By Ethan Cohen
Student activism has been a defining feature of Long Beach State since its founding in 1949. Over the past 75 years, students and faculty have used the campus as a stage for social and political change, reflecting broader national movements in American eras from the 20th to 21st centuries.
For every instance of social upheaval, the Long Beach Current has been present to document and cover the ever-changing history of the campus.
From the early civil rights marches and Vietnam War protests to movements addressing environmental issues, racial justice, tuition hikes and ongoing conflicts, students have consistently played a pivotal role in shaping the campus community and the broader society.
These protests and social justice movements are a testament to the university’s role as a place to foster dialogue, engage in activism and shape the future of the community and beyond.
Civil Rights and Anti-War Movements
In the 1960s, CSULB saw its first major events of social action and protest, largely inspired by the national civil rights and anti-war movements.
On April 4, 1968, the university’s Black Student Union protested the lack of Black representation in the student government, eventually occupying the Associated Students Inc. council chambers.
According to the Long Beach Current, formerly the Daily Forty-Niner’s archives, the action by the Black Student Union resulted in two resolutions passed by the student government to address Black representation on campus issues.
As the Vietnam War intensified and the draft reached close to home, anti-war demonstrations sprang up across the country. CSULB was not spared with an explosion of student activism and sit-ins protesting for the U.S. to cease its involvement in Vietnam.
From 1967 until the early 1970s, students and faculty were involved in a myriad of protests which saw confrontations with military recruiters and the shutting down of campus.
Anti-war protests also sprang up in 2003 as the U.S. escalated conflict against Iraq during the war on terror.
Protest against tuition increases and budget cuts
Throughout the decades, CSULB students have repeatedly mobilized against the rising tuition and budget cuts the college has faced.
Students and faculty argued continuous tuition hikes threatened the accessibility to higher education.
For as long as the college has served the greater Long Beach community, the issue of tuition and budget has been at the forefront of student activism culminating in walkouts, marches and sit-ins with students demanding increased state funding and financial aid.
One notable example was last year’s campus protest against tuition increases. Students marched across campus to raise awareness and highlight their frustration with the cost of education.
According to the archives, there has been at least one demonstration against the rise in tuition for nearly every decade since the 1960s. However, the most notable period in which students protested was from the early 1990s to the 2010s.
Racial tensions and justice
From the Black Student Union’s protest of the student government in the 1960s to the sweeping Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, racial equality and social justice have long been a focal point of activism at CSULB.
Following the 1992 Rodney King verdict, where four Los Angeles Police Department officers accused of beating King were acquitted, students took to the campus in outrage.
“It was an obvious miscarriage of justice,” Maulana Karenga, chair of the Black Studies Department in the original 1992 Daily Forty-Niner, article, said. “It reflects the race and class dimensions of justice where some races are favored more than others.”
At the time when the Current interviewed students, many said the community would reap the repercussions of the verdict.
The CSULB campus was eventually closed and classes were canceled due to the riots near and around the campus.
More recently, the student and faculty community united together during the BLM movement after the death of George Floyd, raising issues of police brutality and racial injustice that continue to this day.
The Long Beach Current, formerly the Daily Forty-Niner, exclusively covered protests on and around CSULB for racial justice, including the arrest of a student.
Students and faculty continue to take to the streets, advocating for causes, movements and beliefs. Each demonstration, in its own way, has contributed to shaping the social and political change on our campus.
