Mission, Values, and Vision Statements 

CWA Mission Statement.  

1. The CWA strives to be the preeminent venue for open, multi-faceted, and balanced discussion of today’s challenging issues, characterized by cross-disciplinary synergy among top-tier speakers, in events collaboratively planned by CU Boulder and Boulder community members for audiences both academic and non-academic. 

2. The CWA creates a forum for interdisciplinary discourse that honors intellectual diversity in the belief that robust solutions arise from them.  The CWA seeks thereby to educate, engage, and inspire its attendees to become local, national, and global leaders.  

a. It educates by presenting complex issues in multiple contexts, thereby creating a more informed electorate and strengthening our democracy.  

b. Its speakers inspire by being examples of how to promote the public good at personal, local, national, and global levels.   

c. Its interactive format encourages engagement in the civil discourse, civil liberties, and free speech that are essential to the democratic process.  

Values.  The CWA is guided by the following values.  

  1. Expertise.  We seek renowned and/or insightful speakers from multiple disciplines and communities; we respect those whose study and experiences make them authorities.   

  1. Inclusivity and respect for diversity.  We commit to inclusivity and to multicultural and intellectual diversity in assembling speakers so that discussion can include multiple voices and perspectives.    

  1. Civil discourse.  We are committed to free speech and thoughtful discussion of ideas, characterized by open-mindedness, courtesy, and a willingness to understand opposing points of view.  To be great leaders, we must first be great listeners.  

  1. Generosity of spirit.  CWA events are created through generous collaboration—of the community and campus organizers, and of the participating speakers. 

Vision.  

To demonstrate that lively, inclusive, well-informed, and balanced civil discourse, emerging from campus and community collaboration, can be a training ground for engaged citizenship and a model for a more tolerant world.