Across campus, students are seeing T-shirts, posters, lapel pins and signs with the phrase “I Am Miami.” I Am Miami is the catchphrase for the administration’s new initiative to promote their Values Statement and its longer derivative, the Code of Love and Honor.

This initiative began at the 2013 Convocation when Student Body President Charlie Schreiber introduced the Code of Love and Honor to the first-year students, beginning with the lines “I Am Miami….” The code states that because each student “is Miami,” they must live and act according to the university’s values, which include integrity, responsibility, dignity and respect for each other.

According to President of the Student Senate senior Nick Miller, the initiative came about because few people on campus seemed to be aware of the Values Statement, despite the fact that it has been approved by the Board of Trustees since 2002. Dean of Students Mike Curme said this Values Statement can be described as an expression of the joint values of the Miami University community.

“Essentially, what that Miami Values Statement does is it defines the culture that exists on our campus,” Curme said. “It’s an effort to remind everyone that they are part of a community in which we respect each other, the right to hold different beliefs and value a variety of perspectives.”

According to Associate Vice President of Institutional Diversity Ron Scott, the campaign is intended to get people in the community involved in emulating, expanding and disseminating the values outlined in the code.

“We want people to take ownership of this campus-wide effort, and we expect that everyone will be involved in this,” Scott said.

The Code of Love and Honor was generated with that in mind, according to Miller.

“We wanted to get across to the Miami community that these are the values that we hold dear,” Miller said. “And to do that, we changed the Values Statement to more of an ‘I am’ or ‘I will do this’ type statement to make people feel ownership over it.”

Scott said he hopes to see students continuing to use their different backgrounds to get involved with the I Am Miami campaign.

“On the [campagin’s] website, we hope students will continue to generate videos, like the hockey team did with their “If You Can Play” campaign,” Scott said. “We are hoping student groups will come up with ways of talking and articulating examples that promote this larger initiative.”