ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses two puzzles, examining why and how Saint Louis University (SLU) faculty managed to act together in a no-confidence movement after years of inaction and why some people chose to be highly active. It presents empirical findings from the interviews with SLU activists, before concluding with a discussion of how the nature of mobilization at SLU affected the overall struggle, its successes, and its limitations. Faculty protest occurs under risky enough conditions to make it useful to pull together two bodies of literature – on social movements and protest in autocratic regimes. To collect information on activists’ motivations, perceptions of costs and opportunities, and decisions, the author conducted face-to-face interviews with 34 SLU faculty members who were active to one degree or another in the no-confidence movement. The rational choice perspective struggles to explain how self-interest based calculations would prompt people to take risky action.
