A New Mission Statement:
The Process of Redefining A Community
Amy Hruby, Editor-in-Chief
According to Entrepreneur,
com, a mission statement defines an
organization’s goals and philosophies.
The declaration is created to articu
late a group’s purpose and to guide its
current and future decisions, and in
doing so, a mission statement shapes
a community’s vision and allows
members to identify common ideolo
gies. Currenfly, the Meredith College
Board of Trustees is reshaping the
college’s mission statement to reflect
the changing goals and philosophies of
the school. As it was defined in Vision
2010, Meredith College’s current mis
sion statement is as follows:
In educating women to excel,
Meredith College fosters in students
integrity, independence, scholarship, and
personal growth. Grounded in the liberal
arts, the college values freedom and
openness in the pursuit of truth and, in
keeping with its Christian heritage, seeks
to nurture justice and compassion.
Meredith endeavors to create
a supportive and diverse community
in which undergraduate and graduate
students learn from the past, prepare for
the future, and grow in their understand
ing of self, others, and community. To
these ends, Meredith strives to develop
in students the knowledge, skills, val
ues, and global awareness necessary to
pursue careers, to assume leadership
roles, to continue their education, and to
lead responsible lives of work, citizenship,
leisure, learning, and service.
The Board’s draft for a new
Meredith College mission statement
deletes the majority of the qualities
articulated in the current mission
statement in favor of a simple, stream
lined mission. The draft, below, will be
voted on at a Board meeting later this
month.
Meredith College prepares and
inspires students to live with integrity
and to provide leadership that addresses
the needs, opportunities and challenges of
society.
N THIS ISSUli
This mission Statement draft re
tains the original values of integrity and
leadership and creates a new emphasis
on addressing social issues—a change
that is reflected in “relevance” being
added to the Meredith Value Statement.
Many faculty members have expressed
distress at the draft’s deleting all men
tion of learning or academics, when'
the purpose of any college is first and
foremost intellectual. Others argue that
by removing “liberal arts,” the Board is
changing the fundamental nature of col
lege offerings. Meredith College’s origi
nal 1891 charter defined Meredith as a
“liberal arts college,” and those words
have remained in the charter through
amendments in 2005. The current mis
sion statement includes this language;
recently, however, Meredith Marketing
has begun using the description “a pri
vate, comprehensive college” rather than
“liberal arts.” Professor Dan Fountain
has noted that college administration
has publically contradicted itself on
whether or not Meredith is a liberal arts
institution—a conflict he finds “confus
ing and frustrating.”
A mission statement articulates
the common ideologies of the group
it organizes, and Meredith College’s
mission statement defines the students,
faculty, staff and administration that
make up the Meredith community. As
the statement encompasses all of these
groups, it seems important to assure
that it properly represents all par
ties. Sophomore Kristen Gallagher has
expressed discontent that the Board has
not requested student input on revis
ing the mission statement saying, “How
can the college’s mission statement be
changed with no student input and mini
mal faculty input? In addition to this
lack of communication, the statement
lacks mention of learning-where is the
emphasis on academic knowledge and
application in society?” This discontent
with communi
cation between
Trustees and the
student body is
reminiscent of
the tension pre
viously reported
between the
faculty members
and the Trustees
during the con
troversial events
of last year.
Many
current orga
nizations have
streamlined
their mission
statements in order to concisely define
their purpose. Google aims “to organize
the world’s information and make it
universally accessible and useful.” Star-
bucks works “to inspire and nurture the
human spirit - one person, one cup and
one neighborhood at a time.” And the
American Red Cross, “will provide relief
to victims of disasters and help people
prevent, prepare for, and respond to
emergencies.” In choosing to streamline
Meredith College’s mission statement,
the Board of Trustees follows this trend
of aiming to most clearly define the mis
sion of Meredith College. However, in
order for a mission statement to be ef
fective it must represent a community’s
voice and common purpose. Discord
amongst students and faculty members
about the exclusion of their voices in the
rewriting process and the controversial
ommision of key philosophies illustrates
that the values the Board of Trustees
have chosen as most definitive may not
be supported by the Meredith commu
nity as a whole and may not be adopted
as a unifying mission across campus.
Photo from Meredith Marketing Department
Compare & Contrast
Meredith’s proposed
mission statement:
“Meredith College pre
pares and inspires students to live
with integrity and to provide lead
ership that addresses the needs,
opportunities and challenges of
society.”
Peace College’s current
mission statement:
“Peace is a baccalaureate
college of the arts and sciences that
challenges women to an adventure
of intellectual and personal discov
ery, preparing women for gi'aduate
and lifelong learning, for meaning
ful careers, and for ethical lives of
purpose, leadership and service.”
Wliich would you rather have
represent your education and
college experience?
Email your opinions to herald^,
email.meredith.edu
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