Mission Statement
On Purpose is a student-run blog based in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland-College Park. The title reflects the central question of the blog: that is, deliberation on the purpose and significance of the arts and humanities. The blog is meant to serve as both a jumping-off point and forum for discussions revolving around the issues faced by artists and humanists, the importance of our work in a university setting, and our importance to contemporary culture at large. Hopefully, this blog will begin to get at the questions: Do we matter? If so, how and why? While the blog does directly cater to University of Maryland students enrolled in the College of Arts and Humanities, we hope to expand our reach to students at other colleges within UMD, students at other institutions, and faculty and other artists and humanists across cyberspace.
Code of Conduct
Our goal is to have On Purpose be completely open to anyone who would like to participate; therefore, it is necessary to lay out some ground rules to guide our discussions.
1) Before posting a comment, think to yourself “Would I say this in person without the anonymity the internet affords?” If the answer is “no”, carefully consider whether your post is appropriate.
2) Debate and honest discussion are encouraged. Personal attacks, offensive language, and derogatory terms are prohibited.
3) If you are offended for any reason, please direct complaints to the blog’s administrator rather than starting a back-and-forth flame war.
4) Read what others have said before formulating your response. This helps keep the discussion focused and moves it forward instead of having people reiterate the same points and counterpoints.
5) This is not a place to vent about your professors, your students, your grades, or any other personal issue. It is, however, a place to discuss institutional concerns in a constructive manner. We do want to know how arts and humanities departments can better serve the students’ needs; however, we really don’t care how much you hate Professor X.
6) Please keep discussions grounded in issues pertaining to academic life, and particularly the arts and humanities (although you are welcome to discuss other disciplines and the ways in which they relate to the arts and humanities).
7) Announcements of events of interest to artists and humanists are welcome and will be permitted if deemed relevant.
8) The administrator is open to suggestions. If I reject something that you really believe to be relevant, email me and plead your case. If the blog isn’t serving your needs, then I am doing something wrong, so I want suggestions. However, please email me these suggestions rather than starting a flame war on the blog itself.
