Campus Resources
- University MinistryUniversity Ministry’s first priority is to provide the Dominican community with opportunities and resources to support and grow in the Dominican Order’s four pillars—Community, Service, Study and Prayer. We aim to create a welcoming and integrated environment for our students and to reach out to the wider community.
- Center for Cultural LiberationThe Center for Cultural Liberation exists to retain, support, and celebrate students from historically marginalized backgrounds. By fostering an inclusive campus climate that educates and challenges, the CCL upholds the longstanding social justice values of Dominican University.
- The Office of Diversity, Equity, and InclusionThe Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI) empowers individual members of the Dominican community in their efforts to create a just and humane campus; ODEI is dedicated to assisting the community in discovering how to live together, inclusively.
- The Wellness Center's Counseling ServicesWe offer free counseling, stress management and wellness services.
The counseling staff is part of an interdisciplinary team of licensed health professionals and graduate interns who work together to support your optimal health and well-being. - Help CentralHelp Central provides assistance for anyone at DU with questions or concerns about their safety, well-being or respect during their University experience and how to file a report.
- Campus Reporting OptionsIf you have an immediate concern, please contact 911 or call Campus Safety at (708) 524-5999. Otherwise, please review link for reporting options.
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Welcome!
Welcome to Rebecca Crown Library's LibGuide on Activism & Protesting. Here you will find everything you need on research and the best practices of activism. Information is organized into two groups: by resource type and research topic. So if you need an ebook on activism, there's a collection of ebooks! Or, if you need anything on the history of nonviolent protest, you'll find a section focusing on that subject. Click the icons above or on the drop-down tabs located to your upper left and get started!
Chicago Protest FAQs
Activism Defined
Activism is action on behalf of a cause, action that goes beyond what is conventional or routine. The action might be door-to-door canvassing, alternative radio, public meetings, rallies, or fasting. The cause might be women’s rights, opposition to a factory, or world peace. Activism has played a major role in ending slavery, challenging dictatorships, protecting workers from exploitation, protecting the environment, promoting equality for women, opposing racism, and many other important issues. Activism can also be used for aims such as attacking minorities or promoting war.
Activism has been present throughout history, in every sort of political system. Yet it has never received the same sort of attention from historians as conventional politics, with its attention to rulers, wars, elections, and empires. Activists are typically challengers to policies and practices, trying to achieve a social goal, not to obtain power themselves. Much activism operates behind the scenes.
There are many varieties of activism, from the face-to-face conversations to massive protests, from principled behavior to the unscrupulous, from polite requests to objectionable interference, and from peaceful protests to violent attacks. Activism is not well defined, so different people often have somewhat different ideas of what constitutes activism.
Activism is not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. It all depends on the cause and the actions, and a person’s judgment of what is worthwhile. One person might say that a protest is a valuable defense of freedom, and another person might say that it is a dangerous attack on human rights.
