“A Student Should Have the Privilege of Just Being a Student”: Student Activism as Labor

Students with minoritized identities have been engaged in campus activism as a way to hold institutional leaders accountable for addressing oppression. What is particularly unique about these activists is that they often advocate for change as a way to survive in their minoritized bodies. Because these activists are working to address institutional oppression, they are not able to engage in the activities that historically lead to educationally-beneficial college experiences. The purpose of this study was to explore the extra labor in which 25 student activists engaged, including the costs and consequences of their activism.