Board of Trustees Information: The Big Picture and Mission

St. Lawrence is, much more than anything else, an institution charged with instilling in its students a top-rate education while building their personal character (read in the mission statement, 'seriousness of purpose'). It would be incorrect to say that this goal ever leaves the forefront of our President’s, Board’s, our senior staff’s mind. It is ultimate and dictates all policy and operation. I acknowledge that you might read this as a generalization, or as me repeating rhetoric of the “administration”—neither is the case. I stand behind the statement wholeheartedly. Just from knowing you all and hanging out the last three years, it is clear the mission is working.

The Board’s job is to see this mission through. To maintain it’s application. At a Board meeting this past summer the Mission statement went up for possible reform as part of a five-year internal review. The speeches made off the cuff were profound and clear symbols of how strongly the Trustees feel about the language within—how much they believe in it. The statement reads:

“The mission of St. Lawrence University is to provide an inspiring and demanding undergraduate education in the liberal arts to students selected for their seriousness of purpose and intellectual promise.”

Effective and clear. To narrow the mission would be to limit the potential freedom of you and your predecessors. With these words in mind, the Board and your University President and staff operate as outlined herein.