Grinnell College is a community for the development of intellectual and moral character through study, discussion, and practice of the liberal arts. Seeing knowledge as an end to be pursued for its own sake, but recognizing also a responsibility to cultivate justice and charity in human relations, the College helps its members to free themselves from the bonds of ignorance, habit, prejudice, and apathy. Because a heterogeneous community contributes to and benefits from liberal education, the College admits, welcomes, and supports persons of diverse social and cultural backgrounds.
In its residential life, institutional practices, and academic program, the College teaches personal responsibility, free inquiry, and the exercise of critical thinking, and encourages its members to appreciate all forms of human creativity, to respect and value the diversity of human culture, and to understand the ways in which scholars and artists have conceived of and examined the human condition.
The College aims to graduate men and women of intellectual accomplishment, character, and autonomy; knowledgeable, curious, and open-minded; clear, fluent, logical, and persuasive in their speech and writing; proportioning their beliefs to the quality of the supporting evidence and reasoning; trying always to act wisely and humanely, with sound judgement, sympathetic understanding of the values and perspectives of others, and close attention to relevant facts and principles; and, particularly when in positions of authority, applying their understanding and ability for the common good.
For a more detailed statement of the College's principles, values, and practices, see ``Core values of Grinnell College'' (http://www.grinnell.edu/President/ffe/ccviedef.htm).
Why have a mission statement?
Building a mission statement
Notes on this draft (including
suggestions and comments by Sam Rebelsky, Vince Eckhart, Elizabeth Dobbs,
Alan Schrift, Gerry Lalonde, Jonathan Brand, Kent McClelland, Russell
Osgood, and Janet Gibson)
Re-revised draft (April 11, 2001)
Revised draft (March 27, 2001)
Original draft (March 21, 2001)
Notes on this draft (submitted to the
Executive Council, May 1, 2001)
Notes on the draft of April 11,
2001
Notes on the draft of March 21, 2001)
To comment on the proposed mission statement, send e-mail to stone@cs.grinnell.edu. I'll be glad to add your comments to the Notes page if you tell me that it's all right to publish them.
Alternatively, you could send e-mail to mission@grinnell.edu (the mailing list set up at the beginning of 2001 to receive comments), or contribute to the Blackboard discussion group ``Comments on the College Mission Statement'' (registration required).
This document is available on the World Wide Web as
http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~stone/mission-statement/hibiscus.xhtml
created March 21, 2001
last revised October 30, 2001