ARTICLE I: Statement of Responsibilities and Rights
The Mission Statement of the College shapes the responsibilities and rights afforded to members of the Canisius community. The Canisius College Community Standards document is designed to foster a community conducive to achieving the mission of Canisius College.
Founded by the Jesuits in 1870, Canisius College is an independent, co-educational, medium-sized, institution of higher education conducted in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition. It offers undergraduate programs built upon a liberal arts core curriculum, leading to associate and baccalaureate degrees, plus graduate programs in business, education, and other professional fields, leading to a master’s degree.
Canisius espouses the ideal of academic excellence along with a sense of responsibility to use one’s gifts for the service of others and the benefit of society. It seeks to promote the intellectual and ethical life of its students, helping to prepare them for productive careers as well as for meaningful personal lives and positive contributions to human progress. Its curricular and co-curricular programs are designed to educate the whole person through development of intellectual, moral, spiritual, and social qualities. It aims to promote the contemporary Jesuit mission of the service of faith and the promotion of social justice.
As a Catholic institution which welcomes all who share its quest, Canisius will:
- foster an atmosphere of understanding and respect in dialog with other intellectual and spiritual traditions;
- teach responsible use of human freedom in a value-oriented curriculum and co-curriculum which incorporate concern for spiritual and human factors as well as pragmatic ones;
- continue the Jesuit principle of care for individual persons;
- emphasize excellence in teaching, marked by intellectual vigor, close student-faculty relations, and an expectation of active rather than passive learning;
- prepare students to assume positions of leadership in church and society;
- foster a sense of community among its students and staff through personal interactions marked by friendliness, respect, openness and integrity;
- take advantage of its location in a major urban center on an international border to serve the community and the world, and to play a significant role in fashioning the world of the 21st century by contributing its own special blend of academic excellence, personal concern, and an optimistic commitment to the future.
1. Care for Persons and for Property.
Canisius takes pride in itself as a community that nurtures the growth and development of leaders marked by integrity, propriety, and decency displayed toward themselves and toward others. Members of the Canisius community are expected at all times to demonstrate respect for themselves and for others. This respect includes a responsibility to show sensitivity to differences and act justly in interactions with one another. All members of the community are entitled to and responsible for maintaining an environment of civility that is free from disparagement, intimidation, harassment and violence of any kind. Members are expected to respect college property, the private property of other members of the College community, and the property of the larger neighborhood in which we live.
2. Freedom of Expression and Participation.
As a Jesuit academic institution, Canisius fosters an environment in which a variety of ideas can be reasonably proposed and critically examined. In particular, student groups have a right to invite speakers to campus within reasonable limitations applied by the College. The College recognizes that the free exchange of ideas and expression may produce conflict. This exchange is an important element in the pursuit of knowledge. Implicit in the pursuit of this exchange is the privilege to dissent and demonstrate in a peaceful and non-disrup¬tive manner without unreasonable obstruction or hindrance. The College expects that those who enjoy this privilege also accept the responsibility for their actions and for maintaining order. The College also recognizes the rights of those who desire not to protest and who wish to continue to participate in the normal activities of the College.
As responsible participants in the College community, students can expect fair and impartial treatment in their relations with the College and their dealings with college officials.
3. Intellectual Responsibility.
Canisius espouses the ideal of academic excellence through active learning. All members of the community have responsibilities for and rights to learning, teaching, and scholarship. Within our community, teaching and learning occur in an atmosphere of reasoned discourse, intellectual honesty, mutual respect, and openness to constructive change. All members of the community are responsible for recognizing and actively avoiding violations of academic integrity, such as cheating, plagiarizing, and stealing another’s work.
4. Access and Privacy.
Even while an integral part of the Canisius community, students are entitled to their individual sovereignty, particularly in regard to matters concerning privacy about and access to their educational records. (See specific policy on student records in the Catalog or student handbook)