The Unbroken Chain

Abstract

Purchase College students were the new link in a chain of Black student movement activity. Inspired by how the protests of 2020 sought to transform the nation, students brought that energy back to their campus in Fall of 2021. This Senior Project looks to engage these student activists as rational actors making strategic moves to gain support of members of their community while tactically outmaneuvering their opponents, acting deliberately rather than blindly guided by emotional reaction. I track how Purchase College students used a philosophy of care and unapologetic blackness to innovate tactics and sustain their efforts. By analyzing the protest events as a chess-like relationship of innovation versus neutralization, I demonstrate how the tactical interaction between Administration officials and students allows a better understanding of the role played by tactical innovation during this link in the chain of student activism and how it can result in sustaining a movement. Additionally, what I hope to demonstrate is the interplay between affect (despair) and rational strategic calculating when thinking about political questions to show how one initial protest ignited a movement. My account relies heavily on student voices; I have used my experience as a participant in the events to inform my engagement with writing and relaying them. I put social movement literature from political scientists, sociologists, and those who theorize on emotions in contentious situations in conversation with responses from students. What I came to understand was that the students’ best weapon was their variation of tactics. They innovated new ways to gain support and to outmaneuver administrative entities, ultimately winning them over. This meant finding ways to make sure the campus community supported their actions. Finally, while those interviewed are a few representatives of the Purchase College community, they demonstrate that this community is just as worthy of research and analysis as any other.