Mission and Values

Our goal is for all students to thrive at the University of Virginia. Our mission is to help them succeed by promoting four core values:

  • To get a quality education, students need to engage with a wealth of facts and a range of diverse and challenging viewpoints. This leaves them intellectually more expansive, personally more resilient, and socially more adept. Grappling with competing ideas sharpens students’ intellectual formation and prepares them to interact with the full range of people at UVA and beyond.

  • Vigorous discussion and respectful disagreement are effective ways to learn how other people think, why they believe what they believe, and what we have to learn from each other. The uninhibited exchange of ideas helps students play a more constructive role at one of the world’s great universities and begin a life of more productive citizenship after UVA.

  • Learning from others requires first accepting that there is plenty they can teach us. We must admit that we can be wrong, and often are. We can learn from everyone: from those we most admire to those with whom we most strongly disagree. Approaching learning with these important ideas in mind helps students get the most out of their education.

  • Students’ exposure to a diverse array of people, viewpoints, and topics sharpens their minds and cultivates empathy. Through engaging with those whose viewpoints differ from their own, students grow in their capacity to relate to, respect, and work with others. Growing in empathy sets students up for success beyond their time at UVA.

Expanding intellectual diversity isn’t about subtracting voices; it’s about adding them. Increasing viewpoint diversity means addressing gaps—gaps which arise from the courses that are not offered, the professors who are not teaching, the readings that are not assigned, and the questions that students are not asked to grapple with.

Blue Ridge addresses these gaps through its programming, hosting speakers who address a broad range of topics and convening reading groups and workshops small enough to let students deeply scrutinize important topics and viewpoints that are too often neglected.

All students can benefit from our programs, and every student is invited and welcome to participate in them.