Author Archive

Let us all know what you’ve been up to, what you’re working on, what you’re reading, what you’re writing, what you’ve got planned!

Formspring.me is a neat little website that does one simple thing: It lets you ask people questions and read their answers. The questions are anonymous — unless you choose to identify yourself — and they stay private until an answer is submitted.

I set up a Formspring.me account a couple of weeks ago, and I’ll be posting the questions and answers here on an occasional basis. If you’ve got something you’d like to ask, go right ahead.

What ignited your interest in engaging students in this particular manner?

I was involved in student activism and student government as an undergrad, and started researching student history because of that. I quickly realized that there were a lot of important stories that hadn’t been told, so I went to grad school to learn how to tell them. Everything else has just flowed from that.

Formspring.me is a neat little website that does one simple thing: It lets you ask people questions and read their answers. The questions are anonymous — unless you choose to identify yourself — and they stay private until an answer is submitted.

I set up a Formspring.me account a couple of weeks ago, and I’ll be posting the questions and answers here on an occasional basis. If you’ve got something you’d like to ask, go right ahead.

Question: Did you also study student activism in other countries? Have you found striking parallels/differences in patterns of student activism in different countries and even in different types of US institutions?

Answer: I’ve only done a little research on student activism outside the United States — it’s a vast topic, obviously. One thing that’s kept my study focused at home is the fact that so much of the work I do is on under-studied eras and topics. If I were only a historian of American student activism in the sixties, for instance, it’d be a lot easier (and more tempting) for me to branch out into comparative work.

The question about parallels and differences in activism in different kinds of American higher ed institutions is a great one, and two answers leap to mind immediately.

First, there’s public vs. private. Students at public colleges and universities generally have a lot more leverage over their institutions, and their organizing reflects that. Student governments are stronger at publics, legislative lobbying has more direct impact, regents and trustees can be influenced through the politicians who appoint and confirm them. There are certainly private campuses with strong traditions of activism, but in general there’s more going on at the publics, and that’s been true for the last 40 years.

A second big distinction is between residential and commuter colleges — it’s just a lot easier to organize students when they live on campus. And that doesn’t just apply to sit-ins and rallies, either — a residential campus is likely to have more vibrant clubs and organizations, more student participation in events and activities, more sense of community overall. So even when there’s not a lot of overt “activism” going on, there’s a base of student connectedness that can be tapped into.

After months of organizing, lobbying, and just plain waiting, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act — SAFRA — passed yesterday night. It has been sent to President Obama for his signature.

SAFRA will streamline and simplify the federal student loan program by eliminating banks as go-betweens. The reform’s savings over the next ten years are estimated at $61 billion — or, as one activist Twitterer put it last night, “61 + nine zeros.” The bulk of that money will go to increases in Pell Grants and other education initiatives, with some $20 billion going to deficit reduction.

For a taste of the jubilation with which this vote has been greeted in the policy-geek wing of the student activist movement, check out the #cuzSAFRApassed hashtag on Twitter.

The University of California Regents enter the third day of their March meeting this morning, and though the meet hasn’t been met by the kind of huge mass protests that accompanied last November’s fee hikes, it has produced quite a bit of news — and some impressive new student mobilization.

On Tuesday, the Regents heard proposals for changes to university policy that would cut costs and increase revenue, many of which would likely provoke intense student opposition if implemented. The ideas put forward ranged from new tuition hikes and a doubling of out-of-state enrollment to the creation of a three-year undergraduate degree path. Students and workers weighed in on the changes in statements to the board, and “erupted in chants and yelling” at the end of the public comment period.

The Regents will receive formal recommendations on these issues at their July meeting.

Yesterday the Regents discussed — and heard student opinions on — the system’s recent wave of bias crimes and the underlying questions of campus climate and demographics. UC President Mark Yudof endorsed admissions reform in the course of that discussion, calling for a so-called “holistic” admissions approach, in which an applicant’s life experiences are taken into account, to be mandated on every campus. UC San Diego, which has a student body which is just 1.6% black, and which has seen a series of racist incidents in recent months, is one of the campuses that does not presently use a holistic approach.

On tuition, the Regents endorsed a policy “clarification” that asserts their right to set student fees at any level they want. (The student Regent was the only vote in opposition to this motion.) The rumored proposal to eliminate the word “public” from professional schools’ tuition policies was not put forward, but Student Regent Designate Jesse Cheng says it’s his understanding that it will be on the agenda of the Regents’ next meeting.

Cheng has been liveblogging the entire meeting, by the way, and his reports are well worth reading. In addition, several student activists have done an amazing job livetweeting the proceedings, either in person or via streamed video.