The Columbia ACLU Committee on Disciplinary Procedure (CDP) was formed in response to egregious breaches of the moral and legal obligations of this university to uphold and respect the civil liberties and related academic freedoms of members of the university community. The CDP seeks to redress these specific grievances and extend the central mission of the Core Curriculum--"to prepare students for active citizenship in a democratic setting"--to the university as a whole.
The primary goal of the CDP is to foster intelligent and informed discourse within the university community, and elsewhere where fit. We believe wholly in the aphorism that "sunlight is the best disinfectant." Though the university may fall prey to overzealous movements or policies that place their specific mission above the civil liberties and academic freedom of members of our community, it is our firm belief that through public discourse and outreach, the university can and will surmount these difficulties, to arrive at policies and procedures that both respect individual rights while addressing the special problems of the university--problems whose proposed solutions too frequently discount or disregard the importance of those rights.
The CDP will foster campus discussion among university affiliated groups and students, but will also advance its agenda through events of a more partisan nature, such as invitations for speaking opportunities extended toward experts in the fields of law, education, or civil liberties. The CDP also will form coalitions of like-minded student groups who seek, for reasons similar or dissimilar, to advance the campus toward the specific goals of the CDP. The CDP also will harness the forces of media, particularly above the university level, to initiate and advance discussion and awareness of the problem at hand--an agenda which necessarily leads directly from right understanding to right action.
Last edited: $Date: 2000/12/07 19:49:08 $