College campuses have always been hotbeds for people to protest. From the McCarthyism protests of the 1960s, to modern day Pro-Palestinian protests, students have always let their voices be heard.
In recent months, students across the country have been protesting their schools’ investments into companies that do business with Israel. This has caused major waves in our government and with other students. Recently, universities have had students arrested, canceled graduation ceremonies , and much more as a response. The current climate of college protests is reminiscent of three major protests that went on during three different decades. The question is, are the universities in the right or are they infringing on student’s first amendment rights?
One of the first major student protest was back in 1964 on the University of California, Berkeley campus. According to the university’s website, “The Free Speech Movement began in 1964 when UC Berkeley students protested the university’s restrictions on political activities on campus. Small sit-ins and demonstrations escalated into a series of large-scale rallies and protests demanding full constitutional rights on campus.”
In May of 1969, then Governor and future President Ronald Reagan sent in the National Guard to remove protesters who were occupying a plot of land the university owned, similar to what is going on now with the ‘Encampment zones.’ Some believe that this is one of the top points that got Reagan elected in 1980.
The most prolific college protest to date is the Vietnam War protest that happened on the Kent State campus in Ohio. The protest started on May 2 and by May 4, four students would be shot and killed by the National Guard. In an article written by Jerry Lewis and Thomas Hensley for Kent State University, “The impact of the shootings was dramatic. The event triggered a nationwide student strike that forced hundreds of colleges and universities to close.”
Like with Reagan sending in the National Guard to Berkeley, the events of Kent State caused issues in our federal government. Harry Robbins “Bob” Haldeman, former Chief of Staff for the White House during the Nixon years, stated in his book, The Ends of Power, Kent State started the slide of Watergate which led to the resignation of Nixon.
If the effects of Kent State weren’t enough already, just days later (10 to be exact), local police opened fire on a college dorm at Jackson State College in Mississippi. The university is a predominantly black university and the students were protesting racial injustice they were experiencing while living on campus, mostly by white drivers. According to APR “On the evening of May 14, African-American youths were reportedly pelting rocks at white motorists driving down the main road through campus — frequently the site of confrontations between white and black Jackson residents…The situation escalated when a non-Jackson State student set a dump truck on fire.”
The police killed two students and injured 12, this caused the graduation for that year to be canceled. This is something that is also happening now as well, Columbia University canceled its main commencement. According to CBS news, “Columbia University decided to cancel its main commencement after weeks of pro-Palestinian protests and turmoil on campus. Despite bringing in the NYPD, officials cited security concerns, and instead offered students smaller school-level ceremonies where they will be honored alongside their peers.”
In the 1980s, a nationwide protest broke out amongst college students because of South African apartheid and wanting their universities to divest from groups that support it. Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s. It restricted where non-white people could live, attend school, work, and more.
In a déjà vu moment, Columbia University was the center of this protest, like they seem to be now. It’s actually almost scary how similar the events of this protest are to the one going on now at the university. According to the Zinn Education Project, the 1985 student blockade of Hamilton Hall, which the students renamed to Mandela Hall, lasted for three weeks, as students demanded that the school divest from corporations profiting from apartheid South Africa from April 4 through April 25, 1985.
As we look back on the history of protests that college students have done, it is clear that not many things change just the people. US college students have always had a feeling of needing to stand up for what they believe is right. The similarities between what is going on now to what has happened in the past is amazing. From ‘Encampment zones’ to students occupying buildings and demanding the divestment of certain groups, it is no shock that many people in power now may be getting déjà vu.
Routing this back to our school, UT Martin hasn’t seen protests like what is happening now on other campuses. We have usually done a more silent and direct protest as we are a small school. From the 2020 protests to require all students to take an African American history class to the recent passing of an SGA resolution to Senate bills 623 and 2290 citing these bills as racist, something that happened at UT Chattanooga as well.
So, are these universities infringing on students’ first amendment rights? That is up to the people of the nation. Are these most recent protests any different to what we have seen before or is the reason for the protest what makes people uncomfortable.
