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May 24, 2004 The American Democracy Project was initiated by AASCU, the New York Times and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in order to increase the attention that American colleges and universities give to moral development, civic engagement, and political action. However, during the ADP Pilot Project Workshop, May 20 and 21, 2004, the core participants agreed that the phrase “moral development,” from Educating Citizens, Colby, et. al. (2003), is problematic because it suggests, although it may not have been the authors’ intent, a narrow and perhaps rigid approach to values building. To avoid this negative perception, we decided to eliminate the phrase from our dialogue and, instead, identified a key principle and a set of key values that, we believe, supports the American Democracy Project and acknowledges the diversity of our students, faculty, administrators and staff. This statement is intended not as an end product but as a starting place of an ongoing discussion for our community. After much discussion, we identified integrity as the primary value to which all members of our community should aspire. Integrity can be defined as “the quality or state of being of sound moral principle; uprightness, honesty, and sincerity” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, David B. Guralnik, Editor and Chief, 1976, page 732), and has been described as a system in which “a unity of interdependent elements… combine to make a whole with a unique character” (Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, Barbara MacKinnon, 1995, page 334). Thus, the concept of integrity encompasses both the moral character of the individual and the importance of embracing diversity within a community of individuals. Further, the concept establishes the necessity of reciprocal interdependence within a functional moral system. The core participants identified other values that are basic to building integrity. Such values include (a) honesty, (b) mutual respect and dignity between all persons, (c) recognition of the reciprocal rights and responsibilities between individuals and the larger community, (d) the importance of knowledge, awareness and critical thinking in the process of education, (e) respect for differences and multiple perspectives, (f) courage to act upon one’s convictions without fear of persecution, (g) the importance of modeling appropriate behaviors, and (h) the need of optimism in our approach. By creating and fostering a culture based upon these values, we believe that we can not only create a community at Castleton where integrity is a prevailing ethos, but we can also produce individuals who understand and are committed to engaging in meaningful actions as citizens in a democracy. |
