As the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century made its way onto college campuses, the leaders of those institutions needed to find a way to keep the peace while making big changes.

This week on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear how college presidents straddled the campus color line.

Some of America’s most pressing civil rights issues, from desegregation, equal educational and employment opportunities, to housing discrimination, and free speech, have been closely intertwined with colleges and universities. While college students, politicians, and other activists actively participated in the fight for and against civil rights, the role of college presidents has not adequately been told.  Eddie R. Cole discusses this in his new book The Campus Color Line – College Presidents and the Struggle for Black Freedom. Dr. Cole is an associate professor of higher education and organizational change at the University of California at Los Angeles. We asked him why he took on this project.

The fight for equality in the mid-20th century didn’t stop on the college campus. It was a wedge issue just about everywhere. That’s the topic of today’s Academic Minute.