Faculty attitudes toward student protest

Abstract

As part of a large-scale university survey, a random sample of faculty (75% of whom had had firsthand experience with serious student revolt) were asked for their reaction to a series of questions dealing with student protest — with the reasons for it, the kinds of student protest tactics employed, and the type of actions an administration might take to control it. Statistical comparisons were made between faculty, students, and administrators; and among faculty across disciplines to try to account for different attitudes. Findings suggest that faculty differ less among themselves than from other university constituent groups as to attitude about protest. They tend to distinguish sharply between dissent (which they support) and disruption (which they do not), and to favor responses to protest which keep the university open and functioning. Finally, the view is advanced that violent unrest is the unfortunate result of reciprocal escalation which can be avoided by attention to the causes of dissent rather than its dramatic manifestations.