August 8, 2014:  Student Activism Part 2  US Universities

Most social historians agree that the immediate results of European and Japanese student movements in the 1960s were less important than the long-term consequences. There were few concrete gains besides more open enrollments (in Europe, vastly expanded enrollments), fewer entrance requirements, and greater accountability of universities toward students as consumers. It remains debatable if  the 1960s movement could have attained a general revolution – a more conservative view is that only  a tiny vanguard of violent operatives were dedicated to subverting the system.. On the other hand, studies have suggested that the movement drew attention to the persistent class divisions that seemed to prevent realization of the democratic dream, while the postwar political parties began to abandon ideology in the general enthusiasm that accompanied the economic boom -- the negative side of capitalist development, the limits to economic growth, increasing environmental concerns and impact of modern technology became evident to the public.

The US in the 1960s was now far removed from its isolationist policies prior to World War 2.  As a global player and, indeed, as the police protector role for democracy and consumerism, America began seeing signs of youthful rebellion and anti-establishment or authority sentiments in the 1950s. American student activism started growing significantly in the 1960s -- it was the first time something like this had happened since the 1930s especially with civil rights

The best early historical documentation of American student activism comes from the 1930s. The American Youth Congress was a student-led organization in Washington, DC, which lobbied the US Congress against racial discrimination and for youth programs. It was heavily supported by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Social researcher R. Flacks in 1970found that the student movement originated at the highest quality state institutions, private universities, and colleges with distinct prestige, and then spread to other schools at the beginning of 1970s. All in all, the American student movement started early in the 1960s, the protests then escalated around 1965 with the Vietnam war, and it reached its peak around 1969.