NCSU's visual and performing arts, administered on this campus by the Division of Student Affairs, have made the University a center for the arts. NCSU offers a wide range of opportunities for students to perform, and also sponsors performances by professional musicians, actors, and other artists. These activities enrich the cultural life not only of students and faculty, but also of all central and eastern North Carolina.
By addressing both the educational and outreach missions of the University, NCSU's student-development services are essentially and substantially in compliance with the SACS criteria for effectiveness in student-development activities. Nevertheless, to preserve and enhance the quality of student life on this campus, NCSU should attend to a number of issues concerning student-development activities.
First, NCSU should ensure that student-development programs and activities are staffed and equipped according to appropriate professional standards and are housed in appropriate facilities.
Second, the University should ensure that policies carried out in the area of student development support the institution's academic mission.
Third, the University should ensure that student service agencies on campus are accessible to students and function in ways that facilitate learning.
Fourth, the University should support student organizations in making contributions to campus life and providing students with opportunities for involvement in activities that promote development of leadership skills.
Finally, the University should support the development of community identity among students and promote the understanding and acceptance of an increasingly diverse student body.
Campus life outside the classroom makes a substantial contribution to the overall experience of higher education. Its vigor and richness are good indicators of the quality of an institution. One basis of North Carolina State University's aspirations to preeminence among research-intensive land-grant universities will be its achievement of a campus culture in which the life of the mind is valued, and the importance of learning is celebrated and communicated to new generations of students.
