If one lesson can be drawn from studying the mission statements of other colleges, it is that there is no single lesson.
Some universities' mission statements are jumbles of big words, seemingly remote from modern sensibilities. Some are clear, succinct and recent in origin. Some are long. Some short. Some pragmatic. Some broad in scope.
One pattern that does emerge is the difference between the mission statements of public and private universities. Unlike Ivy League colleges, almost all public schools mention the state in some way.
The University of Vermont's mission statement typifies this trend, saying the university's goal is to "promote the application of relevant knowledge to benefit the State of Vermont and society as a whole."
A unique public institution is the University of Michigan which, although making passing reference to the state, emphasizes other topics as well. This is because in 1986 James Duderstade, then the University's President, launched a revision of the school's mission statement.
After six years of deliberation, 1993 marked the approval of a new guiding document that portrayed the university's goals more accurately and more succinctly, according to Duderstade.
The university wanted to "balance the objective of excellence with the objective of leadership. It now elevates leadership to the same priority level as excellence," Duderstade said. "Also, it now states that we act on the state level, being a public state university, but also on the national and global level."
Harvard College recently embarked on a revision process -- though not for philosophical reasons. Instead, the practical need to qualify for competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association led to the creation of its first mission statement.
Duke University similarly revamped its mission statement, though out of a desire to set institutional priorities for the next five years.
Some institutions shy away from altering their guiding objectives.
Hampshire College, for all of its pedagogical innovation, is one such school. Hampshire's mission statement has remained relatively unchanged since the 1970 founding of the institution.
Perhaps reflecting the times in which Hampshire was established, its mission statement emphasizes such contemporary concerns as diversity. The college, the mission statement says, "fosters ... critical inquiry at every stage of the student's work, including an understanding of the multicultural nature of our world and the necessity for responsible leadership within it."
From where do universities draw their inspiration and how do they articulate their goals?
Some have longwinded descriptions of almost every institutional objective. Others appear to be copied from a mission statement "cheat sheet." And yet others base their documents on the words of their founders.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology views its mission statement as a culmination of its historic goals. The document begins, "The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century."
"We really wanted something broad enough to cover what we are about, but specific enough to sound different from other universites," Kathryn Willmore, Vice President and Secretary of the Corporation at MIT, said.
After a process in which many campus constituencies offered suggestions for the Harvard mission statement, the committee in charge of drafting the document decided there were simply too many demands. As a result, the committee looked to the language used by such historical luminaries as John Harvard.
"It took a lot," Dean of Harvard College Harry Lewis said. "It has certain authority to it. Despite how much things have changed, the basic notes hit."
Just as different colleges and universities have different visions they set out in their mission statements, they also rank them with varying importance.
At MIT, according to Wilmore, the mission statement "is used quite a bit ... in the admissions office, different publications, and on the website."
By contrast, Harvard has a casual attitude toward its mission statement.
"I don't imagine anybody refers to it much," said Lewis.
