Students Decision-Making Process When Participating in a Sit-In Protest

14 Apr 2023    

Jeff Nilsen has successfully defended his doctoral dissertation titled “Students Decision-Making Process When Participating in a Sit-In Protest,” as part of the Educational Administration, Educational Leadership and Higher Education Doctor of Philosophy program in the Department of Educational Administration in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Schuh is a native of Charleston, Illinois.

Using a grounded theory methodology, Nilsen explored a student's decision-making process around participating in a sit-in protest on a university campus. Through retrospective interviews and document reviews, he created a framework that explains individual and collective pathways to protest. The framework highlights the role of individual motivators in the decision-making process, as well as the influence of anger and urgency.

Nilsen’s advisor was Elizabeth Niehaus, associate professor at Nebraska.