Some 50 years ago, hundreds of students gathered at Sproul Hall on the University of California—Berkeley campus demanding that administrators not stifle their right to political free speech. That protest established Berkeley as a national hotbed of student activism.

These days, the spirit of protest remains alive and well at Berkeley, the flagship campus of the University of California system and the top-ranked public university in the country.

Students take issues like racial injustice and income inequality very seriously here, while also exuding a certain quirky irreverence in their daily lives. (Consider the Berkeley undergrad walking around this winter day in a pajama onesie blowing bubbles.) Besides regular demonstrations, they frequently flood Sproul Plaza for cultural performances, to socialize and to advertise clubs or events.