Mission
The mission of the Committee on Academic Citizenship is (1) to provide a forum for examining expanded roles and responsibilities of faculty members and administrators, as collaborative participants in an endeavor dedicated to serving the common good; (2) to initiate cross-disciplinary discussions on academic responsibility and civility as extensions of academic freedom; and (3) to explore the effects of changing expectations on our traditional roles.
About Academic Citizenship
Responsible Academic Citizenship demands engaged, collegial, civil, collaborative participation in the full life of the college/conservatory/university, an awareness of the institution's strategic goals and active contribution to their achievement, and a willingness to integrate meaningfully the demands of our discipline with the needs and expectations of our students and of the civic community. The Academic Citizenship initiative provides the opportunity for the Society's membership to consider together what it means to be an academic professional in the context of the whole academic community. What makes a person not only a good instructor in the realm of his expertise, but a good citizen of the university? Embedded in the identity of each music unit is the capacity to think beyond the individual, to contribute knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to the crucial work of the entire academy.
In those institutions where waning civility is in evidence, faculty often perceive administrators as narcissistic, power-proud bullies; administrators suspect that faculty members may have an unearned sense of entitlement; and members of the public see both as spoiled, ungrateful brats, too wrapped up in themselves to know when they "have it good."
Colleges and universities are no longer islands of learning where the keepers of knowledge commune in splendid isolation. All institutions have "stakeholders" and must work and be understood to work for the betterment of society. Responsible Academic Citizenship demands engaged, collegial, civil, collaborative participation in the full life of the college/conservatory/university; and awareness of the institution’s strategic goals and active contribution to their achievement; and a willingness to integrate meaningfully the demands of our discipline with the needs and expectations of our students and of the civic community.
The Academic Citizenship Committee
- provides a forum for examining expanded roles and responsibilities of faculty members and administrators as collaborative participants in an endeavor dedicated to serving the common good;
- explores the effects of changing expectations on our traditional roles;
- initiates cross-disciplinary discussions on academic responsibility and civility as extensions of academic freedom.
