Division of Higher Education
1513. General Responsibilities--1. Higher education is a significant part of our Wesleyan heritage, our present task, and our future responsibility. The Church continues its historic mission of uniting knowledge and vital piety by maintaining educational institutions and a campus ministry, and through them an intellectual, spiritual, and material ministry to all persons within the academic community without respect to sex, race, creed, or national origin.
2. There shall be a Division of Higher Education representing The United Methodist Church in its relationships with educational institutions and the campus ministry. The division shall have an advisory relationship to all United Methodist-affiliated institutions, including universities, colleges, secondary and special schools, Wesley Foundations, and similar organizations as well as ecumenical campus ministry groups. The division will, on request, serve in an advisory and consultative capacity to all agencies of the Church owning or administering educational institutions and campus ministry units.
3. The nominating committee of the board shall, insofar as possible, provide representation for nomination as members of the Division of Higher Education an equitable number of persons directly related to the areas of concern of the division.
4. Principal objectives of the division are:
a) To determine the nature of the United Methodist mission in and through its elementary, secondary, and higher educational institutions and campus ministries.
b) To develop policy that enables The United Methodist Church to engage effectively in higher education throughout the world.
c) To encourage the Church in programs designed to nurture and sustain educational institutions and campus ministry units as invaluable assets in the ongoing life of the Church.
d) To promote a campus Christian movement and a concerned Christian ministry of the educational community; to witness in the campus community to the mission, message, and life of Jesus Christ; to deepen, enrich, and mature the Christian faith of college and university students, faculty, and staff through commitment to Jesus Christ and the Church and to assist them in their service and leadership to the world, in and through the Church.
e) To interpret both the Church and its educational institutions and campus ministry to each other; to help the agencies of the Church and higher education participate in the greater realization of a fully humane society committed to freedom and truth, love, justice, peace, and personal integrity.
f) To foster within educational institutions the highest educational standards, effective programs of Church relationships, the soundest business practices, the finest ethical and moral principles, and especially Christian ideals; to help people experience release from enslavement, fear, and violence; and to help people live in love.
g) To preserve and protect resources, property, and investments of The United Methodist Church or any conference, agency, or institution thereof, in any educational institution, Wesley Foundation, or other campus ministry unit founded, organized, developed, or assisted under the direction or with the cooperation of The United Methodist Church.
h) To relate to professional organizations of higher education and campus ministry on behalf of The United Methodist Church.
i) To enable the division's constituencies to develop an interest in and response to public policies bearing on higher education, both independent and public.
j) To provide resources and suggest guidelines for annual conference boards of higher education and campus ministry.
5. The division shall appoint personnel, including an assistant general secretary for campus ministry, an assistant general secretary for schools, colleges, and universities, and an assistant general secretary for the Black College Fund, and shall establish such committees and commissions as may be necessary for effective fulfillment of its objectives. It may adopt such rules and regulations as may be required for the conduct of its business.
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
1992 Book of Discipline: ¶ 1513
1996 United Methodist General Conference