Dr. Christopher J Levesque

The Star Trek franchise’s premise, in which explorers “boldly go where no one has gone before” while keeping the peace among disparate peoples, speaks to a Kennedy-era idealism about the future. The United Federation of Planets is modeled on the United Nations, with governing bodies like the Supreme Assembly and the Federation Council; its charter defines its goal as the universal pursuit of peace.

Most of the focus on activism among American college students during the 1960s focuses on either the Civil Rights Movement, or anti-war activism at large universities in the west, mid-west, or north. More recent scholarship has shed light on the more limited activism of students at colleges and universities in the South, who often faced more immediate concerns of the consequences of protest. However, with the exceptions of student activities at Florida State University and the University of Florida, the activism of students at other Florida institutions of higher education are still understudied. Across the state, Florida students engaged in their own protests focused on dress codes, integration, dormitory visitation, free speech, the Vietnam War, culminating with marches and sit-ins after the Kent State Massacre. Students at small institutions like Florida Presbyterian often formed a vanguard of Florida student activism, a trend which eventually included protests at Miami-Dade Community College focused on the Iran-Hostage Crisis of 1979.