UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 6, Page 10                               
October 8, 1992                                                
Senate to look at mission                                      
                                                               
     A two-and-a-half-page University mission statement written in   
1989 by the Project Vision Faculty Review Panel was rejected by the  
Faculty Senate Monday and assigned to a committee to be rewritten.   
     The statement was first presented to the senate three years ago 
and was used during the Middle States accreditation review, but it had        
not been formally approved.                                          
     Several senators said the statement was too long and another said        
that it should be organized more "crisply" or along historical lines.
     During a 45-minute debate, some senators suggested that the     
mission statement should have a more visionary slant. Sen. Tuncay    
Saydam said he thought all mission statements should emphasize the   
search for truth and the development of original ideas. Sen. Frank   
Murray said he objected to the document because it didn't define the 
University properly or say why the institution is distinctive. Sen.  
Carolyn Thoroughgood, who called the proposed statement a            
"hodgepodge," added that a mission statement "helps us define who we 
are and where we are going."                                         
     Associate Provost Carol Hoffecker said the group that wrote the    
mission statement was diverse. "Everyone had a hand in it," she said,
"and it was like creating a stew in which everyone brings their own  
vegetables."                                                         
     Accepting a proposal from Sen. Edward Schweizer, the senate     
referred the mission statement back to the executive committee, which
will ask an as yet unnamed committee to revise it.                   
     According to Vice Provost Margaret Andersen, when the mission   
statement is properly approved, it can be included in the            
undergraduate and graduate catalogs. A motion to send the present    
version to the entire University community for comments was defeated.
     In new business, Stuart Sharkey, vice president for student life,        
asked the senate to appoint an ad hoc task force to prepare a        
statement of ideals to which the University should aspire. "We need a
set of objectives regarding discrimination, respect for others and   
academic integrity," he said. The senate will consider his request at
the November meeting.                                                
     Speaking to the senate earlier, President David Roselle discussed  
the Sept. 20 incident at Christiana Towers. "It's an incident we can 
only regret," Roselle said, detailing the follow-up meeting he had   
with students and their parents. Roselle said that while the         
University could not accept demands made at that meeting, it will    
respond to the students' concerns. Both police forces are conducting 
internal investigations, and their reports will be shared with the   
state Human Relations Division. He indicated that the University's   
student judicial system had dropped University charges against two   
students and found a third, Lanue Johnson, not guilty. Keita Malloy  
was formally suspended from the University. The students still face  
civil charges.                                                       
     According to Provost R. Byron Pipes, who also spoke to the      
senate, recent criticisms of higher education prompted him to question        
whether, under the implied contract between faculty and students, "we
are delivering what we are supposed to deliver." After meeting with  
the American Association of University Professors and the senate     
executive committee, Pipes said he is calling upon the senate to     
evaluate current accepted standards of behavior and procedures in    
hopes of restoring the "confidence of our society in higher          
education."