The New Student Activism: Supporting Students as Agents of Social Change

Abstract

The “new student activism,” as it is often called, is a hot topic in higher education as well as in the popular press and social media. As a college student in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, a long-time student affairs professional, a scholar and practitioner of service-learning, and an academic teaching a course on social change, the author contemplates what educators have learned through their work with service-learning and civic engagement that enables them to create a campus environment that supports student activists as agents of positive social change. She shares a set of questions for educators to grapple with as they navigate the complexities of today’s student activism.