Cascadia Community College, a state supported institution of higher education is a learning-centered college, maintained for the purpose of providing all learners knowledge and skills for the achievement of their academic, professional, technical, and personal goals. As a public institution of higher education, the college also exists to provide students with the capacity for critical judgment and an independent search for truth toward both optimal individual development and the well being of the entire learning community.

Inherent in the college's mission, vision, and goals are certain rights and freedoms which provide to students the support and respect needed for learning and personal development. Admission to Cascadia Community College provides these rights to students but also assumes that students accept the responsibility to conduct themselves in a manner that does not interfere with the purposes of the college in providing education for all of its learners.