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Running Head: MISSION STATEMENT ANALYSIS

Harvard VS. Yale

Daron Brown

Northern Illinois University

Yale University. The paper will also compare and contrast the two mission statements and see if

they are both concise and highlight the goals of the universities. Both of the mission statements

will be critically analyzed on the inclusion of diversity and or lack there-of. Diversity inclusion

meaning how does it represent people of color, LBGTQ community, and what is the school

geared towards academically. The purpose of a mission statement is to summarize core value and

goals of the university.

Harvard University

According to Harvard University website (2019), the institution discusses its mission

statement explaining that “Harvard University (compromising the undergraduate college, the

graduate school’s other academic bodies, research centers and affiliated institutions) does not

have a formal mission statement.” This is a scape goat for the lack of diversity inclusion the

institution provides or cannot provide. It is also arrogant in relying on the institutions rich and

prestigious history. Harvard’s “informal” mission statement focuses holistically on the college

tradition in the liberal arts and science and the program being transferable post-graduation.

Harvard uses the term citizens, which is an interesting choice over the words they never use such

as community, students, and or people in the mission statement. This goes right along with the

prestige of the university in referring to their students and student leaders as “citizens and citizen

leaders” and due to the rich history of alumni being involved in politics. Harvard also use the

term “our society” referring to that as the community. The term is also very subjective in the

fact of who is their targeted audience. Who is a part of this society? They also use the term

society because Harvard is widely known as a club because of its exclusivity during the

application process and tough curriculum.

Yale’s mission statement takes a direct approach and attacks diversity inclusion

with their academics and representation of different communities through students, faculty,

alumni and curriculum. The mission statement mentions that this is accomplished through

“outstanding” research and practice. For an institution that is rich in history and historically

known for academic excellence I thought this was an odd attempt at self-verification. The

mission statement also talks about how the institution offers a free exchange of ideas. Does the

exchange of ideas cost elsewhere? What is the price? This is an attempt at showing that their

open to all different communities such as the LBGTQ community and underrepresented groups.

It is Yale’s attack on social justice, and it is their way of saying they promote a safe space for

ideas to be heard and shared without being judged and or shamed. The institution also talks about

having an ethical community. This is subjective term because what are the ethical standards and

who sets them? Everyone does not abide by the same standards and have the same ethics.

Harvard Vs Yale

Harvard did not take the approach in even having a formal mission statement, they felt it

did a disservice to the student body, faculty and other institutions they were affiliated with.

Whereas, Yale has a formal mission statement that takes an in-depth dive into what their

university goals and core values are. Harvard’s informal mission statement took a holistic

approach in how citizens and citizen leaders are developed through their commitment to liberal

arts and sciences and it being transferrable post-graduation. Yale was well diversified in their

approach in their mission statement. In fact, Harvard’s informal mission statement failed to

mention anything about diversity, nor was it acknowledged through the curriculum, the student

body, or faculty. Yale spoke to the institutions ability to develop students through research,
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MISSION STATEMENT ANALYSIS
practice, preservation and education. Yale’s mission statement also expanded upon the ideals of

social justice and opened the conversation of acceptance from all surrounding communities.

When Harvard believed that having a formal mission statement would compromise the student

body, they did not account for the fact that there was not representation at all especially for

underrepresented groups.

Summary

Diversity Inclusion expands far beyond underrepresented groups and academics, but it

was important to me to critically analyze the mission statements of Harvard and Yale based on

those criteria due to historical background of being elite predominantly white institutions. Yale

definitely checked all the bullet points in diversity inclusion as much as you posibly could in 4

sentences. It is interesting to see if the institution actually carry’s out that mission and how much

of an ethical and diverse community they truly have. Harvard is the most exclusive club in the

world and the mission statement or lack there-of definitely arrogantly backs that up. Harvard

uses the fact they weren’t willing to “compromise” their students and institution they affiliate

with as a poor excuse to say we are what we are and it is what it is. Based on what we know and

the prestige of Harvard as one of the founders of Higher Education in the United states and one

of the originally models of an elite education. The institution was created under the ideal that

they believe the representation proceeds the limitations of a mission statement.

Harvard University. (2019). About Harvard. Retrieved from https://www.harvard.edu/about-

harvard/harvard-glance

Yale University. (2019). Mission Statement. Retrieved from https://www.yale.edu/about-

yale/mission-statement
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MISSION STATEMENT ANALYSIS

Appendix A

Harvard Mission Statement: “The mission of Harvard College is to educate the citizens and
citizen leaders for our society we do this through our commitment to the transformative power of
liberal arts and science education”
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Appendix B

Yale Mission Statement: “Yale is commited to improving the world today and for future

generations through outstanding research and scholarship, education, preservation, and practice.

Yale educates aspiring leaders worldwide who serve all sectors of society. We carry out this

mission through the free exchange of ideas in an ethical, interdependent, and diverse community

of faculty, staff, students and alumni.”