Board of Visitors minutes :: May 17, 1974 :: University of Virginia Library

The President explained that a Statement of Purpose appears in each issue of the University Record, and that the Faculty Senate of the University of Virginia had proposed a revision of the Statement of Purpose which he recommended to the Board of Visitors.

The following resolution was adopted:

RESOLVED by The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia that the following Statement of Purpose be and it is hereby approved:
Statement of Purpose
A university is a community of scholars having as its central purpose the enrichment of the human mind by stimulating and sustaining a spirit of free inquiry directed to an understanding of the nature of the universe and man's role in it. This central purpose is served by activities designed:
(a) To quicken, discipline and enlarge the intellectual and creative capacities, as well as the aesthetic awareness, of the members of the university; and
(b) To record, preserve, and disseminate the results of intellectual inquiry and creative endeavor.
The University of Virginia seeks to achieve this central purpose through the pursuit of the following specific goals:
1. To make a living reality in the consciousness and the daily lives of the students and faculty the special historic commitment of this University to the character of its members, symbolized in the invitation carved upon its portals to "Enter by this gateway and seek the way of honor, the light of truth, the will to work for men."
2. To offer opportunities to able undergraduates from all walks of life for instruction of the highest quality leading to baccalaureate degrees in the arts and sciences, not merely by transmitting established skills and knowledge, but by developing their ability to think, to respond to ideas, and to test hypotheses and interpret human experience anew.
3. To provide for students and faculty an atmosphere conducive to fellowship and understanding and to their constructive participation in the affairs of the University and of the community at large.
4. To educate men and women for the professions in:
(a) Undergraduate schools and programs leading to degrees in Architecture Architectural History, City Planning, Commerce, Education, Engineering and Applied Science, Landscape Architecture, and Nursing; and
(b) Graduate schools and graduate professional programs leading to advanced degrees in Accounting, Arts and Sciences, Architecture, Architectural History, Business Administration, City Planning, Education, Engineering and Applied Science, Landscape Architecture, Law, Medicine, and Nursing.
5. To perform graduate instruction, study, and research directed to the advancement of knowledge, and to make discoveries on the frontiers of knowledge available to students, scholars, and the general public through all appropriate means.
6. To offer to the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation the various kinds of public service which are consonant with the central purpose of the University.
7. To maintain a constant striving for academic excellence by seeking the most gifted faculty and students and by preserving the national character of the University.
8. To provide programs of continuing education to the Commonwealth and the nation.
9. To cooperate with and assist other colleges, educational institutions, and agencies, especially in the Commonwealth of Virginia, by making available to them the facilities of the University and the experience and counsel of its members so as to assure the greatest possible contribution to education in the Commonwealth, and beyond its borders.
10. To establish appropriate new programs, schools, and degrees, and to undertake such advanced and special research as the educational requirements of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation may indicate.
11. To serve as the intellectual and cultural center of the Commonwealth of Virginia, especially through special programs, lectures, library services, performances in the arts, and radio and television broadcasts.