Students Are Poised to Protest. Are Colleges Prepared?

College presidents are always juggling multiple priorities. But a new report says that one issue — the potential for student protests to erupt on campus — doesn’t rank high enough at a time when students have returned to in-person learning during rising national polarization.

The report, Academic Year 2021-22: Are College Campuses Ready?, was produced by the Association of American Colleges & Universities and American University. It is based on a spring-2021 survey of 140 senior administrators (mostly college presidents) who were asked about their priorities for the current academic year.

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College presidents and vice presidents are always juggling multiple priorities. But a new report says that one issue — the potential for student protests to erupt on campus — doesn’t rank high enough at a time when students have returned to in-person learning during rising national polarization.

The report, Academic Year 2021-22: Are College Campuses Ready?, was produced by the Association of American Colleges & Universities and American University. It is based on a spring-2021 survey of 140 senior administrators (mostly college presidents and vice presidents) who were asked about their priorities for the current academic year.

The top two priorities, according to the report, were supporting student well-being and developing meaningful diversity and inclusion strategies. They were also asked to prioritize three overall challenges — college affordability, student-support needs, and student protests. Student protests were deemed the lowest-priority issue.

In addition, nearly 60 percent of respondents said that the possibility of student protesters and counterprotesters clashing on campus was “unlikely” or “very unlikely.”

It’s an outlook that’s striking when in recent weeks a surge of anti-fraternity protests have played out at colleges. And students for and against vaccine and mask mandates have protested on some campuses this academic year as well. Experts have also worried recently that campus conflicts could accelerate amid a volatile mix of social and political forces.

With students returning to campus after 18 months that were marked by a global pandemic, widespread protests for racial justice, and other events that have contributed to and exposed the country’s increasing polarization, the stage is set for them to “encounter a potpourri of diverse views that pose distinct challenges to the ideological comfort of their pandemic information bubbles,” the report said.

How prepared are colleges if student protests ensue? The report’s findings raise questions. Here’s a closer look: