Rosenthal, Brown on Student Activism

On the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer, Rob Rosenthal, the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology, and Lois Brown, the Class of 1958 Distinguished Professor, write in The Huffington Post about student activism today compared to the 1960s.

Though Millennials have gotten a reputation as being disengaged with the world, Rosenthal and Brown write, “Numerous events suggest that students today are not abandoning activism but using new forms of activism: replacing confrontation with dialogue, lobbying, and direct service provision and ‘organizing’ locally and globally without ever joining hands. This virtual quality of modern activism may require less commitment and seem less real, less immediate, and more situational. Some even suggest that this contemporary activism diminishes significant personal risk and thus becomes less heroic. One does not have to leave ‘home’ and put it all on the line like the Freedom Riders and Freedom Summer activists did in volatile and unpredictable places.”

In September, Wesleyan will mark the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer with a series of programs.

Rosenthal is also director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life. Brown is also professor and chair of African American Studies, director of the Center for African American Studies, professor of English, professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies.