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: Student activists pushed colleges and universities to increase campus diversity and protect members of the school community from discrimination. Take the civil rights movement of the 1960s, in which college students protested segregation and marched for civil rights. In 1960, four black students from North Carolina A&T State University held a sit-in at a "whites only" lunch counter, an act that inspired thousands of students to join the civil rights movement. A statue at North Carolina A&T celebrating student activists who staged a sit-in at the Woolworth Company store in 1960. Off campus, college students registered black voters and marched on Washington; they also pushed for changes to campus policies. Until the 20th century, many American colleges and universities enrolled only white male students. During the height of student activism in the 1960s, a 1968 survey found that nearly 1 in 5 student protests demanded an end to racial discrimination on campus. In addition to pushing for anti-discrimination policies, student activists have changed what colleges teach. At San Francisco State University, anti-racism activists in 1968 successfully pressured the administration to establish the country's first African American studies department.