Dickinson College is taking steps to examine what values look like at the institutional level through the Core Values Project, a a campus-wide initiative aimed at identifying and articulating a shared set of principles that reflect the beliefs of Dickinson’s students, faculty, staff and alumni. The project seeks to bring together values that currently exist across campus in separate organizations, departments and groups.
In conversation with Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of Ethics Amy McKiernan, who serves on the project’s leadership team, the origins and goals of the initiative become clearer. According to McKiernan, the project emerged from the recognition that shared values could provide meaningful guidance for Dickinsonians as they navigate everything from daily interactions to a complex political and social climate. Additionally, articulated values were absent from Dickinson’s discourse, but present among others.
Eva Hartley ’28, learned about this project at a Liberty Cap Society meeting and described how the project highlights a gap in Dickinson’s collective discourse. She noted that while individuals often hold strong personal values, those values are not always articulated or shared across the broader campus community.
At the beginning of the project’s research process, the project team decided to take a bottom-up approach. McKiernan and the project team examined past editions of The Dickinsonian, using historical articles and past student voices as a foundation for understanding how values have evolved over time. These records provided insight into the principles that shaped earlier generations of Dickinsonians and helped guide the institution’s growth.
As the project continues to evolve, the project teams expect that discussion over the core values will lead to disagreement. They anticipate that different members of the Dickinson community will attribute different values to their experience and interpretation of the College’s environment. However, this debate is essential in ensuring that the final set of values are as inclusive and representative as possible.
Participation in the Core Values Project is optional, but the team seeks to ensure that the results are diverse.
Students, faculty, staff and alumni who are interested in contributing will have opportunities to do so in the spring semester. These opportunities may include joining focus groups or reviewing the project’s final report, which is expected to be released between late February and early March.
