One thing that I think is different today than even 5 years ago is that “intersectionality” is a very hot issue on campus these days. So issues like gay rights, feminism, etc. are inextricably tied up with issues of race, class and privilege. Sounds good in theory, right?
But in practice it means that if you are a cis-gendered white person you are supposed to follow very strict rules about how to be a good ally. And being a good ally means you stay out of the spotlight and absolutely do not question the arguments, tactics or interpretation of events made by a student of color or a transgendered person on any issue, because you are then trying to dominate them, exert your privilege and traumatize them with facts, endangering their mental health. (I’m not making this up.) The safe response is often to opt for a sort of hashtag activism where you make appropriate expressions of solidarity especially on social media and mostly try to keep a low profile.
Another result of intersectionality is that activists are unwilling to accept the idea that someone can agree with them on most but not ALL issues. For example, many of the so-called campus “conservatives” are libertarians or fiscal conservatives who fully support things like civil rights, gay marriage, abortion rights, etc. But because they are not 100% in agreement, they are labelled classist, ableist, racists. I suspect this is less of a problem at a big university than at a small LAC where everyone pretty much knows everyone else (at least superficially) and mentally categorizes them.