Vision and Values

Our Vision

Every student at Pasadena City College is welcomed into a safe and dynamic learning community that:

  • affirms them and their experiences,
  • creates conditions for empowerment, critical thinking, and informed civic engagement, and
  • provides the support needed to meet their personal, academic, and career aspirations.

Our Values

Academic Integrity and Excellence

Academic excellence is at the heart of what we hope to achieve as educators. Academic excellence is creating an environment whereby a student can excel in scholastic activities, demonstrate superior learning, and develop intellectual capacities and skills that prepares them for service to their community.  Ethical behavior is a personal, institutional, and societal responsibility. Academic integrity entails honesty, responsibility, and openness to both scholarship and scholarly activity.

Student-first decision making

We value student-centered and student-first attitudes, processes, policies, and culture that will lead to student-first decision-making. By placing the changing needs and educational goals of our student population at the heart of our decision-making, the college is committed to not only student-first but a student-inclusive governance environment.

Introspection and reflection

Free and Informed Expression

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right for every person around the world. All people have the right to hold their own opinions, and the right to seek, receive and share information and ideas.

Social Justice

has 4 essential goals:

  1. Human Rights: a just society protects and respects everyone’s human rights.
  2. Access: access to essentials like shelter, food, and education is crucial; when access is restricted based on factors like gender, race, or class, it leads to suffering for individuals, communities, and society as a whole. Social justice activists work to increase and restore access, giving everyone equal opportunities for a good life.
  3. Participation: social justice isn’t possible if only some voices are heard, though the voices of the marginalized and vulnerable are often silenced. Even when society tries to address problems, solutions won’t work if those most affected can’t participate in the process. Participation must be encouraged and rewarded so that everyone – especially those who haven’t had a chance before – can speak.
  4. Equity: “equity” (not “equality”) takes into account the effects of discrimination and aims for an equal outcome. (Racial inequality is one of the most common social justice issues in the world. It affects a racial group’s ability to find work, get access to healthcare, and receive an equal education.) (https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/what-does-social-justice-mean/)
Commitment to Anti-Racism

The act of opposing racism and white supremacy in all forms--in our society, other people, and even the racism that exists within ourselves and in the ways we perpetuate racism with our behaviors. It is about identifying the root causes of racism and ending them (Pratt Institute, n.d.).

Anti-Racist: one who is supporting an antiracist policy (see below) through actions or expressing an antiracist idea (Kendi, 2019, p. 13)

Anti-Racist Policy: a proposed/adopted policy geared toward reducing racial inequities and creating equal opportunity (Kendi, 2019, p. 32)