Generation X author encourages activism
By Rebecca Palmer
Activities Editor

"I don't like long bios," he says to Mary-Kate Nocella, residence coordinator and assistant director of campus programs and organizations, crushing her prepared introduction seconds before it was to be used. So, after a short biography, he positions himself behind the podium, takes a sip of water, raises his eyes to the audience gathered Monday evening in Norris 101, and begins.

"What I want to do is talk about the generation most of you are a part of," says Paul Rogat Loeb.

He did not come of age in the '80s or '90s, so he is not part of Generation X. And the X term, when used by preceding generations, is generally followed with a description of lazy and apathetic youth.

For seven years Loeb has researched Generation X at over 100 colleges, and lectured at hundreds more. Loeb's latest book "Generation at the Crossroads: Apathy and Action on American College Campuses" is the most tangible result of his endeavors.

Loeb describes Generation X as "working vastly more hours at outside jobs [than previous generations of college students]," as "loaded down with debt," and then inheriting "a legacy of not being sure if there will be a job waiting for them."

"Why is it that it is often so hard to act, to make a stand for what we believe in?" Loeb asks. That is very different from asking why a generation is so apathetic.

His lecture answered that question in a way "Publishers Weekly" described as "revisionist social history at its best."

Loeb says economic times have changed. Students feel they don't have time to act because they have to get the best grades in order to get into graduate school, students (especially men) don't have a movement to associate themselves with, and students don't want to get involved when they have only "partial knowledge."

Loeb says students don't realize they have a right to speak, or they measure themselves by "the perfect standard... [being] ready to debate Kissinger on 'Nightline' before [they] can speak out."

This is not a feeling that originated in Generation X.

A knowledge of history is critical in spurring the common work, Loeb says. He humanizes heroes such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Susan B. Anthony in making his point. Loeb says that when students see MLK as a person, students will realize that when King started his mission at age 26, he was scared. And when students learn Anthony died before women gained suffrage they will realize being involved does not mean you have to do everything.

"I'm part of something that started before me and I'm part of something that will continue after me. Knowing that allows me to act."