Intent of the Cultural Life Program
The Cultural Life Program (CLP) encourages students to attend a variety of high-quality events that provide diverse and enriching cultural experiences. The Program, taken as a whole, should engage students across a broad spectrum of issues, ideas, and artistic expressions from various disciplines and cultures. Events should foster a sense of community on campus, and expose those who attend to multiple compelling views, inspiring a life‐long pursuit of intellectual fulfillment and engagement.
The Program will offer a broad range of perspectives. CLP credit does not imply University endorsement of the views expressed by any participant in any event. In addition, the faculty sponsors of an event may not necessarily hold the viewpoints expressed.
All events are expected to model civil discourse defined procedurally (see V.5. below).
For more information, see History & Purpose of the Cultural Life Program.
Major Guidelines for Acceptance
Event planners should read the following notes carefully to understand the duties of those hosting CLP events. The CLP Committee (hereafter “the Committee”) is charged with granting approval prior to an event. The event proposal establishes the nature of the event and becomes a rubric for evaluation. Failure to give assurances of the following points can warrant rejection by the Committee:
- Events should contribute to the academic formation of students by exploring significant issues or questions.
- Events should not deal with vocational development, practical skills, or personal health or safety unless placed in a broader intellectual, social, artistic, or scientific context.
- Events should not focus on specific college campuses or issues specific to college life unless placed in a broader intellectual, social, artistic, or scientific context. Exceptions may be made for traditional events such as University Convocations.
- Participants in an event must demonstrate a fundamental respect for all persons in accordance with the university’s mission statement and strategic plan.
Accountability
The Committee will ensure the quality of the program in the following ways:
- Sponsors are responsible for guaranteeing that CLP events in their actual execution are consistent with the proposal that has been Violations may include deviation from the proposal in marketing or event orchestration; insufficient communication with the Committee chair or administrator regarding change of location, time, or event cancellation; or events of such low quality or ill‐will as to cast doubt on their academic merit.
- If any member of the university community submits a formal, written complaint to the Committee chair or University Registrar regarding an event or its marketing, either before or after the event, the Committee will decide if a formal hearing is necessary. If a hearing is called for, the Committee will invite appropriate parties to present evidence before the Committee during a regularly scheduled The Committee will render its decision within 7 days (excluding breaks and holidays). Decisions by the Committee are final.
- If the complaint is related to a scheduled event, the Committee may decide to leave the event unchanged, to require alteration of the event in collaboration with the sponsor, or in rare cases to cancel the CLP status of the scheduled
- If the complaint is related to an event that has already been held, the Committee will investigate whether the event in its execution deviated from its proposal in a substantial way. If the Committee determines that a violation has occurred, it will work with the sponsor to identify the causes of the violation to ensure that the same mistakes are not made again, and to facilitate an appropriate apology and, if necessary, restitution.
- If the Committee determines that the event in question did not satisfy the CLP program requirements in its execution, it may decide to disqualify the sponsor from hosting further CLP events for a period of time up to one academic In extreme cases, the Committee may invoke other penalties.
