This is a digest of a monograph that explores recent theory and research on the importance of college students' effort and involvement in promoting positive college outcomes. An opening section introduces the issue noting that institutions must work to create a climate in which all students feel welcome and able to fully participate. At the same time institutions must nurture an ethic that demands student commitment and promotes student responsibility. A section on student responsibility summarizes Robert Pace's standards embedded in the College Student Experience Questionnaire. Student responsibility is important as the key to all development and learning, because irresponsible students diminish the collective academic life, and because responsible habits pay lifetime benefits to the individual and society. A following section notes the work of Vincent Tinto, Alexander Astin, and Ernest Pascarella on student responsibility. A final section looks at how institutions can encourage responsible student behavior by stressing the importance of student achievement, by conveying the institution's purpose in an unambiguous manner, and by creating an ethos where students believe they are members of a larger community. In addition, small-scale, human environments for student faculty interaction, and other efforts to enhance student faculty relations are important. (JB)