A logical early step in creating conversation about OpenCourseWare on Dartmouth campus is to look to the school’s mission statement to see where it connects. I expected Dartmouth’s mission statement to include at least one statement about “educating its students and the world” or “broadly disseminating knowledge” or at least “advancing knowledge and research for the greater good worldwide.”
Here is Dartmouth’s mission statement (full text at the bottom of this post).
The closest passage that I could find was this:
“Dartmouth fosters lasting bonds among faculty, staff, and students, which encourage a culture of integrity, self-reliance, and collegiality and instill a sense of responsibility for each other and for the broader world.”
This comes close, but it’s disappointing in that the “the broader world” is tacked on at the very end, and doesn’t play a central role in the sentence which is actually about bonds among university affiliates. If you pick it apart (it seems to me that being picky and semantic is warranted for something as important and central as a mission statement) it says that the bonds which Dartmouth fosters “instill a sense of responsibility for each other and for the broader world” among the individual members of the college. In other words, the school does not specifically make a point of spreading knowledge throughout the world, but the individual members feel “responsible” for the world in a broad sense, which might include a responsibility to spread knowledge throughout the world. Even though this statement involves a global scope, it says nothing specific about education or dissemination of knowledge on a global scope.
There’s also this statement:
“Dartmouth faculty and student research contributes substantially to the expansion of human understanding.”
This is only useful if we can understand course materials as research, which is a stretch to say the least.
I thought this was weird, so I did some research. My friend at Yale suggested that I consult the Dartmouth faculty handbook. But as far as I can tell, it’s of no help. The mission statement listed within is just a longer version of the one mentioned above, and makes no additional mention of educating the broader world.
Though our missions statement is lacking in this department, President Kim’s rhetoric seems to easily support OpenCourseWare. His saying, “make the world’s problems your problems” easily applies if you think of the lack of access to educational resources worldwide as one of the world’s problems.
I undestand that our mission statement was last revised in 2006. I think that it would be beneficial to add another revision to include a phrase that explicitly gave a global scope to our school’s goal of education.
As a comparison, I looked up the mission statements for all of the universities in the Ivy League. Some make an explicit point about global knowledge dissemination, and some come close. I would argue that they all offer more support for something like OpenCourseWare, though for a couple (mostly just Harvard), that’s easily contestable.
Below, I have links to and copies of the various mission statements. I’ve emboldened passages that I think could be cited in a pitch for OpenCourseWare.
“Columbia University is one of the world’s most important centers of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields. The University recognizes the importance of its location in New York City and seeks to link its research and teaching to the vast resources of a great metropolis. It seeks to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body, to support research and teaching on global issues, and to create academic relationships with many countries and regions. It expects all areas of the university to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level and to convey the products of its efforts to the world.”
The mission of Brown University is to serve the community, the nation, and the world by discovering, communicating, and preserving knowledge and understanding in a spirit of free inquiry, and by educating and preparing students to discharge the offices of life with usefulness and reputation. We do this through a partnership of students and teachers in a unified community known as a university-college.
Yale:
Like all great research universities, Yale has a tripartite mission: to create, preserve, and disseminate knowledge. Yale aims to carry out each part of its mission at the highest level of excellence, on par with the best institutions in the world. Yale seeks to attract a diverse group of exceptionally talented men and women from across the nation and around the world and to educate them for leadership in scholarship, the professions, and society.
Also, from Yale’s faculty handbook:
b. The University does not conduct or permit its faculty to conduct secret or classified research. This policy arises from concern about the impact of such restrictions on two of the University’s essential purposes: to impart knowledge and to enlarge humanity’s store of knowledge. Both are clearly inhibited when open publication, free discussion, or access to research are limited.
Cornell is a private, Ivy League university and the land-grant university for New York State. Cornell’s mission is to discover, preserve, and disseminate knowledge; produce creative work; and promote a culture of broad inquiry throughout and beyond the Cornell community. Cornell also aims, through public service, to enhance the lives and livelihoods of our students, the people of New York, and others around the world
Our faculty, students, alumni, and staff strive toward these objectives in a context of freedom with responsibility. We foster initiative, integrity, and excellence, in an environment of collegiality, civility, and responsible stewardship. As the land-grant university for the state of New York, we apply the results of our endeavors in service to our alumni, the community, the state, the nation, and the world.
Princeton simultaneously strives to be one of the leading research universities and the most outstanding undergraduate college in the world. As a research university, it seeks to achieve the highest levels of distinction in the discovery and transmission of knowledge and understanding, and in the education of graduate students. At the same time, Princeton is distinctive among research universities in its commitment to undergraduate teaching.
The University provides its students with academic, extracurricular and other resources—in a residential community committed to diversity in its student body, faculty and staff—that help them achieve at the highest scholarly levels and prepare them for positions of leadership and lives of service in many fields of human endeavor.
Through the scholarship and teaching of its faculty, and the many contributions to society of its alumni, Princeton seeks to fulfill its informal motto: “Princeton in the Nation’s Service and in the Service of All Nations.”
Harvard College adheres to the purposes for which the Charter of 1650 was granted: “The advancement of all good literature, arts, and sciences; the advancement and education of youth in all manner of good literature, arts, and sciences; and all other necessary provisions that may conduce to the education of the … youth of this country….” In brief: Harvard strives to create knowledge, to open the minds of students to that knowledge, and to enable students to take best advantage of their educational opportunities.
To these ends, the College encourages students to respect ideas and their free expression, and to rejoice in discovery and in critical thought; to pursue excellence in a spirit of productive cooperation; and to assume responsibility for the consequences of personal actions. Harvard seeks to identify and to remove restraints on students’ full participation, so that individuals may explore their capabilities and interests and may develop their full intellectual and human potential. Education at Harvard should liberate students to explore, to create, to challenge, and to lead. The support the College provides to students is a foundation upon which self-reliance and habits of lifelong learning are built: Harvard expects that the scholarship and collegiality it fosters in its students will lead them in their later lives to advance knowledge, to promote understanding, and to serve society.
OUR MISSION
Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.
OUR CORE VALUES
Dartmouth expects academic excellence and encourages independence of thought within a culture of collaboration.
Dartmouth faculty are passionate about teaching our students and are at the forefront of their scholarly or creative work.
Dartmouth embraces diversity with the knowledge that it significantly enhances the quality of a Dartmouth education.
Dartmouth recruits and admits outstanding students from all backgrounds, regardless of their financial means.
Dartmouth fosters lasting bonds among faculty, staff, and students, which encourage a culture of integrity, self-reliance, and collegiality and instill a sense of responsibility for each other and for the broader world.
Dartmouth supports the vigorous and open debate of ideas within a community marked by mutual respect.
OUR LEGACY
Since its founding in 1769 to educate Native students, English youth, and others, Dartmouth has provided an intimate and inspirational setting where talented faculty, students, and staff – diverse in background but united in purpose – contribute to the strength of an exciting academic community that cuts easily across disciplines.
Dartmouth is committed to providing the best undergraduate liberal arts experience and to providing outstanding graduate programs in the Dartmouth Medical School (founded 1797), the Thayer School of Engineering (1867), the Tuck School of Business (1900), and the graduate programs in the Arts and Sciences. Together they constitute an exceptional and rich learning environment. Dartmouth faculty and student research contributes substantially to the expansion of human understanding.
The College provides a comprehensive out-of-classroom experience, including service opportunities, engagement in the arts, and competitive athletic, recreational, and outdoor programs. Pioneering programs in computation and international education are hallmarks of the College. Dartmouth graduates are marked by an understanding of the importance of teamwork, a capacity for leadership, and their keen enjoyment of a vibrant community. Their loyalty to Dartmouth and to each other is legendary and is a sustaining quality of the College.
Penn (citation is an about.com page because I can’t find a copy of this statement on the Penn website):
The University of Pennsylvania’s roots are in Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy. But Penn’s reach spans the globe. Faithful to the vision of the University’s founder, Benjamin Franklin, Penn’s faculty generate knowledge that is unconstrained by traditional disciplinary boundaries and spans the continuum from fundamental to applied. Through this new knowledge, the University enhances its teaching of both theory and practice, as well as the linkages between them. Penn excels in instruction and research in the arts and sciences and in a wide range of professional disciplines. Penn produces future leaders through excellent programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels. Penn inspires, demands, and thrives on excellence, and will measure itself against the best in every field or endeavor in which it participates. Penn is proudly entrepreneurial, dynamically forging new connections and inspiring learning through problem-solving, discovery-oriented approaches. Penn research and teaching encourage lifelong learning relevant to a changing global society. Penn is a major urban university that is committed to strength and vitality in each of its communities. In this connection, Penn will: Encourage, sustain, and reward its faculty; nurture, inspire, and challenge its students; and support and value its staff; Strengthen and appreciate the diversity of its communities; Support free expression, reasoned discourse, and diversity in ideas; Pursue positive connections to the city, state, and region and a mission of service to its neighbors in West Philadelphia; Develop and support its connections to alumni and friends; and Foster the growth of humane values.
