Student Activism in the Academy: Its Struggles and Promise

Student Activism in the Academy: Its Struggles and Promise is a wide-ranging, provocative survey of student activism in America’s colleges and universities that critically analyzes the contentious problems and progress of a movement that has stirred public reaction in and out of academe. Its fundamental purpose is to engage diverse publics in both reasoned and passionate reflection and soul searching on vital issues that surround campus protest, including:

• strategies for student activism
• the role of social media and technology 
• legal questions on campus speech
• the dilemmas of political correctness 
• generational differences among student activists
• and various forms of student protest related to race, class, gender, and disabilities.

Administrators, faculty, students, and student life personnel in higher education―indeed, all those interested in today’s colleges and universities--will want to participate in the timely and productive dialogue within these pages.

Joseph L. DeVitis is a retired professor of educational foundations and higher education. He is a past president of the American Educational Studies Association (AESA), the Council of Learned Societies in Education, and the Society of Professors of Education. Dr. DeVitis is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Two of his books have earned Choice Awards from the American Library Association, and four others have won Critics Choice Awards from AESA as outstanding books of the year, including his most recent book, Popular Educational Classics (Peter Lang, 2016).

Pietro Sasso has over 10 years of professional and teaching experience in postsecondary education. As an administrator, his experience is exceptionally diverse, spanning several educational administrative functional areas. As a scholar, he has written and co-edited 7 texts, authored over 35 scholarly publications, and facilitated over 30 national and regional presentations. He is the recipient of the AFA Dr. Charles Eberly Research Award from AFA and is the ACPA Men and Masculinities Emerging Scholar-In-Residence.