The University of Kansas Medical Center is committed to serving
the healthcare needs of the citizens of Kansas, the region, and
the nation by providing exceptional educational opportunities for
careers in the health professions; comprehensive services that enhance
health and wellness; ongoing support of the state and the nation’s health
service systems; and continued development and dissemination of new knowledge
through research and education.
The Academic Mission of the Institution is Preeminent
KUMC has the academic experience at its center–the faculty, curriculum, library, classroom, and laboratory. Students can expect their teachers to possess
knowledge of the subject to be studied, to use effective teaching approaches, to
hold students to high standards of performance, and to use fair, clearly articulated
evaluation practices. Students can expect KUMC to offer a curriculum that
provides a coherent intellectual experience and prepares them to provide current
and future health care to the nation’s citizens. The ability to access information
technology and resources at KUMC is an integral part of learning. Interactions
between students and their environment–whether it be in the library, classroom,
or laboratory–shape attitudes, readiness to learn, and the quality of the KUMC
experience.
Each Student is Unique
Students are individuals. No two students come to KUMC with the same
expectations, abilities, life experiences, or motives. Therefore, students will
neither approach their learning at KUMC with equal skill and sophistication, nor
will they make equally appropriate choices about the opportunities encountered.
This uniqueness in students is also a resource to be tapped; their talents and skills
should be used to improve the quality of life at KUMC.
Each Person Has Worth and Dignity
It is imperative that students learn to recognize, understand, and celebrate human
differences. KUMC must help its students become open to the differences that
surround them: race, religion, age, gender, culture, physical ability, language,
nationality, sexual preference, and life style. These matters are best learned in
collegiate settings that are rich with diversity and must be learned if the ideals of
human worth and dignity are to be advanced. The student body, faculty, and staff
should both refl ect and appreciate diversity.
Bigotry Will Not Be Tolerated
Any expression of hatred or prejudice is inconsistent with the purposes of higher
education in a free society. As long as bigotry in any form exists in the larger
society, it will be an issue at KUMC. In the KUMC community, bigotry must be
forthrightly confronted.
Feelings Affect Thinking and Learning
Although students are at KUMC to acquire knowledge through the use of their
intellect, they feel as well as think. Students are whole persons. How they feel
affects how well they think. While students are maturing intellectually, they are
also developing physically, psychologically, socially, aesthetically, ethically,
sexually, and spiritually, which is true regardless of age. Helping students
understand and attend to these aspects of their lives will enhance their
academic experiences.
Student Involvement Enhances Learning and Effective Citizenship
Learning is an active process. Students learn most effectively when they are
productively, intellectually, and thoughtfully engaged in their work in the
classroom, in the clinical setting, in the laboratory, and in student life. A
democracy requires the informed involvement of citizens. Citizenship is complex;
thus, students benefi t from a practical, as well as an academic understanding of
civic responsibilities. Active participation in institutional governance, partnerships
with patients, community service, curriculum reform, and collective management
of their own affairs contributes signifi cantly to students’ understanding and
appreciation of civic and health care responsibilities.
Personal Circumstances Affect Learning
Physical disability, fi nancial hardship, family circumstances, medical and
psychological problems, and inadequate academic skills are examples of situations
that often affect learning. Whenever possible, KUMC should assist students when
such circumstances interfere with learning.
A Supportive and Friendly Community Life Helps Students Learn
KUMC is a collection of sub-communities including schools and departments,
as well as service, religious, social, and peer groups. Healthy communities are
settings where students learn to work together, make and keep friends, care about
the welfare of others, balance freedom and responsibility, and appreciate human
differences. Quality communities encourage friendships, intimacy, intelligent risk
taking, and allow members to freely share and examine values.
The Freedom to Doubt and Question Must Be Guaranteed
Students need encouragement and freedom to explore ideas, to test values and
assumptions through experience, to face dilemmas of doubt and perplexity, to
question their society, and to criticize and receive criticism. Hence, the doctrines
of academic freedom and free speech that are central to the classroom must extend
to other areas of campus life. KUMC should encourage the ideological exploration
of ideas and avoid policies or practices that bind the inquiring minds and spirits
of students, faculty, and staff. KUMC faculty, staff, and students should not fear
recrimination for engaging in such behaviors.
Students are Responsible For Their Own Lives
Students learn responsibility when they bear the consequences of their own actions
and inactions in an environment marked by caring and support. If in the process
of KUMC creating this optimal learning environment, students believe that their
rights, based on these assumptions and beliefs, have been violated, they should
make contact with a faculty or staff member at KUMC for future exploration or
direction. The Student Handbook is a resource for this purpose.
The assumptions and beliefs, which are the foundation for Students’ Rights and
Responsibilities, form a framework for creating and insuring an optimal learning
environment and acknowledge that the mission of the University of Kansas
Medical Center is preeminent.
To accomplish these ideals, “...a spirit of community conducive to mutual trust
and responsibility among students, faculty and staff...” (Professional Integrity
System for the Nursing School, 2005, p.1) must be present. “Since 2000 the KU
School of Allied Health has made unprecedented strides in its central mission to
develop tomorrow’s leaders in allied health through exemplary education, research
and service” (A Vision of Excellence: Sharing our Accomplishments, 2004). “Our
students will mature into exceptional critical thinkers who can analyze difficult
problems, formulate effective plans for action, and provide optimal clinical care
for their patients (University of Kansas School of Medicine 2005 Annual Report).
Professional development in the graduate school “enhances placement of KU
graduates by fostering a better fi t between graduate students’ goals and eventual
academic employment” (2004 Graduate Student Annual Report).
If you think your rights as a student have been violated or if you would like
more information, please contact any of the following individuals: the Dean of
Students, Associate Dean for Nursing, Associate Dean for School of Medicine,
Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, Associate Dean for School of Allied Health
or an Equal Opportunity/Disability Specialist. The assumptions and beliefs which
form Students’ Rights and Responsibilities are based on and developed from
A Perspective on Student Affairs, National Association of Student Personnel
Administrators, 1987, and Reasonable Expectations, National Association of
Student Personnel Administrators, 1994, in consultation with students and the
Dean of Students from the University of Kansas Medical Center. This document
was endorsed by the Student Governing Council of the University of Kansas
Medical Center after discussion with the student governing groups from the four
schools at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
4/06
©
The University of Kansas Medical Center