Student protests have increasingly marked campuses, urging universities to take (stronger) positions on issues such as climate change, the invasion of Ukraine or the events unfolding in Gaza. It evokes memories of the protest movements in the sixties where students also took an active role in pushing for civil rights, peace and environmental protection. Spurred by critical pedagogies that advocate the co-creation of knowledge and that embrace the disruptive and transformative power of knowledge and education (Freire, 1970; Rogers & Freiberg, 1970, Dewey, 1916), the inclusion of student voices in university organisation became rationalised and justified. As the onus shifted from the act of teaching to the process of learning, the prominence of the student in the design of education increased. Their involvement in debates about the curriculum, the teaching practice or the skills and attitudes pursued became a logical consequence thereof.
In the present, most contemporary universities have a form of student representation, be it as a form of critical pedagogy, a principle of ‘good governance’ or even a requirement by law. So why have these existing mechanisms of student voice not proven effective forums in addressing the concerns of our students? What made students (and staff) resort to the same tactics observed in the sixties? The central claim forwarded in this paper is that the marketization of higher education has gradually reduced ‘student voice’ to a highly formalized quality assurance mechanism. This severely restricts existing platforms (perceived) suitability to address student concerns, making protest (seem) the most viable option.
