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I wrote a lot this spring about SB 1070, the controversial Arizona immigration enforcement law. Students (and administrators) stepped up in opposition to the bill, and momentum for boycotts and other actions in response grew steadily after passage.
The worst provisions of SB 1070 were temporarily suspended by a federal judge the day before they were scheduled to go into effect, but that case is moving forward. It’s possible that another judge will lift the suspension this fall, and there’s already discussion in the Arizona legislature about ways to recast the law to address constitutional objections.
As long as the judge’s stay remains in effect, and there’s no further action in the legislature, SB 1070 is unlikely to be a big issue on the campuses this fall. But as soon as either of those conditions changes, this law will become a big national issue again, and quickly.
This post is the fourth in a series of twelve exploring the student activism stories that are likely to make news on the American campus in the 2010-11 academic year.
The University of California Irvine moved in May to suspend the school’s Muslim Student Union for a year, after Muslim students affiliated with the MSU participated in disruptive protests at an on-campus speech by an Israeli official.
Irvine claimed that the MSU had “planned, orchestrated, and coordinated” the disruption as a group, justifying the one-year suspension. But the MSU argued that they had done no such thing, and the organization’s new president argued that the ban would “deprive Muslim students — both current and incoming — of a place where they can develop a sense of community with one another and with the broader UCI campus community.”
The MSU appealed the sanction, and a ruling on the appeal is expected by the start of classes this fall.
Whatever the administration decides, this story is likely to continue to develop in the fall. If the ban is rescinded, expect national attention from the media and the right-wing blogosphere. If it’s kept in place, look for Muslim students at Irvine and beyond to seek ways to circumvent its restrictions. Either way, the case — which the LA Times called “the first in recent memory at UC recommending the ban of a student group for something other than hazing or alcohol abuse” — raises important questions about student autonomy and campus organizing.
This post is the third in a series of twelve exploring the student activism stories that are likely to make news on the American campus in the 2010-11 academic year.
The State University of New York made news earlier this summer when it was reported that a major donor had promised SUNY Stony Brook a $150 million donation — but only if the state legislature changed the system’s tuition policy.
The tuition policy revision, then a feature of the governor’s proposed state budget, would allow each SUNY campus to set its own tuition rate, with the money from any hikes staying on campus to be used as the local administration saw fit. The plan also contained provisions encouraging public-private partnerships on SUNY campuses.
State legislators were not able to come to agreement on the bill during the budgeting process, leaving it — and that $150 million donation — in limbo. But supporters have pledged to bring it back to the floor when the legislature reconvenes in September.
With privatization one of the biggest boogeymen of higher education activists these days, and tuition one of the most contentious issues on the campus, this proposal for a massive shift in policy at one of the nation’s largest university systems is sure to attract a lot of attention in the fall.
This post is the second in a series of twelve exploring the student activism stories that are likely to make news on the American campus in the 2010-11 academic year.
This post is the first in a series of twelve exploring the student activism stories that are likely to make news on the American campus in the 2010-11 academic year.
The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20, but the magnitude of the disaster only became clear gradually in the weeks that followed. The crisis unfolded while most American students were preparing for and taking their final exams, and by the time it was obvious that this was one of the country’s worst ever environmental catastrophes, the academic year was over.
It’s not clear that the BP spill would have inspired a huge amount of campus protest even if its timing has been different — students tend to organize around issues that they can influence, particularly on a local level, and the entire country’s response to the BP spill mostly took the form of shock and impotent frustration.
But the spill has shifted the terms of the environmental debate in the United States, and though a specific student response to it is even less likely now than it would have been while it was going on, its effects will be reflected in the organizing that does arise this year — particularly if another environmental disaster takes place.
I’ve often said that the most common question a historian of student activism gets asked is “why isn’t there any activism on American campuses today?” (I even took a few pages in my dissertation to explain why it’s such a wrongheaded query.) But recently another question has been gaining ground:
“What are the big issues that students are organizing around today?”
The last couple of years have seen a real boom in campus organizing on the local, state, and national level. Much of this work has been a response on the current financial crisis in higher education, but a long list of other concerns have motivated student organizers as well. And as students (and others) begin to gain a sense that this is a major moment for American student activism, student activism has flourished even more.
There’s a lot going on.
So over the next few weeks I’ll be posting a list of the top dozen student activism stories of the new academic year. Some are national, some are campus-specific. Some are ongoing, some are short-term.
This post will be the homepage for the list as it grows. Be sure to follow Student Activism on Facebook and Twitter to get all the updates as they come in.
studentactivism.net 
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