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students’ ability to function. The Office of Civil Rights opens cases
as they arise, and clear the institution when they resolve all of the
cases.We found accounts of student protests around the investigation
of and responses to sexual assault at most of these universities except
Washington and Lee.
Protest action helped to bring about reforms. To offer an
alternative to university adjudication of sexual assault, the state of
Virginia is exploring the establishment of a regional investigative
agency that would handle campus cases. George Mason established
a Task Force on Sexual Assault and Interpersonal Violence in 2014,
which resulted in several reforms to the process, including the hiring
of a full-time Title IX Coordinator. The University of Richmond
plans to create a Center for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response
along with a full-time coordinator.
Students are forming coalitions across university campuses.
According to their Facebook page, The Virginia Student Power
Network “is a growing multi-issue grassroots network of progressive
and radical young organizers and activists from universities across
Virginia.” The University of Virginia is part of this network through
UVA Students United. Other groups who are part of the system are
theVirginia Student Environmental Coalition, Old Dominion Student
Power, and Old Dominion Democrats. Participating organizations
address issues ranging from tuition abatements to gender equity.
At the University of Virginia, President Theresa Sullivan
established a Commission on Slavery to explore the history of
slavery at the university and build legacies to the slaves who
helped build the institution. Commission institutional members
include the College of William and Mary, Georgetown University,
Hampton University, Sweet Briar College, University of the South,
Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Military Institute
and Virginia Tech. In 2015, hundreds of students staged a sit-in
at Georgetown University near President John J. DeGioia’s office
protesting the hostile racial climate on campus. Students felt it was
the university’s ties to slavery that poisoned the atmosphere. Slaves
built Georgetown, and Jesuit priests sold 272 slaves to Maryland and
Louisiana plantations to pay off debt.
Mobilizing students in the 1960s was a “ground game” utilizing
face-to-face solicitation of support, distribution of flyers, and
coordinating meetings. The tools of activists in the 21st century are
accessible technology and social media. Information is now rapidly
shared through online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
and Snapchat. Helped by viral hashtag campaigns such as #icantbreathe
and #handsupdontshoot, the Black LivesMatter movement reached out
to any student that has access to the internet. Technology has changed
campus activism to allow greater connectivity and faster spread of
information. Students need only turn on their smartphone or laptop for
information on the latest developments and planned protest activities.
We will likely see more student activism in the coming years. Such
activism indicates a growing awareness of, and interest in, political
and civic life, which is healthy for democracy.
Andrea Y. Simpson is an Associate Professor of Political Science
at the University of Richmond and Rena X. Xiao is a rising
sophomore.
Since the 2016 presidential election, a
wave of activism is sweeping the country
and university campuses. Rather than
protesting a war or free speech, as students
did in the 1960s, today’s college students
are mobilizing around reproductive rights,
tuition costs, civil rights for minorities and
the LGBTQ community, and immigration
restrictions. Another issue is the failure of
universities to acknowledge their debt to
slaves and their complicity in that shameful
institution. So, while students in the 1960s
protested broad issues that affected their
futures, students today are concerned with
wide-scale discrimination and equality as
well as issues close to home such as tuition.
According to a nationwide study
commissioned by The Panetta Institute
for Public Policy, over half of the college
students surveyed believe that the country
is headed in the wrong direction. Almost
seven out of ten believe that America
is on the decline. Fifty-eight percent
believe that the problems facing their
generation are more national in scope than international. Findings
from the University of California Los Angeles annual Cooperative
Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey indicated
that interest in political and civic engagement among first-year
students in the United States is at an all-time high since the survey
began 50 years ago. An estimated one in ten incoming first-year
students is expected to participate in some form of rally or protest
during their years in college.
One of the hot-button issues in Virginia and the nation is
women’s reproductive rights—specifically the right to terminate
pregnancies. Many Virginian high schools and colleges have active
Planned Parenthood Generation Action chapters on campus. Planned
Parenthood Generation Action is a network of young activists
advocating for reproductive freedom and the right to choose. There
are currently 11 chapters across Virginian high schools and college
campuses. Each campus chapter works to mobilize members through
running events, rallies and campaigns that provide education about
sexual health and awareness.
In February 2016, students from George Mason University
confronted presidential candidate and Ohio Governor John Kasich
about signing a bill defunding Planned Parenthood in his home
state. When a pro-life group appeared on the campus of Virginia
Commonwealth University in the fall of 2016 with graphic posters
of aborted fetuses, student staged a pro-choice counter-protest. At
the University of Richmond, students, faculty, and staff turned out
for a small demonstration regarding a myriad of concerns regarding
federal funding for the environment, Planned Parenthood, and the
National Endowment for the Arts.
Tied to the issue of accessibility of women’s health issues are
university responses to incidents of sexual assault. The United
States Office for Civil Rights, (OCR), targeted the following
Virginia schools for violation of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act:
The College ofWilliam and Mary, University of Virginia, University
of Richmond, George Mason University, James Madison University,
and Washington and Lee. Title IX states that institutions may not
deny any student the ability to participate fully in educational and
other opportunities on the basis of sex. If institutions’ mishandle
sexual assault cases, then the resulting psychological trauma impairs
Student Activism in Virginia:
FromWomen’s Rights to the Debt Owed to Slaves
By Andrea Y. Simpson and Rena X. Xiao
SIMPSON
Xiao
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