This study presents a theoretical approach to the study of the emergence of movements for political change. It was postulated that changes outside the university role set --industrial systems development, political, military, scientific competition between the United States and Soviet Union-- brought about the following structural changes within the American university: 1) an increasing involvement of the university in national decisions; 2) an increase in the size of the student body; 3) an increase in the heterogeneity of the student body; 4) an increase in the duration of the student role; and, 5) an increase in the necessity to attend college. The structural changes were used to explain changes in the political expectations and activity of students: 1) rejection of traditional authority in student affairs; 2) desire for voice in decisions making; and, 3) rejection of the concept or image of students as immature citizens. Aggregate data on the structural variables were gathered from national statistical sources and from the archives of the two schools. Data on student expectations and patterns of political activity were gathered from a content analysis of the school papers: The Crimson and the Daily Cardinal. It was found that gradual structural changes started in the forties, were accentuated in the fifties, then followed by abrupt simultaneous changes in student expectations and activity in the sixties; this constituted a genuine student movement for political change. (Author/SBE)