness as the normative identity and manifested guilt, fear, and fragility when discussing racialized topics. Lastly, participants revealed that the divisive socio-political climate during the Trump administration significantly contributed to furthering structural racism. At the same time, the global pandemic provided an environment of racial reckoning within the United States. Broader implications for practice and theory are offered to guide recommendations for future research on racial justice activists. / Educational Leadership

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Through employing critical narratives, this qualitative study examined the experiences of Black women who utilized their scholarship and activism to address campus climates at a predominantly Chicanx Latinx institution in Southern California. Six Black women – two faculty, two staff, and two students – participated in the study. All participants were active with Ethnic Studies (Pan-African Studies), the campus Cross Cultural Centers, and Black Student Union student organization in some capacity. Literature on the three areas focuses on the history of and ongoing struggle to exist, significance to campus life, and meaning in the lives of marginalized and minoritized communities. The study used three frameworks: Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and Black Feminist and Black Womanist Theory to analyze the critical narratives of the women. Findings revealed Black women integrate community issues into their professional and personal lives, experience rare moments of being celebrated, and must contend with intentional efforts to silence their voices and activism. This study, informed by the Ethnic Studies politics of higher education, contributes to this field by identifying how Black women activists contribute to the moral and ethical leadership of campus climate conversations.