The Student Movements Of The United States In 1960s

The central goal of this paper is to analyze the scope, reveal the nature and mark the significance of the college student movements in 1960s in the United States.Through two case studies of campus unrests——the Free Speech Movement in 1964 at UC Berkeley and the Columbia student spring upheaval in 1968, the two of the most famous and representative campus protests in 1960s——this paper intends first to retrospect, respectively, the events and activities of the student activists and their leaders, both of whom often involved themselves into radical or liberal campus organizations, and the various responses and attitudes received either from within the university, including the student peers, the faculty, and the administration, or from outside opinions, such as the media and the public. The accounts of the process of the student movements in UC Berkeley and Columbia, instilled with the author's purpose, manifest the major controversial issues of each university and the ways in which the students were dealt with due to each campus's specific situations.Secondly, this paper intends to make comparisons and contrasts between the two movements, so that it will demonstrate some distinctive characters originated from each local university, as well as certain common traits possessed by both protests. Furthermore, the differences and similarities of the student movements of UC Berkeley and Columbia together will help to dig deeper in the understanding of 1960s' American college student movements in general.A comparative analysis of the two representative universities will help to detect the scope of the college student movements throughout USA, since issues raised in UC Berkeley and Columbia covered almost all kinds of matters for which students from other colleges or universities were caring or fighting at the age.In conclusion, a comparative analysis of the two typical student movements can help to reveal the nature of American college student movements in 1960s. The broad scope and the distinctive nature of college student movements in a changing times in the United States is of multiple, significant meanings, both to its own times and to the future.