The glossary offers easy-to-understand definitions of the words and terms commonly used to describe campus-based character-development programs. Terms such as "binge drinking," "in loco parentis," and "service learning" are explained in simple and straightforward language. We hope that the glossary will help to increase knowledge and awareness of many terms used today by college students and educators.

Binge Drinking
Defined by most experts as having five or more drinks in a row for men and four or more drinks in a row for women. According to research from the Harvard School of Public Health, binge drinkers are 10 times as likely to drive after drinking and 11 times as likely to fall behind in class work. Half of all college binge drinkers start in high school.

Campus Crime
Recent studies reveal that 80% of campus crime turns out to be student-on-student; 90% involves drugs or alcohol.

Campus Ethos
The distinguishing attitudes, beliefs, and values of a campus community. The term also refers to the spirit of a campus. While not directly observable, the ethos of a college campus can be a formidable force in shaping the minds and hearts of students. The root meaning of the Greek word for ethics, ethikos, signifies an ethos that is rooted in community and transmitted through customs.

Capstone Course
In the 19th century, this senior-year course usually was taught by the college president to provide a moral context for the student's education and graduation. Today, "Senior-Year Courses," usually aligned with the student's major, are dramatically increasing on college and university campuses.

Character
Rooted in the Greek word charakter, the term "character" has come to mean the constellation of strengths and weaknesses that form and reveal who we are. Our character does not consist of a single statement or a random act but of those qualities and dispositions that we place consistently--both good and bad. Assessing our character means taking an inventory of our dominant thoughts and actions. As Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do." Character, as a concept that explains personality and behavior, is neither liberal nor conservative because it is not primarily about politics or policy.

Civic Education
An education that provides students in the U.S. with the skills, knowledge, and conviction to participate in our democracy. A civic education focuses on teaching the "democratic virtues," those principles, beliefs, and practices such as voting and joining associations, that support a democratic society. Sadly, recent findings from an annual survey of first-year college students reveal record-low levels of student interest in keeping up to date with political affairs, discussing politics, or working on political campaigns.

Civil Society
This term has many meanings. Some use it to describe the combination of decency, civility, and manners that are adopted as an antidote to the harsh edge of public debate. Others consider the term to be synonymous with private charity, volunteerism, and service. For most, maintaining a civil society means affirming and strengthening the community-based, voluntary, religious, and civic institutions in our society that sustain our democracy.

Cocurricular Activities
Student activities on the campus and in nearby communities that are independent of a college or university's formal academic program of courses and classes. These activities usually are associated with student organizations, clubs, and other student-life groups.

Conscience
The term literally means "with knowledge." Thomas Aquinas considered conscience a "sacred and sovereign monitor" that governs our moral decisions. Kant emphasized the judicial aspect of conscience, "duty's inner citadel." Many college educators believe that helping students develop a strong conscience--a desire to do what's right--is at the heart of a character education.

Core Curriculum
A set of courses that form the core of every student's education at a particular college or university; a defined group of specific courses required to graduate. Until the middle of the 20th century, nearly all colleges and universities had a core curriculum; however, since the 1960s, core requirements have become less rigid at most institutions of higher education.

Critical Thinking
The careful observation of a problem followed by a thoughtful and reasoned response. One outcome of the college experience is to foster a more systematic, thorough, and focused mode of thinking.

Ethical Development
The ability to grow in awareness of what is right and wrong. On many college and university campuses, administrators are establishing centers and offices that focus on how best to design classroom and cocurricular activities to foster students' ethical development.

Ethics
From the Greek word ethikos; a systematic study of morality; a branch of philosophy. On a practical level, 84% of North American companies have a corporate ethics code.

Ethics-Across-the-Curriculum
A comprehensive effort being undertaken at some colleges and universities to institute and integrate a broad-based ethical component to the entire curriculum of an institution.

Freshman Orientation
A program of academic advising, tours, and other educational and social activities designed to help incoming students acclimate to college life. Sometimes referred to as the "First-Year Experience," this program offers a comprehensive introduction to a college or university. Orientation programs range from a single day to an entire semester and include a wide variety of activities and goals, sometimes including a volunteer service project.

Greek Organizations
Fraternities or sororities on a campus whose names usually are composed of Greek letters. Greek organizations consist of four basic types: social, service, professional, and honorary. Greek life on college and university campuses is as healthy as ever.

Honesty
From the Latin honor ("a mark of respect"), the term refers to truth-telling and trustworthiness. According to recent studies, more than 75% of students on most campuses admit to some cheating, whereas 24% admit that they would lie to get or keep a job. Many colleges and universities have instituted Honor Codes or campus compacts to set a clear standard of honesty related to academic work.

Honor Code
An Honor Code usually includes one or more of the following elements: a written pledge in which students affirm that their work will be or has been done honestly; unproctored examinations with a clause obligating students to report any cheating they learn about or observe; and a requirement that students form most of the judiciary that hears alleged violations of the Honor Code. Research shows that students at Honor Code institutions are far less likely to cheat than are those students who attend a school that does not have an Honor Code.

Honors Programs
An honors program is a sequence of courses designed specifically to encourage independent and creative learning. For more than three decades, "honors" education has been an institution on American campuses. To give them additional prominence, honors programs sometimes evolve into honors colleges, depending on the focus, resources, and commitment of the institution. In such cases, the name of the honors college may be different from that of the institution. Admission to honor programs or honors colleges within a university is usually highly selective.

Idealism
A state of mind that carries the desire to recognize and aim for the best in our own life and for the life of the community of which we are a part. The pursuit of a great vision, a dream, a hope for a better future.

In Loco Parentis
Literally, "in place of the parent." With regard to education, the term refers to the supervision of a minor by a school when a parent is not present. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, colleges and universities supervised students in loco parentis; in recent decades, institutions of higher education have been moving increasingly away from this responsibility, in part because of recent Supreme Court decisions.

Integrity Strength and firmness of character; utter sincerity and honesty. A person of integrity keeps his or her word. This quality includes the ability to articulate deeply held values and principles and the ability to resist betraying those values.

Justice
Fairness or equality in apportioning advantages and rewards, as well as punishing wrong conduct. We need justice in order to protect the rights of everyone. The quality of justice means standing up for our own rights and the rights of other people.

Learning Communities
Currently a popular term in higher education, a learning community generally consists of two or more courses that students take together as part of a group. Often designed for incoming students in their first and second semesters, small learning communities enable students to get to know their classmates more quickly. Students who are involved in learning communities report that they feel more comfortable participating in class.

Mission Statement
A statement of purpose, intent, and goals that defines the ideals of a college or university. Many current character-development initiatives in higher education are born when the college president or board of trustees expresses the conviction that the institution must return to its "historic mission."

Morality
A system of rules or principles prescribing how we should act and defining what our rights and obligations are. A moral person is one who is capable of distinguishing right from wrong and demonstrates a predilection for what is right.

National Alcohol Awareness Week Generally takes place in October. This event provides the entire campus with the opportunity to educate students about issues of alcohol use and abuse. Students, faculty, and administrators take part in various activities designed to inform young people about the dangers of alcohol to self and others.

Party School
A college or university that is perceived to have an atmosphere more conducive to social interaction than to academic rigor. This term is often used to denote a school where alcohol consumption is widely prevalent.

Peer Culture
The habits and concepts accepted by a specific group. Studies by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) show that a student's peer group is the single most potent source of influence on growth and development during the undergraduate years. Furthermore, HERI found that students' values, beliefs, and aspirations tend to change in the direction of the dominant values, beliefs, and aspirations of their peer culture.

Peer Educators
Usually upperclass students who have been trained to educate their peers about issues related to personal and civic responsibility. Peer educators often lead small group discussions or organize formal presentations related to policies and issues of alcohol misuse, sexual harassment, sexual health, and academic honesty. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses confirm that college students prefer learning about these issues from their peers.

Personal Responsibility
This term signifies being dependable and displaying integrity. Personal responsibility means being accountable to ourselves and others by fulfilling obligations and keeping promises.

Philosophy of Life
Recent studies indicate that whereas 85% of American undergraduates in 1968 expected college to help them develop a philosophy of life, in 1998 less than half did. The college experience, both in and out of the classroom, historically has been thought of as a "search for meaning." Developing a philosophy of life means exploring such perennial and seminal questions as: Who am I? Where am I going? What is the purpose of life? Interestingly, studies reveal that participating in volunteer activities during the undergraduate years helps students develop a meaningful philosophy of life.

Respect
Showing regard for one's own worth and the worth of others. This includes treating our own lives as having inherent value, treating others as having dignity and rights equal to our own, and treating property as an extension of a person.

Self-Control
The ability to delay gratification or to make decisions based on meeting long-term goals. Self-control enables a person to avoid at-risk activities (such as binge drinking), which often have harmful consequences. Historically, learning to practice and display self-control or self-discipline has been an essential aspect of the undergraduate experience. It is arguable that the majority of personal and social problems in society today--drug abuse, violence, school failure, alcoholism, unwanted pregnancy, debt, and poor eating habits--involve deficiencies or failures in self-control.

Service Learning
A popular term in higher education today, service learning is a balance between service to the community and academic learning. Linking the terms "service" and "learning" symbolizes the central role of reflection (often through journal writing or small group discussions) as integral to the process of learning through a service experience. According to recent studies, 61% of all college students received academic credit for service work, 11% of all colleges and universities have a graduation requirement related to public service, and 17% of all institutions consider service experience during the admission process.

Spiritual Growth
A process by which a person searches for meaning, connectedness, and significance, often within the context of religious belief and understanding. An outcome of spiritual growth during the college years is a vision of moral integrity that coheres and connects our beliefs to our behavior.

Standards of Behavior
Refers to principles or ideals of human conduct. Many institutions of higher education institute and affirm standards of behavior to guide their students. Standards of student behavior include student rights, expectations, and institutional rules.

Student Leadership
Almost all colleges and universities aspire to prepare students for positions of leadership both inside and outside the campus community. However, a growing number of colleges have established programs dedicated to providing high-quality educational experiences that help students develop the competencies, conscience, and compassion required of leaders in a civil society.

Values
What we judge worth having (a job, wealth, wisdom), worth doing (helping others, enjoying family time, planning a vacation), or worth being (honest, happy, successful). Values can be considered nonmoral (such as the benefits of exercising, gardening, reading) or moral (such as the rewards of self-discipline, fairness, compassion). Some personal moral values (serving those less fortunate) are those that certain individuals freely accept without imposing their strong sense of obligation on others.

Virtues
Lived moral values; objectively good moral qualities or attributes (patience, prudence, compassion, courage). A virtues-infused character education has become very popular in colleges and universities.