The protests have exposed how experiences of black students in predominantly white campus environments are cloaked in isolation, invisibility and downright disregard for their rights.
Sadly, campus racism is not new, and neither are the demands of black student activists.
In my role as an associate professor of higher education and student affairs at Indiana University’s School of Education, I study black student experiences in college.
My book, Culture Centers in Higher Education, was the first to focus on the establishment of campus culture centers. These centers emerged as a result of the demands from activists during the student movements of the late 1960s to provide safe and welcoming spaces for students of color on campuses.
Over the past week, I have thought about the present context of black student protests in relation to the protests of their 1960s counterparts. And one thing is clear: the current student demands closely resemble those made by students in the 1960s.