Forty years ago, give or take a semester or two, American campuses from Morningside Heights to Berkeley found themselves in the midst of protests against the Vietnam War and the restriction of free speech and political activities. Sometimes peaceful, at times disruptive, often intense and passionate, a generation of students and faculty raised their voices and fists supporting civil rights, fighting for First Amendment rights and against the War. Student activists of that era are now aging baby boomers, some of whom have kept their radical world-view, others have joined the establishment, a few have swung to the right. None will ever forget the way they and their campuses shook back in the day. Since that time almost all campus political activities, whether over issues local, national or international, are measured against “the way it was” in the late 60s and early 70s.

In recognition of the anniversary of those special times, many colleges and universities are hosting ceremonial events of remembrances. The media, too, is looking back. On Tuesday, March 11 the National Geographic television channel will air a program about the 1970 shooting of student protesters at Kent State University, How It Was: Death at Kent State, (check local listings for time). That moment may be the most emblematic of the anti-war activity: Death has a way of focusing the mind.

Since the Vietnam era, campuses around the world have been the source of political protest against their governments’ policies. The list of the activities over the past four decades is far too long to recount here but a brief mention of a contemporary few allows us to review the range of such events.

Shiraz University in central Iran has been closed for the past several weeks due to student demonstrations against the school’s chancellor, Mohammed Hadi Sedeghi, an appointee of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Durban’s Mongosuthu University of Technology in South Africa was officially down this week following a week of student protests. And students at Warsaw University in Poland are marking with a solemn ceremony and a conference the anniversary of the March ’68 expulsion of students — particularly Jews and members of the Communist party, who were sent from Poland to Austria.

While the Kent State protests ended with the death of four students, it was and is rare for American campus disruptions to result in loss of life. Certainly activities during the Vietnam War era trashed campuses, turned them upside down, upset the status quo, rallied uncommon allies, and raised the stakes of discourse, but the possibility of being shot was not usually foremost in protesters’ minds. Arrest for disorderly conduct was another matter. I well recall them being bailed out in Roxbury District Court.

International students do not always have the same comfort; their actions far too often result in robust reactions including arrest, imprisonment, and even death. The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006 release in Brazil) tells a poignant and graphic story from 1970 Sao Paulo, the year of World Cup soccer, dictatorship, and disappearances from campus of dissident students.

For the last several years, some parents of current university students, remembering their own undergraduate years, have been asking me why my own campus seemed so quiet. After all, during the Vietnam period, many people considered George Washington University to be protest central and the undergraduates from all over the country who flocked to Washington sought a safe harbor within the campus boundaries, located as it is only a couple of blocks from the White House.

It is a mistake for people to think that because 2008 isn’t 1968 that students are unconcerned, that they don’t care about politics or the state of the world. They do, at least the ones that I see. A lot. They’re active in Democratic and Republican activities. They volunteer with brio all over the city in campaigns, doing good works, helping the elderly, working in the public schools, volunteering in soup kitchens, putting themselves forward in almost any way they can find. Political and social activism is high. They want to add value.

And students with a global perspective are determined to make the world a better place, as well. For example, GW students who came about a year ago to talk with me about Darfur, went away inspired to create an organization known as Banaa. Born in Foggy Bottom, it now reaches across the country under the umbrella of the Sudan Educational Empowerment Network, with chapters on campuses from the East to the West coast. It is working to reach out to Sudanese students who can benefit from an American education and provide scholarships to bring these youngsters to U.S. colleges and universities.

Banaa seeks to empower these young people with education, skills, and resources to make it possible for them to return to the Sudan to work for reconciliation and break the cycle of violence. They’ve already received over 120 applications — GW has provided opportunities and resources but cannot do it by itself. Banaa has been obliged to turn away significant numbers of qualified applicants and is presently searching for additional support. They would be pleased to hear from you. Their spokesperson is a young man named Justin Zorn. For additional information, look at their web site, Banaa.

Another opportunity for social activism is the gap year — the time between the end of high school and the beginning of freshman year when students are going off to do go works and build a resume. But more about that in another post. And perhaps, too, the alternative spring break which is no vacation.