They are on the cusp of a symbolic new age, these members of the senior class who will be thrust into the adult world just at the much- trumpeted turning of the calendar to the year 2000. In fact, "Fair Harvard's" lyric of "surrender[ing] thee o'er . . . from the age that is past, to the age that is waiting before" might well have been written for the Crimson Class of 1999.

Members of the Class are in a unique position to project their thoughts forward, mapping out a vision for their generation, while at the same time assessing the deeds of the century fading behind them. Clearly, they are aware of the weight of history at their backs. Recently, in response to an informal survey, a number of Harvard seniors expressed their thoughts and feelings about some of the issues raised by the turn of the millennium.

"I hope that people in their rush to shape a new era do not forget the lessons and experiences of the past," observes '99 class marshal and Quincy House resident Nicholas Davis, who has thought a good deal about the advances of the closing century -- and the fact that progress often comes with a price.

"A simultaneous pressing problem and lasting accomplishment of the century (and in the long view, the millennium) is the incredible amount of information that is available for circulation at such mind-boggling speeds," Davis notes. "The free and rapid exchange of information is a huge boon. However, a problem that has already begun to press with some force on modern life is the drastic shrinkage of anything like a private space. "There is a lesson to be learned," Davis, an English concentrator from Fairfax, Va., adds, "from a century that begins with the invention of the telephone and ends with a formal federal inquiry that appropriates, studies, and makes publicly available the content of personal calls made by the world's most powerful leader."

Davis is not alone in viewing the information age, which has grown into maturity along with his generation, as a two-edged sword. His classmate, American history and literature concentrator Betsy Herbin of Ossining, N.Y., offers a slightly different slant on the sea of words and images that have blanketed the globe.

Nick Davis and Amy Reynolds, two members of the Class of 1999. Photo by Jon Chase.

"The 20th century has been good at documenting itself. Future generations will have many sources to go to when they study us," says Herbin, a Quincy House resident. "There are home videos, newspapers, diaries, books, photographs, fashion magazines, children's school essays, talk show tapes, etc. But what will excite the historians of the future," she continues, "has warped the values of the people alive today. We are too eager to make everything public, too obsessed with being entertained and entertaining, too concerned with how we look."

Other advances of the century seem to have manifested less of a downside: the establishment of the United Nations, the accessibility of education to the "common man," the Civil Rights movement, the growing connectedness of diverse populations and nations, and the remarkable advances in medicine.

But the expiring century and millennium have left a legacy of turmoil as well as triumph, and respondents are almost unanimous in viewing inequality, in its many economic and social guises, as a serious concern:

"One of the major problems as I see it," states sociology concentrator Amy Reynolds, also of Quincy House, "is the widening of the gulf between the haves and have-nots . . . within our country and the world as a whole."

"The world's wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, with too many people starving," agrees Mawi Asgedom, a class marshal from Pforzheimer House, while Karen Lepri of Winthrop House, a Westwood, Mass., native who concentrates in American history and literature, sees the United States faltering in its de facto role as keeper of the global economy: "Capitalism and democracy are two words with so many [divergent] meanings in different nations and cultures," she explains, "yet all are forced to deal with the United States as their major economic yardstick. This means major worldwide poverty under the guise of 'success by your merits.'"

Noticeably absent from the concerns articulated by these children of the '70s -- a generation to whom the Cold War was but a dying presence -- is any mention of nuclear holocaust. One student does allude to "ethnic strife," noting that "it seems ridiculous that people would kill each other simply because of a set of beliefs handed down by their government or culture." But the fear of global annihilation that so haunted their parents, does not seem to enter into this generation's consciousness.

And what of the next millennium? Does it herald an auspicious new era or, conversely, portend ill fortune in the minds of this "class on the cusp"? The answer is generally "neither." Most students refuse to jump on the millennium bandwagon, viewing the year 2000 as simply "an arbitrary construct" or "the way the numbers worked out." Their seeming indifference does not, however, preclude their expressing optimism for the coming decades.

Davis, for example, predicts that the continuing population boom will ultimately be a positive force. "It's a rich field from which to draw, so I have great hope for what the millennium can offer."

Others assess the role their own generation will assume.

"I hope that this generation comes to be a generation of people following Christ," says Reynolds, who is from Palm City, Fla. "If ours is a generation after God's heart, we will see this world changed."

Asgedom, who comes from Wheaton, Ill., and concentrates in American history and literature, would be pleased to see a more altruistic society emerge in the future. "I hope that our world starts sacrificing some of its business interests for the sake of human interests," he comments. And Pforzheimer House resident Josh Robbins, a government concentrator from Stuart, Fla., predicts that the "tension between the drive for globalization of values and the reactionary tendencies of those who resent intrusions upon their belief systems and their way of life" will coalesce into a system that respects differences while finding some common ground.

-- Diane Speare Triant EdM '71 is a freelance writer whose son is a member of Harvard's Class of 1999.