Title: A History of Student Activism and Protests | BestColleges
Headings: Student Activism in College
Student Activism in College
A History of Campus Protests
Student Protests Throughout History
The Fight for Civil Rights on College Campuses
Students Protest Administrative Policies
The Push for Campus Safety
Fighting Tuition Increases and Rising Costs
Student Activism in 2020 and Beyond

Content: From gun control groups to sexual assault activists, students have pushed institutions to protect people on campus. In 1966, a shooter climbed the tower at the University of Texas at Austin and killed 17 people before police shot him. It was the first mass shooting on a college campus. Fifty years later, Texas passed a law allowing concealed carry on college campuses. In response, a group of student activists rallied against the law in a protest known as Cocks Not Glocks. While state law permitted guns on campus, it banned sex toys ⁠— and campus protests pointed out the absurdity of this contradiction. Students rallying against gun violence outside New York University in 2018. Rosie Zander, a UT Austin history major, argued, "We have crazy laws here but this is by far the craziest, that you can't bring a dildo on to campus legally but you can bring your gun." In addition to activism around gun laws, students have fought for safer campuses in other ways. In 1972, students at the University of South Florida marched across campus demanding a safer campus for women.