There is something to this. I have noticed more and more

incentives offered to faculty to design service components in their courses or community engagement. Not sure if this is what you mean by activism. But the trend is clearly meant as an add-on to the direct subject matter of the course. In defense of those who advocate for such engagement, there is a case to be made that college should help push students out of their social comfort zone. I won't use the word "privilege" because it carries too much baggage. But a certain segment of men and women at my former university suffered from a sense of entitlement. As a Catholic university, there is further warrant for supporting activity outside the classroom or lab. I myself successfully avoided all such supplementary work -- just not my thing. I make an exception for study abroad, depending on how it's done. I knew students for whom courses abroad were life-changing.