Earlham's Approach to Living in Community

Earlham College is a residential college of the liberal arts and sciences. We expect all students — as an integral part of their education — to live in community and to learn from the experience.

When students come to Earlham College, they step across a threshold into a community that accords deep respect to every individual and that is organized around a set of values that we expect will guide the behavior of all its members. Stepping across this threshold is often a refreshing experience, but it can also be a difficult one because living in community at Earlham asks a great deal of each and every one of us.

Principles and Practices of the Earlham College Community sets forth our high aspirations for all members of the community. Earlham strives to be governed by what ought to be rather than what is. Rather than list a set of rules governing student life, the College attempts to live according to a set of aspirations and expectations outlined in the Principles and Practices. It is organized around five values: respect for persons, integrity, peace and justice, simplicity, and consensus governance. We intend Principles and Practices to be an educational document. Rather than state rules of conduct, it poses queries to which we expect all members of the community will return from time to time for self- or group-examination. These ideals are appropriate for young adults who are deserving of respect and responsibility.

The College believes that humankind’s highest ideals can be nurtured best in an atmosphere of freedom and openness. The freedom to inquire, to challenge and to change are cherished and protected at Earlham through the College community. At Earlham, the term community has a special and active meaning. Much more than a group of people living together as a social unit, the Earlham community is a group of individuals living in support and respect of one another.

An egalitarian spirit prevails at the College. The concepts of equality and good will are rooted in its Quaker heritage. There are no fraternities, sororities or other exclusive groups at the College. Earlham regards such organizations as detrimental to learning and personal development. Our campus community is committed to providing camaraderie and support to all its members.

One way a student experiences the sense of community at Earlham is in the practice of using first names rather than titles or ranks. This practice extends from the president to students, staff and faculty. More fully, through participation in a collective life, we come to know our interdependence with one another. Thus we are able to develop such individual virtues as honesty and restraint and such communal virtues as justice and equality. These virtues are central to a value-centered education.

In our society, the forces leading us to accept almost any kind of behavior, as long as it does not affect us personally, are very strong. We cannot ignore these forces, but we do not have to be limited by them. We expect each individual at Earlham to behave in a way that will enhance the welfare, and support the rights, of all other members of the community. At the least, this might mean no more than civility or politeness. In a larger way, it should mean actively supporting the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual well-being of others.