Sunday, January 29 — Protests by college students in America have a long pedigree, going back 251 years. The first such action occurred in 1766, when there were just seven colleges in Colonial America. The students at Harvard—the first college– were unhappy with on-campus dining, specifically, the rancid butter. The so-called Butter Rebellion began with the cry “Behold, our butter stinketh!” About half the student body supported the complaint, and they took to dining in nearby taverns. The administration soon yielded and replaced the offending spread. In America today, there are over 4,700 degree-granting institutions; 3,000 of them are four-year universities. About 19 million students are enrolled in those colleges, which presumably stock acceptable butter.
Profile America is in its 20th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
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