A visual history of campus protests in the US

In 1933, Columbia failed to reappoint Donald Henderson, an economics instructor who was ostensibly let go because of his role as a Columbia Social Problems Club leader. In other words, Henderson liaised with communists or was one himself. Protesters in support of Henderson fought hand-to-hand with supporters of the opposition, and police broke up the fighting with nightsticks. Even famed Mexican artist Diego Rivera got in on the action.

While many World War II images depict young people proudly going off to serve their country, there was opposition among them. Campus groups like Students for Peace Against Involvement of America in War and early pacifist organizations like the War Resisters League set the foundation for "revolutionary nonviolence." Student concerns included imperialism, colonialism, and profiteering from war.

In a somber ceremony, thousands of students attended an anti-draft "Vietnam Commencement'' at the University of California, Berkeley, where some pledged to refuse military service. The 1968 ceremony, which resembled a graduation, took place in Berkeley's Sproul Hall, the current site of a pro-Palestinaian sit-in. The school had already been famous for protests in 1964 during the student-led Free Speech Movement (anti-war, civil rights). Though the Vietnam War would drag on for another six years, 1968 was an inflection point for conscientious objectors, often young men ages 18 to 35 eligible for conscription under the Selective Service Act.

In 1968, Howard University students took over an administrative building to demand drastic changes at the storied historically Black university. Among their conditions were a greater emphasis on African-American studies and a change in administrative leadership. "Our demand is an answer—we want you to say publicly what you think about these issues," Adrienne Manns Israel, one of the original protest organizers, told the Zinn Education Project.

Protests culminated from the Civil Rights Movement, anti-Vietnam War sentiment, and the discovery that Columbia was financially tied to arms supporting the Vietnam War. More than 1,000 protesters took over five buildings and the dean was taken hostage. The events at Columbia were later called "the most powerful and effective student protest in modern American history" in historian Mark D. Naison's 2002 memoir, "White Boy."

During the same period of the uprising, the Black Students Strike at the University of Wisconsin–Madison pushed the administration to comply with a list of "non-negotiable" demands, including instituting a Black Studies Department and admitting at least 500 Black students the next semester. During the two-week protest, the governor activated the Wisconsin National Guard, a move that galvanized even more protesters to come out and march to the capital.

As the oldest private historically Black university in the nation and the site of a stop on the Underground Railroad, Central State University has activism in its DNA. In 1969, students pressed the administration for more funding and an end to the limit on students admitted from out of state. During a meeting on the steps of the State House, students showed solidarity with the black power salute.

George Washington University, once dubbed the "Holiday Inn of the Revolution" for hosting anti-war protestors in dorms, has a long history of campus activism dating back to the Civil War. During the Vietnam era, anti-war demonstrators faced off with DC Metro police as they marched to the locus of Republican power, the Watergate Complex (interestingly, designed by Mussolini's favored architect) that soon would become notorious for the eponymous scandal.

May 4, 1970, is branded in national memory as a day of tragedy at Kent State University. During a protest calling for the end of the war in Vietnam, the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd, killing four students and injuring nine. Other students were met with tear gas and rubber bullets. The horrific event became a flashpoint in the national upheaval over the United States' involvement in Southeast Asia.

Weeks after the Kent State shootings, another tragedy took place at a protest against racial injustice outside of Alexander Hall at Jackson State College in Mississippi. Students at the historically Black college were gathered by the dormitory—some protesting, others not—when the police opened fire. Two students were killed and 15 wounded. The incident didn't receive as much public attention as Kent State, the officers were never charged, and the Black families of the victims were not awarded damages.

During the Anti-Apartheid Movement, protestors at Columbia University demanded that the university withdraw its investments in South Africa. The protest would set a precedent at the school, where calls for divestment continued into the 21st century when Columbia withdrew investment funds from fossil fuels and private prison companies after student campaigns. Pro-Palestinian protestors occupied the same building to call for divestment from Israel 56 years later, almost exactly to the day.

Long before the #MeToo movement, members of feminist and advocacy groups raised awareness about violence against women by staging demonstrations at the University of Minnesota to protest the protection of athletes accused of sexual misconduct. Among them included the Gender Liberation Action Front and advocates against sexual violence, who led a peaceful demonstration while demanding action against athletic officials who allegedly intervened in assault and sexual conduct investigations involving athletes.

When Michael Brown, an unarmed Black man, was killed in Ferguson, Missouri, by white police officer Darren Wilson, protesters at nearby Washington University in St. Louis raised awareness about ongoing police injustices with "hands up" walkouts. Later that year, when a grand jury determined Wilson would not face criminal charges, protests erupted across the nation and thrust the Black Lives Matter movement into the national spotlight.

In 2017, about 200 Emerson College students walked out of class to protest the administration's inadequate response to racism on campus. Marching to a nearby theater where about 80 faculty members were gathered, they chanted, "No more oppression, no microaggressions," and called for the administration to do more than go beyond "surface-level progress."

In 2018, New York University students participated in a "die-in" on the 20th anniversary of the 1999 Columbine High School mass shooting. They were joined by activists from around the nation demonstrating their frustration with relentless gun violence by protesting with stillness and silence on campuses and in public spaces. Driven by young people, movements like March for Our Lives amplified calls for gun control reform and pushed for legislation in recent years.

So far, as of April 2024, there have been 66 occurrences of gunfire on school grounds this year alone, resulting in 26 deaths.

Story editing by Nicole Caldwell. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Michael Flocker.