Marx lectured on socioeconomic diversity and admission statistics, drawing graphs on a chalkboard and displaying intricate knowledge on the subject as if he were teaching a class. "Amherst College had [approximately] 6,300 applicants for [about] 410 spaces this year, so clearly we're doing something right," he said. "We're at about 50 percent financial aid. We have the highest percentage of students of color of any of the Ivies and our peer institutions. We're dramatically more economically diverse than any of the Ivies and our competitive colleges. The bad news is that I still don't think that's good enough."
Marx explained that among U.S. high school students who scored 1420 on the old version of the SAT, 50 percent of the group would fall in the top 20 percent in family income. "It's not that we should compromise our academic standards," Marx said. "Partly it's that students in the bottom economic brackets go to schools where they don't hear about Amherst. Also cost is a factor. We're proud to meet full need, but it's a complicated procedure. If you're a Laotian immigrant already overwhelmed by America, a financial aid form that asks 200 questions can put you off." Paying for socioeconomic diversity is a major concern, Marx said, because for every additional student in a lower income bracket and every lost student in the highest income bracket, it's a "double hit."
Marx then questioned whether the College's current advising system is built to sufficiently guide students through the open curriculum and pondered "the degree to which course offerings and allocation of faculty are sufficient for the future."
He discussed outreach programming at the College. The College, Marx said, must encourage community outreach systematically. "One example is a guaranteed summer internship if you do certain work," he said. "Also, we are thinking about courses on the politics, economics, sociology and anthropology of public education in America."
In the question-and-answer period, one student asked Marx if he was concerned about grade inflation at the College. "There are a lot of reasons for it, but no good excuses," he said. "I think it's a concern," he added, later clarifying that it is an issue of secondary importance to the administration. Marx also supported the Admission Office's utilization of applicants' SAT scores. "At Amherst we don't use a mechanical process," he said. "The Admission Office has learned how to adjust the value of the SAT based on background, high school, et cetera. The 'Reader Rating' is a much better predictor of success at Amherst than SATs."
Marx gave a passionate answer when asked how the College can instill its students with an appreciation for Amherst's history. "The College started in 1821 as a secondary school-which speaks to the connection and responsibility of Amherst to high schools," Marx said. "Also, the charter was to educate the indigent. That's not what we are doing at the moment. Looking at the history can be inspiring and useful. We need to learn from the mistakes and celebrate the glories."
A student suggested to Marx that students at the College exhibit a sense of entitlement. He agreed and said that could change "if the distribution of students looked a little different. If students were engaged in service activities while they were here. How can we equalize the situation?" Marx indicated that one student had presented the idea of every freshman working in Valentine Dining Hall for a semester. He also cited students' requests for College-provided ice skates this winter as evidence of a sense of entitlement.
Marx said that for logistical reasons, the College's advising system cannot be completely altered. When Jacob Goldberg '08 voiced his disappointment with the current system, Marx listed a series of counterarguments and reasons that no drastic solution can be reached. "We just have to figure out how to make the current system work better," he said. "We have to provide better training-we're exploring this vigorously."
Marx praised the College's financial aid system. "In our quiet little way, we have been for a while where Harvard [College] proudly proclaims itself to be now," he said. "We had better start talking about leading the pack again. We still hope to do better and lead other institutions to do better for all their rhetoric."
Jesse Rasowsky '08 expressed mixed feelings about Marx's responses. "I thought the president was informative in his explanation of dilemmas facing the administration such as the unequal distribution of Amherst families across the range of America's income index," he said. "Unfortunately, however, he was somewhat evasive in responding to questions on issues such as our sometimes ineffective advisement system. On the whole, though, I think we are lucky to be able to sit down with Marx once and a while and have this kind of conversation."
Marx was pleased with the event. "I think the evening was very much in the spirit that we hoped for, [and it was held] at a moment when the College is in serious deliberation about the next 30 years of its existence," he said.