Belonging at Wooster

Wooster is committed to creating a welcoming campus for all members of our community where everyone feels they belong. 

Students learn best when they study in a community that spans a wide range of experiences, traditions, identities, perspectives, and beliefs. Such differences are necessary to fully realize our educational purpose, and we actively seek to increase it. Wooster students, staff and faculty come from all over the world, and from rural, urban, and suburban communities across the U.S.

A longstanding commitment

Wooster commitment to an inclusive learning environment started with our founding president, Willis Lord. At his inaugural address in 1866, he said:

“Wooster should be not only a place of all studies; it should be a place of studies for all… The essential test of citizenship in the commonwealth of science and letters should be character, mental and moral quality, and attainment, not condition, race, color, or sex.”

With more than 150 years of dedication to these principles, we know that realizing them requires determination and continuous action. In a world where opportunity is not distributed equally, creating a welcoming campus community must be a top priority. Students, faculty, and staff of all races, ethnicities, nationalities, faiths, sexual orientations, gender identities, and socioeconomic circumstances are welcome at Wooster, and we are committed to ensuring equitable opportunities for each of them to learn, work, and thrive.

Center for Belonging and Intercultural Diaglogue Staff