Student Unrest on the Black College Campus

Abstract

Coping with the problem of student unrest on the black college campus has emerged as a compelling necessity. Since the early sixties black students have manifested genuine and active interests in the elimination of racial inequities in American society on the one hand and the modernization of the black college on the other. The resulting effects have been felt on practically every black college campus. These colleges have experienced activism which resulted in the resignation of presidents, student personnel deans and other top level administrators and increased faculty turnover. They have experienced the closing of some colleges for brief periods, destruction of property both on the campus and in the community, court decisions relating to the dismissal of dissident students, and the use of police force to maintain order. They have experienced increased pressure for reformed curricula and reorganized administrative practices. One consequence of these developments has been a noticeable change in the quality and style of collegiate life. There have been changes in the codes of campus citizenship, relations among administrators, students and faculty members, decisionmaking process, student expectations, disciplinary procedures and other aspects of the college community. It has become very apparent that understanding the causes and roots of student unrest and arriving at promising approaches to cope with their negative effects on teaching and learning are essential to the maintenance of academic respectability. It was this thought that motivated an examination of the causes of and response to student unrest at the black college.