Mar 28, 2024  
2011-2012 Academic Catalog 
    
2011-2012 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

2011-2012 Academic Catalog


Mission Statement

When Grinnell College framed its charter in the Iowa Territory of the United States in 1846, it set forth a mission to educate its students “for the different professions and for the honorable discharge of the duties of life.” The College pursues that mission by educating young men and women in the liberal arts through free inquiry and the open exchange of ideas. As a teaching and learning community, the College holds that knowledge is a good to be pursued both for its own sake and for the intellectual, moral, and physical well-being of individuals and of society at large. The College exists to provide a lively academic community of students and teachers of high scholarly qualifications from diverse social and cultural circumstances. The College aims to graduate women and men who can think clearly, who can speak and write persuasively and even eloquently, who can evaluate critically both their own and others’ ideas, who can acquire new knowledge, and who are prepared in life and work to use their knowledge and their abilities to serve the common good.

The Academic Catalog

The Grinnell College Academic Catalog is a general summary of rules, policies, and procedures for the academic programs of the College. It is not a binding statement of these rules, policies, and procedures and should not be relied on as such. Anyone wishing to learn of the exact version of a rule, policy, or procedure, as they are in effect from time to time, will need to consult with the Grinnell College registrar or review the Student Handbook or other official College publications. If further information is needed, inquiries may be addressed to the appropriate persons listed in the Directory section  at the back.

Nondiscrimination Policy

Grinnell College is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination in matters of admission, employment, and housing, and in access to and participation in its education programs, services, or activities. No person shall be discriminated against on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, religion, creed, or disability.

The application of the College’s nondiscrimination policy will often involve conflicting interests. This may especially be the case when it is applied to questions of freedom of speech and freedom of association. Because of these inherent difficulties, the application of the nondiscrimination policy may not be simple or straightforward. Since the primary business of the College is liberal education, and because liberal education cannot take place without the free, open, and civil exchange of ideas, the application of the nondiscrimination policy should always be made with consideration of how best to preserve that free, open, and civil exchange of ideas.