Student Activism

• In Event: Higher Education in Closing Spaces

Proposal

Student activism has played a significant role in democracy throughout recent history. Students have used their voices and their platforms to advocate for change on a wide range of issues, including civil rights, environmental protection, and social justice

Democracy is a foundational aspect of sustainable development. The role of higher education in strengthening democracies has been well researched (Rowland, 2003; Dewey, 1944; Habermas, 1984, 1987) as it equips citizens with the knowledge and tools to contribute to the common good. However, how student activism interplays with the process of strengthening democracy or challenging the conditions affecting human rights requires additional exploration.This presentation will share results of a research activity that interrogated the issue of student activism in the higher education context.

This work was driven by the following question: How do higher education institutions, through their tripart mission of teaching, research, and service, support activism by students seeking to strengthen democracy and advance respect for human rights?

To answer this question, we conducted a literature review of peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and gray literature. We analyzed the data using a grounded theory approach (Bryant and Charmaz, 2007) where codes and concepts were derived from the data to inform the emergent theory on student activism in higher education and democracy, as this method is effective for generating hypotheses from qualitative data.

We concluded that higher education institutions have a role in cultivating youth and fostering democracy by creating democratic structures and processes and providing a space for young people to have a democratic experience. Student activism can advance human rights by raising awareness, advocating and lobbying for pressing issues, holding institutions accountable, building coalitions, and inspiring future activism.

We will present a knowledge product that has assisted higher education stakeholders to support collective action and social movements and develop evidence-informed programming. We will also share experiences on how the knowledge product was used to make higher education institutions more resilient.

Author

• Scott Pulizzi, Education Development Center (Edc)