This dissertation explores presidents' perceptions and the various contexts and experiences that shape their responses to student activism. As a public symbol of the university to students, staff, and faculty as well as the surrounding community, college presidents have a unique role in addressing or (re)acting in response to student movements. However, prior research in student movements does not include the leadership perspective, and most literature operates on the assumption that presidents are an overarching oppositional force. This exclusion may be a result of lack of access to college presidents in higher education research; however, the result has been a conspicuous lack of research and understanding of the ways in which college presidents perceive student activism and choose to respond to student demands made of them. To address this oversight in student movement literature, this dissertation uses interview data from college presidents to determine and analyze their processes of evaluation, reflection, and decision-making regarding student activism. Relevant literature related to student movements, organizational theory, and college president literature is used to provide context for this research. In particular, I propose employing ideas related to organizational insiders and "tempered radicals" (Meyerson & Scully, 1995) as possible frameworks for understanding the decisions made by college presidents. Therefore, the overarching research question is: "How do college presidents approach interactions with student activists and what factors determine institutional responses to student activism?" Presidents in this study served in their roles in the last fifteen years at four-year public or private institutions in the United States. Twenty-seven presidents participated and were from institutions with different sizes, prestige, religious affiliations, geographic locations, and rural or urban locations and included minority-serving institutions. Presidents were interviewed from August 2019 through February 2020. Data analysis reveals that presidents generally perceive student activism on their campuses as positive, and believe that it promotes civic engagement, student learning and leadership, and benefits campus in that it is pushed to improve and continue on a path toward greater equity and inclusiveness. The few negative perceptions from presidents arose when they said that students had been manipulated by internal groups, such as faculty, or external groups unaffiliated and perhaps inappropriate for adoption on campus. Presidents describe the importance of several limiting contextual factors in making decisions, including institutional contexts such as size, location, history of activism, institutional type (public or private) and student demographics. Additionally, external political factors are the most limiting for presidents when determining how to respond to student movements. The governing board of the institution and whether or not the state legislature is Republican-controlled are the most often cited external constraints. Interview data also suggests that presidents engage in normative responses (Schneiberg & Soule, 2005) when determining legitimacy of student tactics and mobilization efforts. Finally, presidents reveal their efforts to employ preventative tactics to pre-empt student movements on their campuses. While they view movements positively, the majority of presidents still work to avoid movements, especially those that are likely to employ disruptive tactics (which presidents often attempt to delegitimize). Presidents did this through building relationships with students, establishing and maintaining an on-campus presence, creation of clear policies around campus safety and free speech, and effective ongoing communication around progress related to prior resolutions between student activists and campus administrators. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]