Bates has assumed leadership in this Alliance because it is vital to all of our best interest that our community excel. We have also done so because it is the right thing to do. Bates teaches the liberal arts. We have a moral and educational obligation to our community. It is morally repugnant to be an island of learning in a sea of need and promise.
Education requires encounter and action.
Students at Bates are already engaged in service-learning projects that touch the experience of our community citizens. It is not accidental that the College has also recently strengthened opportunities for universal study abroad so that now Bates is among the nation's top five colleges and universities providing students with an international experience. Our students learn and study in the world's greatest communities. But the metaphor of an island or the realities of fences are not part of the College's present or its future. We are engaged in an inclusive process that builds on trust and respect.