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Campus activism has enduring interest for scholars of social movements. Understanding the scope, issues, and potential disruptiveness of protest at colleges and universities has particular significance in the context of attacks on higher education. Examining 13,399 campus protests in the United States, we trace the extraordinary diversity of issues and demands put forward by students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other participants. Protests surged in the 2023–24 academic year as demonstrations related to Israel and Palestine spread to over 200 campuses. Campus protest was already on the rise with activism focused on racism, policing, labor issues, the environment, presidential politics, and other issues. While media accounts highlight disruption, we find that the vast majority of protests were not disruptive. Across eight years, protests occurred at nearly 49% of four-year public and private, not-for-profit colleges and universities. This activity was very modest for a vast number of campuses. Only a small subset of campuses had frequent and sustained activism with hundreds of protest events. These tended to be larger and more selective institutions. We conclude by highlighting the complexity of recent developments in college activism and its theoretical significance for future research on social movements and higher education.
Andrews et al. (Tue,) studied this question.