Norman Fainstein
President of Connecticut College
(860) 439-2211
norman.fainstein@conncoll.edu
Liberal arts colleges provide a broad range of experiences to students, encouraging them to be open to all views and to think critically. We seek to instill a respect for the dignity of the human person, an appreciation for the rights of others, and recognition of the obligation to help others. By creating diverse, democratic communities in which students collaborate in their own education, liberal arts colleges help students to refine their individual systems of beliefs and priorities. Thus, we do not impress particular beliefs on students, but we do expect them to adhere to basic moral and ethical principles, which are reflected in our honor code. Students are also guided by professors who encourage them to explore multiple perspectives and seek their own truths. The result is graduates who know how to make principled, moral decisions that will better themselves and their communities.
David L. Sallee
President of William Jewell College
(816) 415-5900
salleed@william.jewell.edu
Students come to us at different levels of development and move toward maturity at different rates and by different paths. Christian principles of living pervade the William Jewell College community, and within this context we provide a challenging yet nurturing environment for student growth.
Our institutional mission explicitly calls for the college to provide a superior liberal arts education while living up to the ideals of Christ. Some believe that these two points of view cannot be adequately addressed on one campus. We believe the opposite: that these two goals complement one another.
We also realize that this balancing act is challenging. Sometimes the college will not look or act like the classic liberal arts college; sometimes it is not going to look or act like the typical Christian college.
Jill Beck
President of Lawrence University
(920) 832-6525
jill.beck@lawrence.edu
Liberal education has long embraced the notion that the cultivation of judgment and values should proceed hand-in-hand with the acquisition of knowledge. To strengthen the ability of its students to make informed ethical choices and develop empathy, Lawrence encourages learning opportunities outside the classroom that promote altruism and civic engagement as moral values and practice. Programs that engage students in partnerships with the community facilitate the refinement of knowledge obtained through formal education and enable students to challenge themselves as they develop a moral framework for their lives. To ensure that students grasp how community partnerships are contributing to their emotional and cognitive development, we contextualize their experiences with faculty tutorials, readings and written reflective inquiries. In fostering altruism and civic engagement, as well as teaching critical thinking and the capacity for discernment, liberal arts colleges best serve the students they educate and the society into which those individuals will enter.
Thomas R. Tritton
President of Haverford College
(610) 896-1021
ttritton@haverford.edu
College presidents are often asked to identify the major challenges facing higher education. There are many good and reasonable answers (probably at least as many answers as there are college presidents). My own answer is that the most fundamental challenge is to ensure that principled values are intertwined with scholarship. At liberal arts colleges we not only teach a course in ethics, we bind ethics into every course we offer. We not only invite visitors to campus who have done deeds of high conscience, we display personal character in our individual daily lives and in our professions. We not only study the uplifting accomplishments of historical and contemporary figures, we strive to act with grace and charity in all our own dealings. These are the ways in which people learn.
J. Timothy Cloyd
President of Hendrix College
(501) 450-1351
cloyd@hendrix.edu
Certain institutions, such as churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, stand as lines of defense against barbarism. Liberal arts colleges also fall into this category. With a focus on critical thinking skills to help our future citizens and leaders sort through complex moral questions and to develop an understanding of global diversity, Hendrix College in Arkansas and other liberal arts colleges are a strong defense against hate, bigotry and ignorance.
A liberal arts education offers something distinctive and critical in our post 9/11 world. Our graduates help guide society’s sense of who we are and what it means to be fully human and alive. We are only one generation away from barbarism. It is education and, in my opinion, a liberal arts education, that instills the morals, values and knowledge that uphold civil society. If we skip a generation, there may be no return.
John Strassburger
President of Ursinus College
(610) 409-3300
jstrassburger@ursinus.edu
Politicians are missing the boat if they don't believe that concern with values and character, as well as issues surrounding the questions of what kind of society we are and what kind of society we might become, are the issues that all of us in higher education wrestle with all the time.
When I taught a section of the Common Intellectual Experience (CIE), a two-semester course required of all Ursinus freshmen, I found that college students are asking the right questions about values, meaning, obligations in relationships and purpose. The class allows them to reflect on what it means to be human, how we relate to the universe and our obligations to one another. Educating the conscience is at the heart of a liberal arts education.
Rebecca Chopp
President of Colgate University
(315) 228-7452
rchopp@mail.colgate.edu
The liberal arts campus is the ideal environment in which young people can develop their personal values and individual character. It is the responsibility of our nation's colleges to develop a culture that fosters civic values and supports students as they challenge themselves and learn to hold each other accountable. In order to provide the best education for the challenges of the 21st century, liberal arts institutions such as my own must build on our long-standing traditions, such as the core curriculum, and at the same time renew our commitment to the out-of-the-classroom experience by supporting programs in civic education, leadership development, and civil discourse. By doing so, we will ensure that our graduates are prepared to meet the challenges that lie ahead as leaders in their communities and industries.
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