I recently posted a List of Values that I am reviewing with my family. As I reviewed this list, I thought of the school mottos from my high school (“commitment to excellence”) and college (“The world is our campus”). Having these mottos at least in the back of my mind helped shape me. It got me wondering if it would be a good idea to come up with a simple motto for my family. And that got me wondering what mottos are used in other universities. After all, these universities are shaping the minds of many people in our society.
So I looked it up.
The List of Mottos
Here are the mottos of the top 20 universities in the United States according to the order the universities are presented in the 2024 US News & World Report rankings:
- In the Nation’s Service and the Service of Humanity – Princeton University (source)
- Mind and Hand (Mens et Manus) – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (source)
- Truth (Veritas) – Harvard University (source)
- The wind of freedom blows (Die Luft der Freiheit weht) – Stanford University (source)
- Light and Truth (Lux et veritas) – Yale University (source)
- Laws without morals are useless – University of Pennsylvania (source)
- The truth shall make you free – California Institute of Technology (Caltech) (source)
- Knowledge and Faith (Eruditio et Religio) – Duke University (source)
- In God we Hope (In Deo Speramus) – Brown University (source)
- The truth shall set you free (Veritas vos liberabit) – Johns Hopkins University (source)
- Whatsoever things are true (Quaecumque sunt vera) – Northwestern University (source)
- In Thy light shall we see light (In lumine Tuo videbimus lumen) – Columbia University (source)
- “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study” – Cornell University (source)
- Let knowledge grow from more to more; and so be human life enriched (Crescat scientia; vita excolatur) – University of Chicago (source)
- Let there be light (Fiat lux) – University of California, Berkeley (source)
- Let there be light (Fiat lux) – University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (source)
- Letters, Science, Art – Rice University (source)
- A voice crying out in the wilderness (Vox clamantis in deserto) – Dartmouth College (source)
- Dare to grow (Crescere aude) – Vanderbilt University (source)
- Life, Sweetness, Hope (Vita, Dulcedo, Spes) – University of Notre Dame (source)
To build this list, I first asked ChatGPT to give me a list of mottos from the top 20 universities in the U.S. I then refined it by asking to create the list based on the US News & World Report rankings. Since ChatGPT wouldn’t have the most recent report, I did have to move things around.
Interesting Findings
I wanted to find sources from each school to confirm that these are the correct mottos. I assumed it would be easy to find the mottos on the “About” page. But it seems like many universities are not prominently displaying their motto. I often had to use the search tool to find the motto buried in some article on the school’s website. The motto would often be referenced as a part of the school’s history, acknowledged in the branding material, included in the calls for donations, or addressed in articles in the school magazines or newspapers.
My assumption that the motto would be prominently displayed was, for some reason, off. The About page just tends to have verbose yet bland mission statements and core values that seem designed to inoffensively cover all the politically correct bases.
So what does this mean? I’m not sure. Clearly, many of these mottos came about in religious contexts. So I wonder if it speaks to the secularization of America. Or are our universities today more concerned with offending than pursuing a prescribed value? Most likely all the mission and core value statements sound cookie-cutter because they are implemented to comply with some sort of federal law.
Reading the mission and value statements on the About pages collectively makes me think the real motto in play at every university is this: “Do not offend.”
