Although Marx began his lecture urging students to assist those who are suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the core of his message went much deeper than the floods of the storm.
Marx stressed that this national crisis must serve as a wake-up call to a nation that has continually failed to provide its most needy citizens with the tools they need to succeed in a Western consumer society. "It is a time to be blunt: We live in a society focused on immediate gains," he said. "Too many of the more fortunate among us consume conspicuously rather than save."
Marx also addressed social investment. "But my friends," he continued, "social investment by its very nature can never be short term, and it is in that investment that we as a society have faltered."
Americans find themselves eager to assist their fellow neighbors in a time of national crisis, but the most horrid instances of exclusion and inequality happen on a regular basis when those who are privileged neglect to provide for those who may not have been so fortunate.
For Marx, this message applies to both the effects of the storm as well as the effects of a deepening socioeconomic gap. He noted that unfortunately, it took a deadly storm to uncover the deepest of society's social evils. "The public need has not been met," said Marx as he questioned why the levees in New Orleans were allowed to weaken over many years without the slightest regard for the possible consequences of their failure.
"It is perhaps too much, or too awful, to contemplate about ourselves: Did we invest less in the levees knowing that the vulnerable had less voice in our communal halls of power?" questioned Marx.
As Marx continued to examine the structure of our society he drew on the examples of children in public schools to drive home his message of our nation's lack of regard for those less fortunate.
Disregard for the collective need has driven the American school system into crisis. Only those fortunate enough to attend schools in wealthy school districts or those who attend private schools receive the best educations. Those whose families cannot afford to live in more expensive areas or who cannot afford private school tuition suffer as a result of the decay of public schools in urban or low-income areas.
Before he continued to urge Amherst students to reshape the structure of public society, Marx admitted that his analogy between the social atrocities of Katrina and the social decay of schools was a bit of a stretch. "I know that I am pushing this analogy at a time when we are still shocked by the literal storm and flooding," said Marx. "But we must try to see the whole picture and from that inform our actions. That is what a great college is for."
By the end of his speech, Marx's message was clear: In a time when individualism is on the rise, it is the challenge of each student to see to it that he or she does everything possible to help those who may be less fortunate.
Marx's speech left Linda McEvoy '08 questioning his accusations. "Many, if not most campaigns to raise money for outside tragedies like Katrina and the tsunami begin on college campuses, and so the idea that college students are blind to the outside world cannot possibly be true," she said.
Brooke Berman '09 had a very different interpretation of Marx's lecture. "I thought it was awesome that President Marx opened the academic year by speaking on a major national issue," said Berman. "It's a great way of reminding us that with the privilege of having a college education comes the responsibility to do as much as we can to enrich the world."