Last week's speech was originally scheduled for Sept. 11 as an extension of freshman orientation. Following her comments on that day, many students were skeptical about this speech.
"I was afraid to come back to Amherst because [Sept. 11] was the last time I was here," said Ehrenreich. "This situation right now would really irritate the Taliban: a bunch of people--male and female; Christian, Muslim, and every other faith--all gathered together to listen to a women wearing pants."
"After the Sept. 11 attack, I thought she was too heavy-handed in her assertions, but today I changed my mind," said Sarah Sklar-Heyn '05.
In remarks made after her second speech Ehrenreich justified her comments and responded to campus sentiment in regard to her earlier speech.
"I was afraid that the response to Sept. 11 would be the senseless bombing of Afghanistan, which it has been," said Ehrenreich. "I don't think it was too soon to think about reactions. What was I supposed to say, 'Give me a couple of weeks, and then I'll comment?"
"Too often our leaders' reflexive response is to bomb somebody. My objection is not just that it's killing civilians, but that it's turning opinion against us in the Muslim world and also that this isn't the way to go after global terrorist networks," she added.
Ehrenreich focused this speech on the disparities between the college-educated and the rest of America, using experiences from her book "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" to illustrate her points. As research for that book, Ehrenreich worked as a waitress in Florida, as a Wal-Mart staffer in Minneapolis and as a housekeeper in Maine.
"I discovered that there are no unskilled jobs," she said. "Every job takes skill and intelligence and resourcefulness, but I could not survive on the wages paid for the positions I took."
Ehrenreich described the college-educated as an elite of wealth, power and authority. She made frequent use of comparative statistics, noting that a college education would be worth $1 million over a lifetime. Particular emphasis was placed on the growing education gap between the wealthy and poor, in addition to ethnic gaps.
"It's not just that you'll get paid more; you'll have a happier, at least a lot more pleasant, work life than non-college graduates," said Ehrenreich. "Non-college graduates do what they are told to do; college graduates spend their time telling them what to do."
Using Harvard University students' efforts to get college employees paid a 'living wage,' as well as protests by other schools against the employment of sweatshop labor in the creation of products bearing university logos, Ehrenreich encouraged students to take an active role in effecting societal change. However, some attendees were unconvinced of the viability of her approach.
"I think she had trouble applying her ideas in a more global, macroeconomic sense, in terms of converting existing institutions," said Alex Hochron '02. "You need more than a movement across a couple of campuses to get national attention and get things moving."
Following her speech, Ehrenreich took questions requesting active suggestions for change and challenging her economic policy positions.
"I think she's short-sighted in her approach; she's a little utopian, and I think you have to realize that there are consequences of raising wages," said Brian Kelly '05. "You can't do it without raising unemployment as well."
Ehrenreich responded to criticism with reassertions of her critiques of the economic status-quo.
"I would put it another way: one of the reasons our country is having such difficulties right now is that a lot of people don't have money to spend," said Ehrenreich. "The approach that Congress and the administration have taken is wrong-headed, and there's an economic price to pay when so many people don't make enough to live on."
Ehrenreich made frequent use of a conceit involving the seating capacity of the Chapel to emphasize the distinct minority that college graduates find themselves in. She said that to add a seat to represent the number of high school drop-outs, non-college attendees and college drop-outs per college-educated audience member would require thousands of "empty seats" surrounding the audience.
"It's a lonely image," said Ehrenreich, encouraging students to actively pursue social change. "It's a lot more fun when the rest of the seats fill up."
Though many shared her concerns, the most common criticisms following her speech noted her failure to address practical measures for change.
"Nobody else can make Americans talk as well about class, but she missed a few opportunities in the Q-and-A to drive the dagger home," said Professor of History and Black Studies David Blight. "She probably left students wondering what they can do about the brutal economic disparity in America."