Greenwich Village is “one of the loudest neighborhoods in the world,” said Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan as he addressed the congregation during a recent Sunday mass. Amid the commotion of New York City, the Catholic Center, run by the Archdiocese of New York, provides NYU students a peaceful place to reflect on their lives and their faith. 

Many students speak about the indifference or hostility toward religion that they encounter.. “Here in New York City it’s looked down upon to be a person of faith,” said NYU senior Paolo Larano. In a class discussion of foundational texts, Larano said he”got a lot of heat” from classmates because he interpreted the Bible as a believer. “People wanted to poke fun at religion,” he said. “One part of me wanted to defend it, but the other part didn’t want to single myself out as the crazy kid.”

Shaping religious beliefs and values is a major part of personal development for 18 to 30 year olds, according to Jeffrey Arnett, the author of “Emerging Adulthood.” However, this development doesn’t only happen at church. Many people form personal relationships with God and don’t attend religious services. “To most emerging adults, participating in a religious institution, even a liberal one, requires them to abide by a certain set of beliefs and rules and therefore constitutes an intolerable compromise of their individuality,” he writes.

The students who participate in the campus ministry at St. Joseph’s, however, value the structure and constancy of religious services. “Mass is so traditional,” said NYU student Christina King. “You always know what’s going to happen. It’s home base.”

The weekly mass is not the only draw.  A smaller number of students belong to one of three undergraduate clubs that meet weekly. For these students, the Catholic Center provides them a foundation for their social and spiritual lives.

Newman Club members at a weekly meeting

The Aquinas Circle gives students a place to share a meal, socialize and talk about their lives in the context of their faith. The Newman Club focuses on the teachings of the church, especially topics such as social justice and saints. 

Many members of the Catholic Center became involved in clubs after attending a  four-day-retreat held in upstate New York. Christina King, who attended the Aquinas Circle’s Kairos retreat, said that the weekly meetings have the openness and camraderie that many students said they found at the retreat. “Aquinas is like a mini Kairos,” she said. “I take a step back and check in with myself.”

Non-Catholics as well attend the meetings. NYU sophomore Rebecca Lentjes, a member of the Newman club, explored different faiths when she arrived to college, including Buddhism and Islam. Although she initially went to the Catholic Center for the free spaghetti dinner, after attending a retreat she became a regular participant. Lentjes helps with community service projects such as taking food to the homeless and putting on a Christmas party for poor children who live in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Although she isn’t’ sure if she’ll convert to Catholicism, she appreciates the company. “It’s nice to have a group of people with really good values that don’t want to get high or drunk every night,” she said. “I’ve already made these friends. I don’t want to quit because I’ve decided not to follow their religion.”

Journalism major Eddie Ebbert, 21, recently sported a mohawk to his interview for an internship at Esquire. His mother had suggested that he get a new, more conventional haircut, but he refused. “If you’re not going to hire me because of my hair, I’m not going to work there,” he said.

Three interviews later, no one mentioned his hair, and he got the position. The first day of the internship, Ebbert, with his Mohawk still intact, showed up in a button-down shirt and pressed pants, following the example of his 35-year-old boss.

Generation “Be Yourself”

Since Gen Y entered the workforce, conflict over casual or self-expressive dress has been a major issue for older management, for whom the depoliticized mohawk might still appear countercultural. Millennials may bring creativity and enthusiasm to the office, according to experts, but they also show up in flip flops, jeans and “extreme” hair.

Millennials value self-expression at work more than any generation before them, according to psychologist Nicole Lipkin, who co-authored “Y in the Workplace”. “This generation has been taught to express themselves no matter what,” she said.

However, Lipkin said that self-expression through clothes or hair shouldn’t overshadow the dress code at work. “The people who are going to be successful are those who respect the culture at the corporation,” she said. “In the creative industries, it’s a different story, but in more formal industries, there are presentation standards that need to remain in place. It’s hard to trust someone who looks like a punk.”

The New Punk Professional

Daniel Martinez, a stylist at Astor Place Hairstylists in the East Village, has cut mohawks for many young professionals. “Because it’s trendy, you can be taken seriously,” he said. “You can look punk rock but keep your nine to five.

Mark Heiner, owner of Slate Salon, also in the Village, said that clients who requested mohawks were men aged 20 to 40. During consultations, Heiner said that he asks clients where they work and how extreme he can cut their hair. “Guys in this area want to wear it conservative for work and funk it up for night,” he said.

Different definitions of “extreme” might account for some of the conflict over appropriate appearance at work.  Older generations distinguish punk from professional based on whether a candidate wears a mohawk or a crew cut. But for Gen-Y, that distinction isn’t so rigid.

Author Rebecca Huntley notes in “The World Acccording to Y” that employers have to change management styles to fit the new work ethos. “They are going to have to keep a long leash on Generation Y employees or risk losing them altogether,” she writes. Whether or not that means loosening company dress code from “business casual” to “business anything goes” is still uncertain.

Some experts, like Alexandra Levit, author of “They Don’t Teach Corporate in College,” see a trend towards casual dress. “Regardless of the work environment, I think that millennials are more likely to wear what is actually considered very casual (jeans, tee-shirts) as opposed to the more traditional casual of khakis and button down shirts,” she wrote in an e-mail.

However, Levit advised young employees against wearing a mohawk to work. “Look at how everyone else is dressed, and aim to fit in as seamlessly as possible,” she said. “In the business world, the goal is not to make a statement with your dress.”

Corporate Crackdown

When Gen Y was just getting comfortable wearing jeans at the office, the recession changed dress expectations and behavior. “I have seen organizations cracking down on all sorts of behavior that they let slide before because they feel more in control now,” said Levit.

Gretchen Neels, the founder of Neels & Company, a business etiquette consultant firm, said that young people today should look conservative in order to get or keep a job in corporate America.  “In this new economy, it’s folly to express yourself by [wearing extreme hair] and tick off your employer,” she said. “For the past 10 years, employers have bent backwards for the millennial generation. Now, employers are less inclined to accept an employee who looks so different so as to be disruptive.”

Still, some millennials, like intern Eddie Ebbert, disregard expert advice and pull off extreme hairstyles at work. After wearing the mohawk for several months, Ebbert tired of the cut and buzzed his head. “Every six months I try something else,” he said. “With the mohawk I had style, but now I’m classy.”

Facebook fatigue has hit college students.

NYU senior Shalin Patel, 21, plans to deactivate his account while he applies to medical school. Patel says that he uses Facebook a few times a week, but mostly to talk to acquaintances. “A lot of my close friends I call and text message, even e-mail,” he says. “I know I’m going to give it up eventually. I don’t even need it. I’m just on it to be on it.”

Since 2004, Generation Y college students have chatted, procrastinated and broken up on Facebook. So much that five years later, some students have lost interest in the site, deactivated their accounts, and moved on.

Beyond the “Novelty Effect”

The “novelty effect” of Facebook has worn off. “Whenever a new medium emerges, people get fascinated, but after a couple of years it drops off,” says JoEllen Fisherkeller, an NYU associate professor of culture and communication. “People realize the limitations of the medium.”

While proof for declining Facebook use is anecdotal, companies that monitor Web site traffic have recently reported drops. Ofcom, a media regulator in the UK, reported that the number of 15 to 24-year-olds in Britain who use social networks, including Facebook, decreased to 50 percent in 2009 from 55 percent in 2008. While that’s not a mass departure, a five percent decline represents millions of young people who have found something else to do.

In addition, Gen-Y no longer makes up the largest group of social network users. Internet traffic research firm Hitwise reported in June that in 2009, 18 to 24-year-olds made up 19 percent of visits to Facebook, down from 38 percent in 2008. The company opened access to the site to people other than college students in 2006. Now the largest user demographic is 35 years old and older, according to information posted on the Facebook blog.

Still Hanging on

Besides those who have officially quit Facebook, there are the would-be quitters, people who still use Facebook but resent the site’s dominance of social networking and their own dependence on it.

Danielle Walsh, 20, an NYU student, deactivated her account for two weeks this summer just for a little privacy. She says that she liked distance from old friends and acquaintances. “People fall out of touch for a reason,” she says. “Also, it’s frustrating to get a newsfeed about someone who you had a romantic past with.”

After friends mocked her for deactivating her account, she rejoined. “It’s a necessity in college,” she says. “People are lazy; it’s a tool to invite people to parties and clubs. And it knits the social fabric.” Walsh said she planned to deactivate her account after graduation. “But who knows,” she adds. “Maybe I won’t.”

Textbooks and Facebook

College students have always had ambivalent feelings toward Facebook and the people on it, according to Katherine Wartman, a Ph.D candidate at Boston College and coauthor of the book “Online Social Networking on Campus: Understanding What Matters in Student Culture.” “They’ve always had a love-hate relationship with it,” she says. “Getting frustrated with people is part of campus culture. I think its not Facebook but college students.”

However, Wartman said that after Facebook mainstreamed and became popular with older generations, college students lost control of what once was a niche network. “Facebook started in college,” she says. “For many students, quitting would mean losing connection to college culture. It’s so ingrained now. That’s why it’s hard to step away.”

Click here to listen to an audio story on Facebook Fatigue by Richard Grey at The Guardian