I often tell audiences that one of the reasons I came to the University of Cincinnati in 2003 was to build on its greatness. One of the university’s great assets that I have come to appreciate is its Just Community Initiative.

I first learned about this community and value-building program when I came to UC in the weeks before I officially took on my role as president. I walked the campus as an unknown “civilian” with my husband, Ken Howey, and even went to the fall convocation for new students – a huge event held in our basketball venue at the Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center. Near the end of this ceremony, I got goose bumps as the first-year students watched the raising of their Just Community banner, a colorful patchwork of hundreds of smaller banners they had created in teams, all joined together to form one giant quilt that fills nearly an entire wall of the arena.

The banner is a very tangible symbol of an activity that brings together students from all backgrounds and races to work together as a team during orientation. They create together their concept of “a Just Community.” While there will always be some students who roll their eyes and opt out of the exercise, for those who participate it is a very appropriate entry into their new university community – an institution striving to be a true community that values diversity and justice.

Says Justin Shafer, a member of UC’s graduating Class of 2005 and president of the student government during 2004-2005: “Seeing the Just Community banner raised during freshman convocation is incredible. It is exceptional to realize that so many different groups of people, with vastly different views and opinions on the world, come together to talk about what they share in common and how they can help to build a community.”

This dramatic moment at convocation reinforced for me that when it came time to create a new strategic vision for UC, a plan we call UC|21: Defining the New Urban Research University. We didn’t need to start from scratch on values; we could reaffirm and build on the principles of our Just Community Initiative. These ideals were adopted by the university as a whole in 2000, three years before my arrival.

UC first instituted its Just Community program in May 1995 under the guidance of Mitchel Livingston, Vice President for Student Affairs and Services, who had created a similar program at State University of Albany prior to his UC arrival. Livingston says that four individuals greatly influenced the development of the Just Community model:

• Ernest Boyer. In Boyer’s survey of 300 college presidents published by the Carnegie Foundation in 1990, the university executive officers in his research identified the absence of community as the most consistent campus issue they faced. In Campus Life, In Search of Community, Boyer prescribed six values as the antidote, and creating “just communities” was one of them.

• Martin Luther King, Jr. King developed the concept of the “Beloved Community,” where “justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

• Lawrence Kohlburg. Kohlberg developed the concept of Just Democratic Communities, where community members have obligations to participate in the development of rules and regulations that govern their lives.

• John Rawls. In A Theory of Justice, Rawls states that for any social organization to sustain itself over time, it must first be perceived as just.

After 10 years, what started as a concept at UC has grown into a program with some very real successes. In 1999, the Templeton Guide recognized the program as a model for civic education. The initiative has hosted major speakers on campus including, Maya Angelou, Colin Powell, and Elie Wiesel, and performances by playwright and performance artist Anna Deavere Smith. Just Community has also been a major participant in an annual spring tradition called Worldfest, which celebrates our international diversity, and has generated UC involvement in the community-wide “On the Same Page” reading project as well as our participation in the National Conference for Community and Justice’s annual “Walk as One”. The Freshman English Committee officially endorsed Just Community readings as part of the first year curriculum, and these readings continue to be updated every year. Each year, the university also recognizes faculty, staff, students, and organizations that exemplify the ideals of Just Community by presenting annual Just Community Awards.

This success reaches beyond our campus as Livingston is contacted by campuses all over the country that express interest in developing Just Community programs. Most recently he was contacted by Florida State University, which has implemented the FS United Program.

Yet even after a decade, the Just Community Initiative faces major challenges. The majority of freshmen English instructors no longer use the Just Community readings. Despite the best efforts, the program remains closely identified with its founder and the Student Affairs and Services division, rather than the university as a whole. Just Community has not come to be seen as pertinent to faculty and staff issues as it is to student issues.

As we move forward with our new strategic vision, UC|21, we are examining the ways in which the Just Community initiative can be more fully integrated and aligned with UC|21 and evolve into its next level. It is now time for the “initiative,” which is by definition formative, to mature into something that is much more mainstreamed into the daily life of the larger university community. Our intention is to take something great and make it even greater.

Nancy L. Zimpher, Ph.D., is president of the University of Cincinnati