By Dr. Katherine Harris:
Student activism on college and university campuses has sharply increased in the last year. There is a growing interest in political and community involvement, and students have taken to protests and other forms of activism to bring awareness to a myriad of issues from the recent elections, from foreign policy, racism and racial discrimination. Other student groups have issued lists of demands for institutional leadership calling for the removal of faculty and greater student/faculty diversity.
Findings from The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2015 study, part of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) and administered nationally by the Higher Education Research Institute at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, found that interest in political and civic engagement has reached the highest levels since the study began 50 years ago. The survey of 141,189 full-time, first-year students from around the US found that nearly 1 in 10 incoming first-year students expects to participate in student protests while in college. “Student activism seems to be experiencing a revival, and last fall’s incoming freshman class appears more likely than any before it to take advantage of opportunities to participate in this part of the political process,” said Kevin Eagan, director of CIRP. “We observed substantial gains in students’ interest in political and community engagement across nearly every item on the survey related to these issues.”
As such, college presents the first opportunity for many students to become politically engaged and express their opinions through protest or some other form of activism. Some students, however, are surprised to learn that the First Amendment does NOT protect unlawful conduct even if it is done to make a political point. When student protesters occupy buildings, disrupt classes and events, trespass, and vandalize school property, it is NOT okay.
There is a fine line between non-violent civil protest and more violent methods of opposition. By standing on the border between legal protest and outright rebellion, civil disobedience serves as a firebreak preventing those protesting from inching toward rebellion and unlawful destruction. To illuminate this concept, envision civil disobedience as a safety valve meant to protect dissent before that unrest boils over into more severe law-breaking.
Consider what just happened at The University of California at Berkeley– civil disobedience was hijacked by agitators and protesters who were not even Berkeley students. Those protesters came to destroy and be part of an event. The original protest had nothing to do with their actions. They came prepared, dressed and with a purpose of destruction, rioting, and making a scene. It became a party of anarchy and chaos. The civil disobedience message and the entire reason for the protest were lost in the violence.
Civil disobedience serves the basic values of our democracy by promoting the capacity of the citizenry for engagement in the political process and plays an important role in mediating the challenges of a diverse and plural society.
Accordingly, civil disobedience constitutes one of many features in our system that balances dissent with order. Nevertheless, if civil disobedience grows too prevalent,or is hijacked, it often results in diminished or even negative results, such as we have witnessed with the destruction of property on college campuses, to include UC Berkeley.
Although a just and stable society can handle a modicum of civil disobedience, a proliferation of even arguably justified civil disobedience results in disorder. There is an accepted method and process to civil disobedience, and then there is anarchy.
Dr. Katherine (Kat) Harris is an OpsLens contributor, a veteran spouse, expat, and former military contractor with over 20 years of expertise in military/family transition, career counseling, higher education, organizational strategic planning, and international relations. She has conducted seminars and workshops for many Department of Army commands, plus many non-profit and community associations. She served as a translator and liaison for American, British, French, and German civilian/military communities in Berlin and Helmstedt, Germany.
Academically, Dr. Harris holds a Bachelor of Science in Management Studies from The University of Maryland European Division, a Master of Arts in International Relations from Boston University, and a Doctorate in Education from Rowan University with an emphasis in leadership and higher education in a global context.
