UNIVERSITIES’ PRIMARY ROLE TO SERVE SOCIETY
An organisation’s core objectives can often be lost sight of by the pursuit of lesser objectives or the pressure of day-to-day demands. The following address was given at the Commencement Service at the University of Auckland on 23 February 2005.
The University of Auckland’s mission statement outlines three sets of goals. There are operational goals such as ethical standards, equal opportunity and transparent administrative policies. These indicate how the university goes about its work, and are important to ensure effectiveness and right conduct in its life.
The university’s core business is spelled out in its academic goals. Listed here are advancement and dissemination of knowledge, fostering research and creativity, excellence in teaching and learning. The record is that the University of Auckland achieves highly in these areas.
Alongside operational and academic objectives are some more far-reaching goals which indicate the purpose of academic research and excellence. These are the university’s ultimate goals which enshrine a commitment to serve the community, and to advance the “intellectual, cultural, environmental, economic and social well-being of the peoples of Auckland and New Zealand”.
The latter is an all-encompassing goal which may be easily forgotten in the pursuit of lesser objectives. Several years ago I attended our daughter’s graduation at another university. The graduation address was given by the vice-chancellor. The occasion was a prime opportunity to inspire and encourage new graduates with a vision of how they might use their gifts and training in the service of those who would call upon them.
Turning aside from such an opportunity, the vice-chancellor instead fished in his pocket and produced a plastic credit card which he promoted as part of the university’s new money-raising strategy, urging all present to switch to this card and thus support their alma mater.
Financial pressures on universities have been heavy these last 20 years, and vice-chancellors have had to use every ounce of energy and wit in wrestling with them. But finance is only a means to an end. It is an operational goal, not an ultimate one. At a graduation ceremony the vice-chancellor’s error, in my view, was to mistake the nature of the occasion by addressing a lesser goal rather than the greater.
This I believe to be indicative of one of the gravest omissions in society today, and the institutions that shape them. Media stories bombard us with accounts of society’s wrong-doers such as drug-dealers, dangerous drivers, swindlers and thieves, rapists and murderers. They create tragedy and distress enough, but a greater wrong occurs when ordinary law-abiding citizens forget their primary objective to contribute to what the university mission statement names as the well-being of peoples.
Individuals forget this objective when they become preoccupied with their own personal prosperity and advancement. Institutions lose their way when they are dominated by operational goals, and lose sight of such ultimate objectives as providing education, health, or justice in the interests of all.
Sin is not a fashionable concept today, but it is linked to an interesting Greek word amartia. Amartia is an archery term meaning to miss the mark, shooting wide or falling short of the target. It is easy for a society to fail to achieve its full potential not because a minority sets out to do what is wrong, but because the majority loses sight of the larger targets to be aimed for. The sins of omission can be greater than the sins of commission.
A contrasting word, also a little out of fashion, is vocation. Vocation is not exclusively an ecclesiastical term but has universal application. Vocation is to do with the spirit in which any job is undertaken. If a job is done purely for what we will get out of it, the ultimate objective is lost, the target is missed. But if a job is done with a greater purpose in mind, such as working for the well-being of the community, it may be seen as a vocation.
Both individuals and institutions have vocations. This university has spelt out its vocation in terms of seeking to enrich the life of the peoples of Auckland. Should this goal drop from view and become overlaid by lesser goals, the ultimate objective is not achieved. Fiscal health is essential, academic excellence a desirable outcome, but the end which these achievements serve is all important.
The same perception and choice faces every graduate and each one of us in the way we direct our endeavours. Do we have wider community outcomes in view in what we do? Do we simply ply our craft, or are we thinking vocationally? The CEO of a hospital board told me recently that he detects a lessening of vocational attitude in young doctors who graduate with huge student loans. The burden of debt, accompanied by a strong user-pays ethos, is producing a climate, he senses, where fiscal preoccupations impinge upon a mindset of service.
This is not a criticism of people in the medical profession, many of whom work tirelessly and sacrificially in dealing with their patients. It is rather an example of something that can happen in any walk of life when the well-being of the community is lost sight of. The erosion of attitudes of public service may well be one of the intangible costs of the economic restructuring of recent years.
While every profession has the opportunity to contribute positively to the lives of its clients, there are also situations which require a collective endeavour. Crime, for example, cannot be solved simply by the police. Policy-makers, social workers, families, educationalists and community leaders need to work together to solve a problem which is multi-faceted. Addressing the roots of social and economic deprivation requires a similar mix of expertise and commitment.
Universities are well placed to play a lead in this collective function, drawing together the many skills represented by different faculties. But a community component is also needed. People in business and the professions, civic and community leaders, need a forum where issues with wide-ranging impact are debated and strategies devised. In this way the wisdom dispersed across the community may be focussed for the common good.
I commend the University for the far-sighted nature of its goals, and encourage you in the pursuit of them. They are very much in line with two scriptural readings. In Matthew, chapter 20, Jesus tells his disciples that “the one who would be great amongst you must be the servant of all”. And in Micah, chapter 6, we hear the timeless words of the prophet: “What does the Lord require of you but that you do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?”
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