In most corporations, the CEO and other senior officers set the tone for their organizations by establishing corporate standards of professional, ethical, and sometimes personal conduct. Taken together, these standards define a corporate culture that fosters a sense of teamwork and shared purpose. All companies seek employees who will be comfortable with that organization's culture and corporate values. Universities, however, are not monocultural organizations. On the contrary, universities are decentralized conglomerates made up of dozens of academic disciplines, each of which has its own culture, values, and practices.
Some disciplines tend to be more conservative and cautious, others more freewheeling and liberal.
However, there is one cultural value of overriding importance that threads through all of these disciplines, a value that more than anything defines the essence of an academic community. At Miami, our bedrock value is tolerance and respect for other people. Tolerance and respect for others is not just a matter of fairness or good-neighborliness. Given the passions, conflicts and ideological battles that accompany the free exchange of ideas, the university literally could not survive if we did not insist on this social value. If you behave toward others in a respectful way, you are welcome at Miami University.