A message from Jerry Price, Dean of Students
One of the greatest challenges students encounter on college campuses today is the tension between ensuring freedom of expression and creating an inclusive environment. Freedom of expression is essential to a high-quality educational experience, and a diverse, inclusive environment enriches that educational experience.
However, there will be times when one person’s expression undermines someone else’s feelings of inclusion. The goal of the We Are Chapman program is to help students understand how Chapman addresses this challenge. We want to affirm our commitment to diversity and free expression, but also clarify how there are some forms of expression – such as threats, harassment, and disruption – that are not permitted.
We Are Chapman – Orientation Event
We Are Chapman features multiple student speakers who share their identities and Chapman stories with new students each year. One of the primary goals of We Are Chapman is to create a diverse and inclusive campus that is welcoming for all members of our community. However, We Are Chapman is about more than building a welcoming campus – it is about enhancing the quality of your education.
As stated in Chapman’s statement on diversity and inclusion, “We value diversity and inclusion in the learning environment and believe it is vital to the fulfillment of the university mission. It is our conviction that an inclusive learning environment facilitates complex, critical and creative thinking and that differences in identities, values, beliefs and perspectives are fundamental to a comprehensive education.”
It is my hope that by engaging in We Are Chapman you will appreciate how the differences in people, experiences, and ideas you encounter contribute to your own learning and growth.
Panther Values and Policies Session
Panther Values and Policies is a mandatory educational course that will be provided via Canvas during Orientation.
The role of the University is also to serve as a marketplace for ideas. Together with diversity, the free exchange of ideas is vital to providing the very best college education possible: diversity introduces us to new insights and perspectives, and the free exchange of ideas allows us to dig deeper and examine those new insights and perspectives.
However, there is a responsibility that comes along with being a member of this academic community. Each of us is expected to consider the impact of our words on others; our goal should be to challenge each other with ideas without denigrating each other as people. At Chapman, we allow for a wide range of expression as part of the free exchange of ideas, but in some instances, expression does cross the line from merely offensive to becoming a violation of university policy. Specifically, University policy prohibits any of us from threatening physical harm to others, targeting an individual in a harassing manner, or creating a disruption that deprives others of their freedom of expression or other rights.
Jerry Price
Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
Argyros Forum Room 101
Email: jprice@chapman.edu
Phone: (714) 997-6721