[2] In the 1960s, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 required a census of all postsecondary education institutions in the United States.
The census identified students by race or ethnicity, revealing the low number of Black students attending predominantly white colleges and universities, and stated that federal funding would be withheld from educational institutions that did not meet the Act's equal opportunity requirements.
Affirmative action programs at the campus level additionally increased Black enrollment at many colleges.
[6] Over the next year, a Black Student Union presence was established at every California State University campus.
[7] The concept spread north to the University of Washington, where a Black Student Union was founded in 1967.