When I came to Kent State in 1969 and the early '70s, the typical question on students' minds was, "Is it relevant?" There was a high degree of social concern. But the burning question of the '80s was, "Will it be on the exam?" It's a change in attitude toward the "me" generation - "Greed is good." But the students more recently seem to be doing a better job at combining the two extremes and coming up with a more heightened social concern today than in the early 1980s, though it still isn't as strong as the '70s.

-Thomas Hensley Professor of political science

Students are more frightened to take chances today. I wish they would take more risks and say 'screw it.' But they are too afraid of Big Daddy and the White House. These attitudes have nothing to do with May 4 - it has to do with the change in culture. I think it's very sad. We live in a European culture. It's class-risen culture. But they are going to hit a certain age and turn up empty.

-Allan Dooley Associate professor of English

I suppose one major change is there is a more realistic sense of what is possible. I think that's very healthy on one hand, but on the other it is sort of sad, in a romantic way. On reflection, the attitudes of young people that they could bring about extraordinary change, that they could do almost anything they wanted to politically, have lessened. Students today are much more realistic. But if they are much more realistic politically, I am awed by their expectations with respect to what they can expect to face when they leave college.

Another extraordinary change has been in the attitudes concerning race, religion and especially gender... I remember sitting up in the Student Center second floor cafeteria just this past year. I was sitting by the back windows drinking some coffee and watching a group of girls running up the driveway leading to the gym annex. They were obviously track runners...

Now, when I was a kid, I mean a young boy, the worst insult in the world was to have someone say you ran like a girl or threw like a girl. And I looked out the window and said to myself, "That girl doesn't run like a girl, she runs like a runner." I think that summed up, metaphorically, the idea of change that has occurred over the past 20 years.

-John Gorgon Professor of political science

Students are less academically prepared for college these days. I think it goes back to what they are learning in high school. I sit down and ask (the students), "Why are you having problems?" And they say, "Because I wasn't asked to do anything in high school."

-Dennis Cooke Professor of biological sciences

I think there is a considerable difference . . . in terms of the exemplary student. The exemplary student of that era was very much concerned with political matters, world issues, social classes - but you don't have that today. I think the exemplary student of today is much more self-oriented, more concerned with getting somewhere and getting an education.

-Edwin Bixenstine Emeritus professor of Psychology

What has changed the most is the absence of political concern for a national issue. Vietnam was a national issue. Today you can compare it to AIDS, but it's still not the same...

Today, students are not activists because they are so damn busy . . . When I first came to Kent State, if you announced the words "term paper," students would pass out. Nowadays students pretty much expect it. You can go into the library the first week (of classes) and it's full of students. Attitudes have changed because students work so much harder today.

-Jerry M. Lewis Professor of sociology and anthropology

Students are more conservative now and more vocationally oriented. Twenty years ago, there was a certain climate that led to more questioning as to the status quo. There were more active issues such as the Civil Rights movement that made students more active. During the Vietnam War, students were more directly concerned with government policies.

-Roy Lilly Professor of psychology

Quotes compiled by Lisa Bales and Gregory James Kennedy.