A Battle of Rights
The Student Protest Movement of the 1960's was initiated by the newly
empowered minds of Americas youth. The students who initiated the movement had just
returned from the “Freedom Summer” as supporters of the Civil Rights Movement,
registering Black voters, and they turned the principles and methods they had learned on
the Freedom Rides to their own issues on campus. These students (mostly white, middle
class) believed they were being held down by overbearing University rules.
Student life was governed by the policy of in loco parentis, which allowed colleges to act
"in place of the parents."
Off campus,these young people were considered adults, but at school they were
subjected to curfews, dorm visitation restrictions, close supervision, and rules against
having a car or even renting an apartment. Not only were these students being treated as
children in this respect, but there were also heavy restrictions put on what they could and
could not discuss. Any issues, especially political, not directly related to the university
were strictly prohibited. Only sandbox issues, those related to university issues were
allowed on campus. This created an extremely controlled environment and severely
impinged on the students rights to free speech.
In reaction to such limitations, college students across the country decided to do
something about it. The Student Protest Movement (SPM) began at the University of
California at Berkeley in the Fall of 1964. In September of that year Berkley campus
authorities declared the area directly outside of the main entrance to the school off limits
for advocates of civil rights and other causes. For years the strip had been accepted as a
place where students could hand out pamphlets, solicit names for petitions, and sign
people up. This ban set the stage for the beginning of the SPM.
On September 29, demonstrators defiantly set up tables on the Bancroft strip and
refused to leave when told to do so. The next day university officials took the names of
five protesters and ordered them to appear for disciplinary hearings that afternoon. Instead
of five students, five hundred, led by Mario Savio, marched to Sproul Hall, the
administrati...
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... the spot light. Many had negative feelings towards the protests and
sit-ins, arguing that they did nothing but impinge on classroom time and interfere with the
students ability to carry out there education.
Though the SPM may have created chaos around campus, it was well manored
and non-violent. The protestors took hold of the methods used in the Civil Rights
movement, knowing that violence only made situations less credible and more dificult to
keep under control. They were trained to simply go limp when arrested, not to resist the
officers, therefore avoiding any danger to themselves or others. The sit-ins were just that;
a group of students calmly sitting around conversing and playing music, all the while
getting the attention and recognition they strived for.
Whether the effectiveness came for the bottom up, with student organizations
gathering to approach the administration, or top down, with the administration addressing
the students, the issues were recognized and discussed. Both parties had their gains and
losses, and the Student Protest Movement came out on top with a memorable place in
Pickering’s argument rested on, as a teacher, he had to refrain from making statements about the school’s operation “which, in the absence of such position, he would have an undoubted right to engage in” (Oyez,
One of the most violent protests of the Vietnam War took place in May of 1970 at Kent State University in Ohio. Protests were common across America during the war but this was by far the most violent. On May 4, l970 members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University protesters, killing four and wounding nine of the Kent State students. The event triggered a nationwide student strike that caused many colleges and universities to shut down . This deeply divided the country politically and made ordinary citizens take notice of the protests that were taking place across the nation’s college campuses.
Henry David Thoreau, a philosopher and creative artist as well as an anti slavery activist, wrote his short story “From Resistance to Civil Disobedience”. In this story he’s arrested for not paying his state taxes. At the time the state was engaged in the Mexican-American War that was not only fought over boundaries expanding slavery but was also enacted by President Polk under his own decision. Thoreau thought the war was too aggressive and without just reason.
Success was a big part of the Civil Rights Movement. Starting with the year 1954, there were some major victories in favor of African Americans. In 1954, the landmark trial Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka Kansas ruled that segregation in public education was unfair. This unanimous Supreme Court decision overturned the prior Plessy vs. Ferguson case during which the “separate but equal” doctrine was created and abused. One year later, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. launched a bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama after Ms. Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat in the “colored section”. This boycott, which lasted more than a year, led to the desegregation of buses in 1956. Group efforts greatly contributed to the success of the movement. This is not only shown by the successful nature of the bus boycott, but it is shown through the success of Martin Luther King’s SCLC or Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The conference was notable for peacefully protesting, nonviolence, and civil disobedience. Thanks to the SCLC, sit-ins and boycotts became popular during this time, adding to the movement’s accomplishments. The effective nature of the sit-in was shown during 1960 when a group of four black college students sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in hopes of being served. While they were not served the first time they commenced their sit-in, they were not forced to leave the establishment; their lack of response to the heckling...
The intention of colleges in the United Stated during the 18th and 19th centuries was to create a system that would serve in loco parentis (in place of the parent). In the early years of American higher education, college professors sought to be disciplinarians, who played a parental role. However, the students at these institutions often behaved in a disruptive manner towards teachers, as well as fellow students. This unruly behavior can be directly linked to the economic background of the students attending these institutions, in addition to the philosophies set forth by the colleges. During this time period, colleges attracted mostly upper class men who showed little interest in their academic studies. They were individuals following generations of family members to the institution, and as a result of their connections possessed more authority at the school than the faculty. This issue began to change in the early 20th century, when colleges began admitting more economically diverse individuals. The economic background of the students, in addition to their reluctance to abide by the rules, led to violent and unruly behavior at these institutions.
In the near future there was a ton of negativity and opposition throughout most of the future campaigns. “Sit-down” students have been taught that resistance to tyranny is honorable. While in the background of the movement the student’s ad became new leaders. They introduced a new nonviolent approach to achieve integration since they had nothing to lose.
The Free Speech Movement protested the ban of on campus political activities and speeches. Thousands of students became involved in this protest and together they displayed how much power there was in student activism. In the fall of 1964, the Regents of the university enforced a new ban that blocked students from holding political activities at Sproul Plaza on Bancroft and Telegraph. This was unsettling to them because the Bancroft Strip was a key location that students occupied when trying to reach out, raise funds and speak up for what they believed in. Previous policies suggested that student life outside of the university wouldn't be tampered or interfered with, so this was an outrage to the students of UC Berkeley. When the regents took time to revise and tweak the ban, students were still unhappy with the decision, so a sit in at Sproul Hall was organized and it lasted for nearly 10 hours.
In the beginning, the student movement was largely influenced by the non-violence aspect of the Civil Rights movement. Colleges and universities, at that time, had a view of “In Loco Parentis” ; which means, in place of parents or in other words, the faculty and staff acted as the parents. At University of California-Berkeley , the students were frustrated with having their freedoms restricted; therefore, they started protesting. In the beginning, the University officials took away ...
1) Name and describe the Social Movement. What is the goal of the Social Movement?
Civil disobedience this is how the internet defines it “The refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest”. The word explains it all disobeying in a Civil way. Many people have became famous for this for standing up for what they think is right. For example, Rosa Parks refusing to sit in the back of the bus, you can say that’s an act of civil disobedience she didn’t think it was right for her to sit in the back of the bus after a long day she disobeyed a law at that time but then we have a group of dumb people that think every law is wrong and its an act of civil disobedience. An example for this civil disobedience would be, people not obeying small laws like speeding, not paying taxes, small laws that to them they seem not right or not hurting anyone when broken. Maybe civil disobed ...
Martinez, S. (2009). A system gone berserk: How are zero-tolerance policies really …..affecting schools? Preventing School Failure, 53(3), 153-157. Retrieved from …..http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/228530113?acco…..untid=6579
Historically, the Civil Rights Movement was a time during the 1950’s and 60’s to eliminate segregation and gain equal rights. Looking back on all the events, and dynamic figures it produced, this description is very vague. In order to fully understand the Civil Rights Movement, you have to go back to its origin. Most people believe that Rosa Parks began the whole civil rights movement. She did in fact propel the Civil Rights Movement to unprecedented heights but, its origin began in 1954 with Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka was the cornerstone for change in American History as a whole. Even before our nation birthed the controversial ruling on May 17, 1954 that stated separate educational facilities were inherently unequal, there was Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896 that argued by declaring that state laws establish separate public schools for black and white students denied black children equal educational opportunities. Some may argue that Plessy vs. Ferguson is in fact backdrop for the Civil Rights Movement, but I disagree. Plessy vs. Ferguson was ahead of it’s time so to speak. “Separate but equal” thinking remained the body of teachings in America until it was later reputed by Brown vs. Board of Education. In 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, and prompted The Montgomery Bus Boycott led by one of the most pivotal leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. After the gruesome death of Emmett Till in 1955 in which the main suspects were acquitted of beating, shooting, and throwing the fourteen year old African American boy in the Tallahatchie River, for “whistling at a white woman”, this country was well overdo for change.
Students who are disruptive in class and refused to do their work were sent down to discipline where they received the consequences for their actions. More often than not, in school suspension was the end result. The concept of in school suspension was new to me because it was not something that I had seen when I was growing up.
In the summer of 1980 Communist Poland was experiencing labor unrest at an unprecedented level. Living standards were still very low, the economy was stagnant, and food shortages and inflation were abundant. The Polish Communist Party was faced with nationwide strikes, and their tactics of buying off workers had failed because there were too many people striking. However, when the strikes spread to the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk on August 14th, everything was about to change. The strikers were backed by waves of support from other industrial centers, and the Communist Party was forced to negotiate with them. Under the leadership of Lech Walesa the strikers emerged victorious and the formation of an independent trade union called Solidarity was born.
The newfound voting rights gave these young students more autonomy and changed the landscape of the college (Sweeton, 2012). As students became more politically involved, activism and student political clubs were seen widely on college campuses. There were also a lot of anti-war movements that happened on campuses due to the suffrage movement. Since a lot of these young students were enlisted or fought in Vietnam, they were already very independent and politically active even before coming to college. According to historians the political involvement of college students in the 1970’s was the beginning of the downfall of in loco parentis (Sweeton,