II.4 University social responsibility: a mature and responsible definition

Social responsibility, a new core responsibility that complements moral and legal responsibilities, is a collective, not a personal, responsibility that fosters political creativity (Vallaeys, 2011). Whereas moral and legal responsibilities govern our acts, social responsibility governs our impacts; that is, the latter governs not what has immediate and local consequences, but what has to do with distant systemic and global emergencies. Once we understand that social responsibility is responsibility for impacts and that impacts are not the same as acts, we can explore the theoretical and practical richness of the social responsibility of organizations, in particular of universities.