Approved by the Board of Trustees, May 14, 1969.

The University of Dayton, by tradition, by legal charter and by resolute intent, is a church-related institution of higher learning. As such, it seeks, in an environment of academic freedom, to foster principles and values consonant with Catholicism and with the living traditions of the Society of Mary. Operating in a pluralistic environment, it deliberately chooses the Christian world-view as its distinctive orientation in carrying out what it regards as four essential tasks: teaching, research, serving as a critic of society and rendering public service.

The University of Dayton has as its primary task to teach-that is, to transmit the heritage of the past, to direct attention to the achievements of the present and to alert students to the changes and challenges of the future. It regards teaching, however, as more than the mere imparting of knowledge; it attempts to develop in its students the ability to integrate knowledge gained from a variety of disciplines into a meaningful and viable synthesis.

The University of Dayton holds that there is harmony and unity between rationally discovered and divinely revealed truths. Accordingly, it commits its entire academic community to the pursuit of such truths. It provides a milieu favorable to scholarly research in all academic disciplines, while giving priority to studies which deal with problems of a fundamentally human and Christian concern. It upholds the principle of responsible freedom of inquiry, offers appropriate assistance to its scholars and endeavors to provide the proper media for the dissemination of their discoveries.

The University of Dayton exercises its role as critic of society by creating an environment in which faculty and students are free to evaluate, in a scholarly manner, the strengths and weaknesses found in human institutions. While, as an organization, it remains politically neutral, objective and dispassionate, it encourages its members to judge for themselves how these institutions are performing their proper tasks; to expose deficiencies in their structure and operation; to propose and actively promote improvements when these are deemed necessary.

The University of Dayton recognizes its responsibility to support, with means appropriate to its purposes, the legitimate goals and aspirations of the civic community and to cooperate with other agencies in striving to attain them. It assists in promoting the intellectual and cultural enrichment of the community; it makes available not only the resources of knowledge that it possesses, but also the skills and techniques used in the accumulation and dissemination of knowledge; and, above all, it strives to inspire persons with a sense of community and to encourage men and women of vision who can and will participate effectively in the quest for a more perfect human society.