The Draft. They had something immediately at risk.

Plus the civil rights movemant and then the emerging environmental movement.

The feminist movement hit as more women were enrolling in college and also had more at state in the fight for equal rights for women and enough of us had lost someone to a back alley abortion making the fight for safe and legal abortions a priority, just as we gained sexual freedom with advances in birth control.

After the Leave it To Beaver fantasies we grew up with conflicted with the life we were living, a lot of new ideas popped up that gave us all a lot of reasons to participate and work towards something different.

But I would say that for most - the draft was what opened eyes and gave the needed nudge to get students out and involved.