Resistance and Rebellion:
Student Protest in American Higher Education
First Year Seminar
Trinity College Fall 2000
TR 1:15-2:30 McCook 313
http://courses.trincoll.edu
Jack Dougherty, Assistant Professor of Educational Studies
McCook 302 Hours: T 10-11, R 11-12 and by appointment
Phone: 297-2296 Email: Jack.Dougherty@trincoll.edu
http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/educ
FY Mentor: Danielle Marquis ’02
Introduction:
Why have student protests periodically erupted on college campuses over the past two hundred years? How have the methods, motivations, and broader meanings behind these movements changed, or remained the same, over time? What were the long-term outcomes of student protests? And how does our memory – or ignorance – of these events influence campus life and politics in the present?
During the first half of the seminar, we will probe these issues while reading accounts of rebellion at Princeton in the early 1800s, Fisk University in the 1920s, Berkeley in the 1960s, and others. In the second half, we will research the 1968 Trinity student protest for African-American student scholarships, by examining archival evidence and conducting oral history interviews with participants. In addition to writing research papers and making oral presentations, our seminar will produce a public history exhibit on the events of 1968 for the Trinity campus community.
Readings:
Richard Marius, A Short Guide to Writing About History, 3rd edition (Addison-Wesley 1999) ISBN 0321023870; $16.50
Helen Horowitz, Campus Life: Undergraduate Culture from the End of the Eighteenth Century to the Present (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987). ISBN 0-226-35373-7; $19.95
W.J. Rorabaugh, Berkeley at War: The 1960s. (NY: Oxford Press, 1990). ISBN 0195066677; $14.95
Additional readings will be made available to the seminar. You are responsible for any revisions made to the syllabus, which will be announced in class and posted on the website.
How to succeed in this seminar:
Attend each seminar on time, participate regularly in discussions, and bring relevant readings and notes with you. Exceptions will be made only for documented medical or family emergencies; unexcused absences will result in the reduction of your final evaluation by 5% for each occurrence. Late papers will result in a deduction of 20% for each day.
Take the initiative in raising questions with the professor and mentor. Simple questions can be raised in seminar or via email. For more complex issues, ask after seminar, during office hours, or call x2296 to schedule an appointment with Jack.
Master the essential tools of the information age, such as:
Become aware of different academic strategies (for reading, note taking, writing, contributing to discussions, time management) and define your own. Be prepared to present your preferred strategies to the entire seminar.
Analyze historical source materials (aka primary sources) by asking the standard who/what/when/where/why questions, plus these:
Analyze historical interpretations (aka secondary sources) by asking the standard who/what/when/where/why questions, plus these:
The Seminar Paper Process:
Our discussion of syllabus readings will be led by the seminar paper process. All members of the seminar are responsible for completing the readings, reflecting upon the questions posted on CourseInfo by the professor, and fulfilling their assigned roles for each meeting.
Authors will write a 2-page seminar paper in response to an assigned question and distribute their writing via CourseInfo. The deadline will be 9pm on the day BEFORE our seminar meeting.
Good seminar papers respond to the question with an insightful argument (or claim or thesis), supported by direct evidence from the sources. Cover the basics, but also remember the advice offered Ms. Frizzle, the renowned educator from the Magic Schoolbus: "Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy." Write seminar papers which stretch your abilities.
Suggested length is two single-spaced pages (700-1000 words). When quoting or paraphrasing a source for a seminar paper, write a simple in-line citation, such as:
Student protests in the 1800s were seen as a "pattern of upper-class behavior" (Novak, p. 34).
Do not use footnotes, since they do not transfer cleanly into CourseInfo text fields. For other questions, refer to Marius, A Short Guide to Writing History.
Commentators will be assigned to each paper, to launch our seminar discussion with a 2-minute oral presentation of the paper’s content. A good commentator reads the paper at least twice before seminar and writes notes to organize thoughts for an oral presentation. Clarify what the author claims – or does not claim – in the paper. Evaluate the strength of the evidence, or other evidence which may change the interpretation. Avoid making detailed comments on grammar and style, unless the authors could have made a substantive point more clearly by re-wording a key sentence or reorganizing paragraphs.
The audience, or remaining members of the seminar, contribute to the discussion of the seminar paper. Everyone reads and prints out a copy of the paper to bring to our seminar.
Posting or printing on CourseInfo:
Researching and Constructing a Public History Project:
In the second half of the course, members of our seminar will write research papers and construct a public history exhibit on the Trinity student protest of 1968. Working with a partner will be encouraged. Overall, the project follows these stages:
Evaluation:
3 seminar papers @ 10 each = 30
midterm exam (short essays on 1st half readings) 10
research proposals 10
first drafts of research papers-in-progress 10
public history exhibit and oral presentation of research 20
final draft of research paper 20
final exam (short essays on 2nd half readings) 10
NOTE: Initially, the total number of points equals 110. When calculating the final grade, your lowest 10-point grade will be dropped (i.e., a paper, the oral presentation, or the final exam), resulting in an adjusted total of 100 points.
Be advised that adequate work earns a C, good work earns a B, and outstanding work earns an A in this class. The penalty for overdue assignments will be 20% per day, with exceptions granted only for documented medical or family emergencies.
Students are expected to engage in academic honesty in all forms of work for this course. If this is unclear to you, ask for clarification.
Fri Sept 1 (10:15-11:30am) Introduction to Seminar
Meet at the Library Learning Center (2nd Floor)
Introduction to syllabus, seminar paper assignments, CourseInfo, library website
Assignment: Practice using CourseInfo
Seminar challenge: library scavenger hunt (due Thur Sept 7th in class)
Afternoon: individual advising with Dougherty in McCook 302
Tue Sept 5 Exploring Sources on Trinity 1968
Meet at Watkinson library (basement of main library) with Peter Knapp, Archivist
Read: selected newspaper clippings on Trinity 1968
Richard Marius, "Thinking About History" (pp. 29-48) in A Short Guide to Writing About History
In class: Historical documents on Trinity 1968
Thur Sept 7 Thinking about history
Meet in regular classroom (McCook 313)
Alexander Astin, The American Freshman: Thirty Year Trends. (Los Angeles, CA: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA, 1997), pp. 1-31.
Richard Marius, "Introduction" (pp. 1-12), "The Essay in History" (pp. 13-28), and "Modes of Historical Writing" (pp. 49-71).
In class: Henry Watson, [Manuscript notes concerning a student protest over faculty disciplinary action, July, 1828.] Trinity College Archives.
Author 1 _________________________ Commentator 1 ____________________
Author 2 _________________________ Commentator 2 ____________________
Tue Sept 12 The War Between Students and Faculty: Princeton, 1800s
Meet in regular classroom (McCook 313)
Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker, Princeton 1746-1896 (Princeton University Press, 1946), pp. 137-175.
Steven Novak, The Rights of Youth: American Colleges and Student Revolt, 1798-1815 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977), preface and chapters 1-3.
4 Seminar papers
Author 3 _________________________ Commentator 3 ____________________
Author 4 _________________________ Commentator 4 ____________________
Author 5 _________________________ Commentator 5 ____________________
Author 6 _________________________ Commentator 6 ____________________
Thur Sept 14 College Men, Outsiders, and Rebels, 1800-1920s
Helen Horowitz, Campus Life (1987), preface and chapters 1-4.
4 Seminar papers
Author 7 _________________________ Commentator 7 ____________________
Author 8 _________________________ Commentator 8 ____________________
Author 9 _________________________ Commentator 9 ____________________
Author 10 _________________________ Commentator 10 ____________________
Tue Sept 19 Black College Student Rebellions: Fisk University, 1925
Primary documents from the Fisk rebellion:
4 Seminar papers
Author 11 _________________________ Commentator 11 ____________________
Author 12 _________________________ Commentator 12 ____________________
Author 13 _________________________ Commentator 13 ____________________
Author 14 _________________________ Commentator 14 ____________________
In class:
Booker T. Washington, "Industrial Education for the Negro" (1903), excerpt.
W.E.B. DuBois, "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington & Others," Souls of Black Folk (1903).
James Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), excerpt and photos.
Thur Sept 21 Black College Student Rebellions: Fisk University, 1925
Joe M. Richardson, A History of Fisk University, 1865-1946 (University of Alabama Press, 1980), chapter 7.
Raymond Wolters, The New Negro on Campus: Black College Rebellions of the 1920s. (Princeton University Press, 1975), chapters 1-2.
4 Seminar papers
Author 15 _________________________ Commentator 15 ____________________
Author 16 _________________________ Commentator 16 ____________________
Author 17 _________________________ Commentator 17 ____________________
Author 18 _________________________ Commentator 18 ____________________
Video Date and time TBA by mentor
Berkeley in the Sixties (San Francisco: California Newsreel, 1990). [Trinity Library Video 1679] Part 1 "Confronting the university: the free speech movement" (42 min.) is required; parts 2 (anti-war movement) and 3 (counter-culture movement) are optional.
Tue Sept 26 The Free Speech Movement at UC-Berkeley, 1964
W.J. Rorabaugh, Berkeley at War: The 1960s. (New York: Oxford Press, 1989), preface, chapter 1, and epilogue.
Free Speech Movement website at Bancroft Library, UC-Berkeley:
http://lib.berkeley.edu/BANC/FSM/
4 Seminar papers
Author 19 _________________________ Commentator 19 ____________________
Author 20 _________________________ Commentator 20 ____________________
Author 21 _________________________ Commentator 21 ____________________
Author 22 _________________________ Commentator 22 ____________________
Thur Sept 28 Campus Rebels and Youth Culture, 1910s-1960s
Beth Bailey, "From Panty Raids to Revolution: Youth and Authority, 1950-1970," in Joe Austin and Michael Willard, eds., Generations of Youth: Youth Cultures and History in Twentieth-Century America (New York University Press, 1998).
Horowitz, Campus Life, chapters 4-8, 10. (We will discuss chapter 9 later).
4 Seminar papers
Author 23 _________________________ Commentator 23 ____________________
Author 24 _________________________ Commentator 24 ____________________
Author 25 _________________________ Commentator 25 ____________________
Author 26 _________________________ Commentator 26 ____________________
Tue Oct 3 Creating a Public History Project on Trinity 1968
Meet at Watkinson library
Re-read: selected Trinity 1968 source materials, and other sources
Richard Marius, "Gathering Information and Writing Drafts" (pp. 72-108) in A Short Guide to Writing About History.
Recommended: Peter Knapp, Trinity College in the Twentieth Century: A History (2000).
In class: Revisit source materials; potential contacts for oral history interviews; formulate research questions and proposals
2 seminar papers
Author 27 _________________________ Commentator 27 ____________________
Author 28 _________________________ Commentator 28 ____________________
Assignment: Research proposal (approx 2 pages) to be posted on CourseInfo by Monday, Oct 10th at 9pm; partners encouraged
Midterm Exam Date and time TBA by mentor
Short essays on readings, emphasizing historical interpretation; open book; one hour. To be scheduled by students with mentor, sometime between Oct 3rd and Oct 13th).
Thur Oct 5 Oral History Workshop 1
Valerie Raleigh Yow, Recording Oral History: A Practical Guide for Social Scientists (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1994), excerpts.
Recommended: Trinity College video by Prof. Steve Valocchi, Dept of Sociology, on oral history methods.
In class: interview sampling; formulating questions; logistical issues and ethics.
Assignment: Contact an individual linked to the Trinity 1968 event, obtain informed consent, conduct oral history, transcribe, and post onto the seminar web page by Monday, Oct 16th at 9pm
Tue Oct 10 Trinity Day
No class, but individual appointments for comments on research proposals
Thur Oct 12 Web Design Workshop
Meet in computer lab TBA
In class: constructing the seminar exhibit website
Tue Oct 17 Oral History Workshop 2: From Interviews to Interpretation
Alessandro Portelli, "The Death of Luigi Trastulli: Memory and the Event," in The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1991).
Reminder: Bring a printout of your oral history transcript to seminar.
Horowitz, Campus Life, chapter 9 (on "College Women and Coeds").
Author 29 _________________________ Commentator 29 ____________________
Author 30 _________________________ Commentator 30 ____________________
Thur Oct 19 Oral History Workshop 3: From Interviews to Interpretation
Guests from the "Going Coed" Mini-Conference:
Kit Lasher and Auban Haydel
In 1996, these two Amherst undergraduates launched a student-run project to document the diverse experiences of women at a school that had been exclusively male for over 150 years. Using surveys, interviews, and email, they gathered testimonies from over 200 students and alumna on issues such as academics, athletics, activism, relationships, and residential life, and presented their findings in a book entitled The Fairest College? Twenty Years of Women at Amherst (1997). Their study describes how coeducation altered the proverbial "Amherst Experience," and highlights the challenges that Lasher and Haydel encountered during the research and writing of their book.
Website: http://www.amherst.edu/~20years/
Vince DiGirolamo, Asst. Professor of Interdisciplinary Writing, Colgate Univ.
Since the fall of 1998, students in Professor DiGirolamo's oral history course have documented and analyzed the subjective experience of the students, faculty, staff, and administrators who took part in Colgate's historic transition from an all-male to a coed institution. While administrators tend to remember the road to coeducation as relatively smooth, interviews with students and faculty, particularly women, suggest otherwise. The admission of women, begun officially in 1970, occurred during a fractious and volatile time on campus that was characterized by anti-war protest, racial violence, and student sit-ins. Combining archival research with oral history interviews, students have begun to put coeducation in its proper historical perspective and explore a number of important issues regarding student health, sexuality, parietals, sports, race relations, classroom dynamics, and fraternities. Based on these papers and interviews, the study illustrates how gender has shaped and reshaped the culture of this institution.
See website: http://departments.colgate.edu/diw/coedproject/default.html
Members of the seminar must also attend one of the two following events:
a) "Going Coed" research presentations (including one by Trinity students), 4-5pm
OR
b) "Going Coed" discussion of new book by Leslie Miller-Bernal, Separate by Degree: Women Students’ Experiences in Single-Sex and Coeducational Colleges (NY: Peter Lang, 2000); 2:45-3:30 pm
Tue Oct 24 Oral History workshop 4: Interpreting Trinity Interviews
Read all of the interview transcripts on our website.
Author 31 _________________________ Commentator 31 ____________________
Author 32 _________________________ Commentator 32 ____________________
Thur Oct 26 The Broader Context of 1960s Campus Protests
Julie Reuben, "Reforming the University: Student Protests and the Demand for a ‘Relevant’ Curriculum," in Gerard De Groot, ed., Student Protest: The Sixties and After (NY: Longman, 1998).
Julie Reuben, "Merit, Mission, and Minority Students: The History of Debates over Special Admissions Programs," in Michael Johanek, ed., A Faithful Mirror: Reflections on the College Board and Education in America. (New York: College Board Press, forthcoming October 2000).
2 seminar papers:
Author 33 _________________________ Commentator 33 ____________________
Author 34 _________________________ Commentator 34 ____________________
Tue Oct 31 The Broader Context of 1960s Campus Protests
Nella Van Dyke, "The Location of Student Protest: Patterns of Activism in American Universities in the 1960s," in Gerard De Groot, ed., Student Protest: The Sixties and After (NY: Longman, 1998).
Maryl Levine and John Naisbitt, Right On! A Documentary on Student Protest [Based on the Urban Research Corporation study of 292 campus protests]. (NY: Bantam Books, 1970), excerpts.
2 Seminar papers
Author 35 _________________________ Commentator 35 ____________________
Author 36 _________________________ Commentator 36 ____________________
Thur Nov 2 Exhibit Design Workshop
1:30pm
Visit to the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, to view public history such as the Amistad multimedia exhibit. See website: http://www.chs.org/exhib/amistad.htm
Read: Susan Pennybacker [Trinity history professor], Exhibition Review: Amistad Journal of American History 86 (June 1999): 170-172. Available online at:
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/86.1/exr_2.html
2:15-3:45pm
Brainstorming session with Kate Steinway, CHS Director of Exhibits, about designing our own Trinity 1968 public history exhibit.
Tues Nov 7 Research Papers-In-Progress I
Drafts posted on CourseInfo
Draft A ________________________ Commentators A _____________________
Draft B ________________________ Commentators B _____________________
Draft C ________________________ Commentators C _____________________
Draft D ________________________ Commentators D _____________________
Richard Marius, "Documenting Your Sources" (pp. 136-145), "Suggestions About Style" (pp. 146-160), and "Conventions" (pp. 161-174) in A Short Guide to Writing About History.
Thurs Nov 9 Research Papers-In-Progress II
Draft E ________________________ Commentators E _____________________
Draft F ________________________ Commentators F _____________________
Draft G ________________________ Commentators G _____________________
Draft H ________________________ Commentators H _____________________
Tue Nov 14 How Will Historians View Student Protests of 1990s-2000?
"Student Rioters Demand the 'Right to Party’" Chronicle of Higher Education (May 15, 1998).
Kit Lively, "At Michigan State, a Protest Escalates into a Night of Fires, Tear Gas, and Arrests." Chronicle of Higher Education (May 15, 1998).
"Hispanic Students at Michigan State U. Hold Books Hostage in Protest." Chronicle of Higher Education (March 5, 1999).
Martin Van Der Werf, "’Sweatshop’ Protest Raise Ethical and Practical Issues." Chronicle of Higher Education (March 5, 1999).
Ben Gose, "Dartmouth’s Battle Over Greek Houses Reflects Dispute Over Its Ambitions" Chronicle of Higher Education (February 26, 1999).
Arthur Levine, "A New Generation of Student Protesters Arises [Opinion Article]." Chronicle of Higher Education (February 26, 1999).
3 Seminar papers
Author 37 _________________________ Commentator 37 ____________________
Author 38 _________________________ Commentator 38 ____________________
Author 39 _________________________ Commentator 39 ____________________
Thur Nov 16 How Will Historians View Student Protests of 1990s-2000?
Horowitz, Campus Life, chapters 11, 12, coda.
Robert Rhoads, "Student Protest and Multicultural Reform: Making Sense of Campus Unrest in the 1990s." Journal of Higher Education 69 (Nov 1998): 621-646.
3 Seminar papers
Author 40 _________________________ Commentator 40 ____________________
Author 41 _________________________ Commentator 41 ____________________
Author 42 _________________________ Commentator 42 ____________________
Tue Nov 21 Exhibit Design Workshop 2
In class: finalizing our public history exhibit plans
Thur Nov 23 No class (Thanksgiving)
Tue Nov 28
Tentative: Our seminar visits Prof. Spector’s seminar
Thur Nov 30
Tentative: Prof Spector’s seminar visits our seminar; exhibit preview and critique
Tue Dec 5 Public History Exhibit
Exhibit goes on display in Mather Hall Art Space
Course Evaluations
Practice for Oral Presentations
Thur Dec 7 Public History Exhibit
Oral Presentations, 1:30-onward
Exhibit Opening Reception, 4pm
Guest Evaluator: Professor Julie Reuben, Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Julie Reuben is a historian interested in the role of education in American society and culture. Her teaching and research address broad questions about the purposes of education, the relation between educational institutions and political and social concerns, and the forces that shape educational change. She is currently working on a book, tentatively entitled Questioning the Academy: Campus Activism in the 1960s and its Legacy in American Higher Education, which will be the first serious historical study of campus protests and their impact on American higher education. It aims to illuminate the critique of higher education that emerged from campus protests and explain the ways in which universities did and did not respond to this critique. It will focus on a number of issues, including the successful assault on in loco parentis regulations, and the not-so-triumphant quest for "student power"; efforts to "open up" the university to marginalized groups through changes in admissions, hiring practices, the curriculum and social structures on campus; debates about the proper role of faculty and scholarship; and questions regarding the university's role in society.
Final drafts of research papers due Monday Dec 11th
Final Exam: Monday Dec 18th 9am