Pratt Institute’s mission is to educate students to become creative, responsible professionals who will contribute fully to society. The Institute upholds values and standards that support that mission and holds high expectations regarding the conduct of students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Above all, we respect one another and behave in ways that advance the free association of people and ideas. We cherish the diversity represented by our people and their disparate values and ideas. At the same time, we expect each student, faculty, or staff member to value and uphold the community standards essential to the pursuit of academic excellence and social responsibility.
Pratt Institute takes the view that any action by one person that causes harm to another person will not be tolerated. Bullying, harassment, or any behavior that causes disruption to a community member’s ability to learn conflicts with the values of Pratt Institute and violates the community member’s right to feel protected, nurtured, and valued.
The Board of Trustees reinforced these ideals by passing a resolution on freedom of expression in 1992:
“It is resolved that: Pratt Institute supports and upholds freedom of speech and other forms of expression because these freedoms are essential to an educational mission and to ideas, values, and opinion. At the same time, Pratt recognizes that such freedoms exist in the context of law and responsibility by one’s actions and, therefore, the exercise of these rights must not deny the same rights of others.”
Such is the spirit in which our social and academic standards have been articulated and herein promulgated.