Student coalitions can break institutional inertia that faculty and administrators ignore.

Evidence

Meredith then asked how I felt about her forming a student-run group on campus that she wanted to call the Harvard Coalition to Free Renty. I told her that I loved the idea—and I knew in my heart that it would be a game changer. For years I had tried to make a connection on campus, but the students always seemed to be in a state of transition. I would contact an organization; the leadership would change; the semester would end, and I’d lose touch. But there was something about Meredith’s proposal that felt different. The students are the lifeblood of any academic institution; their collective voices have something Harvard can’t ignore—power. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 968