{"id":19957,"date":"2023-04-28T20:13:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T20:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-news\/?p=19957"},"modified":"2026-01-19T00:33:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T00:33:29","slug":"mactivism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/mactivism\/","title":{"rendered":"Mactivism"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hillary Moses Mohaupt ’08<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades Macalester\u2019s mission has emphasized a commitment to internationalism, multiculturalism, and service to society. Together, these values attract students who aren\u2019t afraid to challenge the status quo. \u201cActivism has always been a big part of what Macalester is all about,\u201d says Jim Bennett \u201969.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students change during their time at Macalester, and they have, in turn, pushed Macalester to change, too. Over the years, issues that have captured the nation\u2019s attention also have played out on campus, and students have urged Mac to use institutional power in service of justice. Students who have advocated for changes to the college\u2019s policies have learned that making real, sustainable change is often a long game that requires commitment and stamina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During their time at Mac, students have protested the Vietnam War, taken part in the Civil Rights Movement, and pressed for the recognition of the rights of immigrants and people across the gender spectrum. We asked six alumni across generations to reflect on their activism at Mac and how it has influenced their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expanding opportunities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Jim<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Jim Bennett \u201969 arrived on campus in the fall of 1966 as a member of the varsity basketball team, there were just a handful of other Black students in his first-year class. He had graduated from an all-Black high school in Texas, and even now he remembers the culture shock. \u201cGiven the stark cultural change, if it had not been for basketball,\u201d he says, \u201cI probably would have gone home for Thanksgiving and never come back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were advantages to a Macalester education, but it was difficult for me to understand why, as a Black student, I had to give up who I was to be successful at Macalester. That was the motivation for talking with some other Black students and starting the Black Liberation Affairs Committee (BLAC).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black students were starting Black student unions at colleges across the country. \u201cWe wanted something to represent what we believed, as young people, was the right thing to do,\u201d he remembers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, a collaborative group of students, including representatives from BLAC. student government, and others, met with President Arthur Flemming. Bennett says, \u201cWe asked the question, \u2018Given what has happened with the assassination of Dr. King, and cities burning across the country, couldn\u2019t and shouldn\u2019t Macalester do more?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These conversations with the president resulted in the creation of the Expanded Educational Opportunities program, or EEO, which provided scholarships for full tuition and books. In the fall of 1969, it brought to campus seventy-five students of lower socioeconomic backgrounds, the majority of them Black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EEO was funded initially through the college\u2019s endowment, and later through federal funding. Funding challenges eventually led to its demise in 1984, but over the course of its fifteen-year run the program helped diversify the racial makeup of the student body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bennett also led the college\u2019s new Black Education and Cultural Center, or Black House, which also launched in 1969. Black House served as a hub of social and cultural activity, with a fully stocked third-floor library, community dinners, and African dance and drumming classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI guess I didn\u2019t really look at it as activism at that time,\u201d Bennett says. \u201cI would have perceived it as survival.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Macalester, Bennett earned a master\u2019s in interdisciplinary studies at Mankato State University and a PhD in higher education administration at the University of Washington. He eventually served as vice president of equity and pluralism at Bellevue College, a public institution near Seattle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the true meaning of education is to lead out of ignorance, then our responsibility is to not only understand the students who come to us,\u201d he says, \u201cbut to try to learn from them in ways that we can be better stewards of the educational process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bennett says founding BLAC and Black House and advocating for the EEO program laid a solid foundation for his future career. \u201cI learned a lot about being an administrator in a higher-education setting. That\u2019s where it started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Black<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning to negotiate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Linda<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Linda Kennedy \u201972 was a student at Mac, student activism focused on the Vietnam War. But things changed for her, for her classmates, and for students across the country in late April 1970, when the nation learned that President Nixon had lied about American forces being in Cambodia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was sort of a groundswell,\u201d she remembers now. \u201cWe felt we needed to make a statement that was bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of strikes happening across the country, Macalester students occupied Grand Avenue. \u201cI was in the crowd, and it was thrilling and important and exciting and like breathing,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was vital that we work to end this war and that we make others aware that we needed to stop it,\u201d she says. \u201cSo we hauled a bench from a bus stop out into the street between Dupre and the dining commons. And then we shut the school down. We refused to go to class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The college closed for a week in early May. Because the semester was almost over, the college opted to give students grades of \u201cincomplete.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students pushed back against the college\u2019s grade policy and negotiated an alternative with professors: students would receive grades based on the work completed. Kennedy remembers that working with professors to give grades instead of incompletes was a turning point for her and her classmates. And for her male classmates, passing grades were no insignificant achievement, since good grades would help them avoid being drafted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was the first time I negotiated something with an adult,\u201d Kennedy says. \u201cGrowing up when I did, I was always taught to give great respect to adults.\u201d She says the experience, with both parties displaying mutual respect, gave her confidence later as a broadcast journalist, when she was frequently the only Black woman in the newsroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, joining the anti-war protests, then negotiating grades with the college gave Kennedy something more than a complete semester. \u201cIt\u2019s not confidence; it\u2019s not self-esteem,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s having that sense that you have power, too, that you can reply, you can respond, and get the desired result.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mac<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divesting from South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Doug<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Macalester\u2019s reputation as a center of activism against the Vietnam War attracted Doug Tilton \u201982 to the college. But at the time he didn\u2019t know anything about the growing international movement against apartheid in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That changed one rainy night during his first year, when he was taking a break from working on a paper in Doty Hall. \u201cI went down to the lounge to buy some candy and out of the rain comes this Norman Watkins \u201979 saying, \u2018Does anyone want to see a film about South Africa?\u2019 That sounded more interesting than my paper.\u201d Tilton followed Watkins over to the chapel basement, where the student group Macalester Anti-Apartheid Coalition (MAAC), was showing the film Last Grave at Dimbaza<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afterward, Watkins issued a call to action: We\u2019ve got to do something about this. Tilton, who describes himself then as \u201can activist looking for a cause\u201d was in. Saying yes that night changed the course of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divestment involves withdrawing money invested in certain industries or funds to protest a particular policy. Since the early 1960s key political voices across the world had been calling for divestment from South Africa in protest of apartheid. College and universities, the National Council of Churches, and the NAACP, among other groups, joined in the divestment movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macalester\u2019s Board of Trustees formed a committee to look at the issue, and Tilton served as the student representative. Some members of the committee opposed divestment, on the grounds that Macalester had recently endured a rough financial patch. But Tilton remembers that MAAC had a lot of faculty support: \u201cThis was not a faculty movement, but there were a number of faculty members whose moral support and encouragement built our confidence and made us feel like what we were doing was important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately the committee and the trustees recommended limited divestment. As it turned out, Mac didn\u2019t have many investments that were directly connected to South Africa. Tilton welcomed the outcome, but saw it as incomplete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Presbyterian Church, which played a role in the divestment campaign in the US, was also a significant force in Tilton\u2019s life: his father was a minister, while his mother worked in the national offices. Tilton later interned in the Washington, D.C., offices of the Presbyterian Church (USA) focusing on anti-apartheid work there. He completed graduate work on South Africa. Today he lives in Paarl, South Africa, and works as regional liaison for Southern Africa for World Mission of the Presbyterian Church (USA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mac<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Advocacy Today<\/h2>\n

Divestment continues to be a tactic for activists. In 2019, in response to student-led Fossil Free Mac\u2019s divestment proposal and the college\u2019s Social Responsibility Committee report, the college\u2019s Board of Trustees divested of all dedicated publicly traded oil and gas assets, and adopted a college investment policy that prohibits new investments that are solely invested in oil and gas assets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Including all genders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Bobbi<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bobbi Gass \u201910 became co-chair of Queer Union (QU) during her sophomore year, and started working to create gender-neutral bathrooms on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe college was touted as a queer-friendly campus but we were quick to point out that it wasn\u2019t so much for trans or nonbinary students,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gass and other QU members met with campus administrators to advocate for gender-neutral locker rooms and restrooms in the new athletic center. Although the Leonard Center plans were already finalized, Gass says QU\u2019s efforts led to other discussions about making life easier for trans and nonbinary students by designating some bathrooms in residence halls and in the basement of the Campus Center as gender neutral. Those conversations led, in turn, to a consideration of all-gender housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Gass\u2019s junior year, Mac\u2019s first all-gender housing option opened in Kirk. \u201cIt was a pretty quick turnaround, now that I think about it,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it felt like it was the direction the college needed to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since graduating, Gass has continued to fight for queer issues and trans people in the Twin Cities. She earned a master\u2019s of public health from the University of Minnesota, and works in harm reduction for Hennepin County. The experience of working with college staff and fellow students at Mac gave Gass more confidence in her ability to transform the world around her, especially for the queer community. \u201cIt made me feel like my voice mattered and that it is possible to make change happen,\u201d she says now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"All<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daring to DREAM<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Jocelyne<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Jocelyne Cardona \u201914 joined \u00a1Adelante! as a first-year student in 2010, the on-campus cultural organization dedicated to creating awareness around Latin American identity, culture, and history, was focused on advocating for farmworkers and labor rights. Student activists engaged people by offering education, and \u201cinviting them into the conversation, regardless of where they\u2019re coming from,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following academic year \u00a1Adelante! took the same approach when it supported the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, a federal legislative proposal to permanently protect people who came to the US as children. Originally introduced in 2001, at least eleven versions of the bill have been introduced in the last twenty years. Cardona says the group\u2019s goal was to educate the college about why ensuring access to an education at Mac was so important. \u201cWe wanted the end of that campaign to be with the college itself adopting and endorsing the DREAM Act, and taking a political stance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Adan<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2012, Congress passed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, policy, which provides some temporary protections to some immigrants who came to the US as children. Cardona and a group of students created the Dare to DREAM Committee, separate from \u00a1Adelante!, to advocate for the college to support the DREAM Act. First-year student Adan Martinez \u201916 joined them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the committee\u2019s core missions was to change how Macalester offered funding to undocumented students. At the time, the Admissions Office processed applications from undocumented students as though they were international students\u2014even if the students had lived in the US for practically their whole lives. Cardona says they focused on what was in Macalester\u2019s control. \u201cAdmissions became our first system collaborator, so that was our first goal for the next couple of years\u2014just actually creating avenues for access,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because they weren\u2019t legal permanent residents, undocumented students couldn\u2019t receive federal financial aid\u2014so while they could be accepted to Macalester, paying for a Mac education was a near-insurmountable hurdle. Under DACA, students could apply for state-based financial aid in some states. The Dare to DREAM committee asked Macalester to join colleges and universities across the country in endorsing the DREAM Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group met with then-President Brian Rosenberg and shared their proposal for the college to publicly endorse the DREAM Act. They also collected signatures of support from students and faculty. As a result, Rosenberg and the Board of Trustees endorsed the DREAM Act in 2013. Today the Lealtad-Suzuki Center for Social Justice (formerly Department of Multicultural Life) supports DACA staff and students with services and resources for legal services and financial aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to advocating for changes at Macalester, students in the Dare to DREAM committee worked with the state\u2019s senators to help ensure that the Minnesota DREAM Act passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martinez, who is earning a PhD in political science at the University of California\u2013Berkeley, came to Mac having attended many protests and marches. He describes the experience of working with the Dare to DREAM committee as \u201cactivism from within.\u201d He says, \u201cIn many ways, it incorporated a lot of what I was learning in my curriculum\u2014how to create a good argument, how to articulate a good argument, and how to work with people in power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cardona now works as a senior research associate at WestEd, a research, development, and service agency devoted to improving education and fostering an equitable society. \u201cThis work [at Macalester] gave me an example of what changing systems can look like, and that it is in fact possible,\u201d she says. \u201cReflection itself is not enough. We all can do something with the privilege that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mac<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hillary Moses Mohaupt \u201908 earned a master\u2019s degree in public history and is a freelance writer in the greater Philadelphia area.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Student activists have long helped shape Macalester policies\u2014and have learned lasting lessons from their advocacy.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1077,"featured_media":20069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","mediatype-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"fields":{"article_type":[8],"flickr_photoset_id":"","youtube_id":"","square_thumbnail":false,"press_photos":false,"story_title":"","story_caption":"","rotations":false,"maps":false,"marker_title":"","marker_text":"","geographic_location":false,"feature_embed":"","custom_link_url":"","news_icon_name":"","image_options":false,"main_feature_story":"","custom_image":false,"custom_feature_title":"","custom_feature_caption":"","custom_markup":"","custom_markup_link":"","custom_markup_title":"","custom_markup_caption":"","byline":"","post_thumbnail_style":"default","press_downloads":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1077"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19957"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30217,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19957\/revisions\/30217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}