From Heresy Trials to LGBTQ Rights: A Case Study in Teaching the History of Campus Activism and Student Voice at Mercer University

According to scholars of higher education, campus protest is one of the foundational ways in which students exercise “student voice” whether the protest be self-advocacy for activism on behalf of others (Jerusha Conner, 2023). Protests have changed on college campuses from the 1960s protests over Vietnam to the 2015 protests over Black Lives Matter. This paper will seek to address the proposed topic of “Campus politics, activism, and practices of engaged scholarship.” I argue that schools with religious backgrounds or formerly religious backgrounds have a unique platform to teach their campuses’ history to demonstrate the dynamism of religion and its relationship to campus activism. These platforms offer the opportunity for student to participate in engaged scholarship through archival research that can shape their understanding of student voice and sense of place on campus.