Grinnell College is a community for the development of intellectual and moral character through study, discussion, and practice of the liberal arts. Valuing the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, but also recognizing a responsibility to cultivate justice and charity in human relations, the College helps its members to free themselves from the bonds of ignorance, prejudice, apathy, and superstition.
To this end, the College protects and promotes free inquiry, critical thinking, and open exchange of ideas. It teaches personal responsibility, sympathetic understanding of the values and perspectives of others, and respect for the diversity of human culture. It encourages its members to appreciate all forms of human creativity and to understand the ways in which artists and scholars have perceived and transformed the human condition.
The College expresses these ideals in its academic program, its institutional practices, and its residential life. In particular, it admits, welcomes, and supports persons of diverse social and cultural backgrounds, since a heterogeneous community contributes to and benefits from liberal education. It nurtures personal and interactive styles of teaching and learning.
The College aims to graduate liberally educated men and women. It intends and expects them to be knowledgeable, curious, and open-minded; to speak and write clearly, fluently, logically, and persuasively; to proportion their beliefs to the quality of the supporting evidence and reasoning; to try always to act wisely and humanely; and, when in positions of authority, to apply their understanding and ability for the common good.
created October 19, 2001
last revised October 26, 2001