Spirit of '73

It has become a truism that each new class of college freshmen is more radical, more tuned in, turned on and dropped out than the last. How about the class of 1973? Last week TIME correspondents sought the answer in random interviews with 130 freshmen on 14 representative campuses.* If their views accurately reflect the general freshman mood this fall, the truism holds firm for '73.

One out of every three freshmen said that he believes the U.S. needs some sort of revolution, and one out of five described himself as either a radical or a revolutionary. More than half believe that U.S. foreign policy is imperialistic. Two out of three think that business is too concerned with profit, three out of four that U.S. society is racist, four out of five that politics is dominated by string-pulling special-interest groups. A substantial minority believe that U.S. society is more repressive today than it was two years ago, and a majority think that a period of greater repression lies ahead.

Pessimistic About Peace. On the No. 1 campus issue, Viet Nam, more than half rejected even the possibility that the U.S. role in the war could be moral. Almost half advocated the immediate unilateral withdrawal of American forces. As a group, the freshmen were extremely pessimistic about the chances of an early peace: 94% said that they expect the war to continue for another year or more. On the related issue of the draft, three-quarters of the students said that the present system of conscription is unfair; a majority would like to see the draft abolished in favor of a volunteer army.

Judging from the attitude of these freshmen toward education, college administrators had better lock up the administration building extra-tight--or speed up greater student participation in university government. Almost half of the new collegians plan to take an active part in campus politics; a clear majority believe that students should have the power to affect all university decisions. More than 40% think that their schools have a duty to take official public positions on the nation's political and moral issues.

In their life styles, many of the freshmen emulate hippie attitudes. More than a fifth have tried pot, and more than half believe that it should be legal. A third said that they would like to try living in a commune. Both premarital sex and legalized abortion were approved by large majorities, including most of the freshmen interviewed at Roman Catholic Notre Dame.

Concentration of Critics. Still, the preferred life style is by no means all drugs and sex. Almost all of the freshmen still believe in the institution of marriage, and a majority continue to view religion as an important part of their lives. As for careers, less than half admitted that making money was an important goal. A majority plan to enter the professions; almost half said that they intend to teach.

Even though the students have barely unpacked, their sentiments often reflected differences in mood from one campus to another. The freshmen at Southern schools--Alabama, Texas and Duke, for example--tended to support the Viet Nam war, while the critics were concentrated at Berkeley, Harvard, Michigan, Wayne State and Oberlin. A revolution was deemed necessary by a majority at Berkeley and at predominantly black Morehouse, but there were few such extreme radicals to be found at Alabama, Miami-Dade Junior College or--surprisingly--Harvard.

Who are the freshmen's heroes? More than half say they have none. Among the political leaders of the '60s, they most admire John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Eugene McCarthy. Among leaders now active, they approve of McCarthy, Senator Edmund Muskie, Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes, Eldridge Cleaver and--of all people--Richard Nixon. Apparently convinced that he is sincerely trying to end the war and reform the draft, two out of three freshmen expressed respect for the President. But given the capacity of small student minorities to disrupt campuses and bedevil presidents, that vote of confidence in Nixon is unlikely to cause euphoria in the White House.

*University of Alabama, University of California (Berkeley), California Institute of Technology, Duke University, Harvard, University of Kansas, Miami-Dade Junior College, University of Michigan, Morehouse College, University of Notre Dame, Oberlin College, Smith College, University of Texas (Austin) and Wayne State University.

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