Guilford's Response to Bryan Hall Incident Guided by Commitment to Quaker Values

In recent years, Guilford College has reaffirmed and strengthened its commitments to Quaker values and the traditions that were established by its founders in 1837. These commitments are guiding the College’s response to the Bryan Hall courtyard incident of Jan. 20. President Kent Chabotar is leading a team of College administrators who are responding to the incident.

Chabotar, the College’s first non-Quaker president, took the lead in incorporating a key Quaker component in the College’s current strategic plan, which was adopted in 2004 at the end of a process that included wide participation by students, faculty, staff, alumni and other constituents of the College.

The Strategic Plan for Guilford College 2005-2010: Creative Leadership for the 21st Century calls for the College to strengthen its relationship with the wider Quaker community, develop training materials for orienting all in the Guilford College community to the normative Quaker principles, increase the number of Quaker faculty, staff, and students, and apply Quaker testimonies to such issues as race, stewardship of our natural resources, justice and integrity.

Coordinating the particular emphasis on Quaker values at the College is Friends Center, established in 1982 to provide such leadership for Guilford. Since being established 25 years ago, Friends Center has created a campus ministry program, developed the nationally acclaimed Quaker Leadership Scholars Program, began the Quaker Renewal Program for the wider Friends community and coordinated numerous special “distinguished Quaker visitor” programs annually, along with Quaker Festival Week and Religious Emphasis Week.

As has been reported in internal documents of the Strategic Long Range Planning Committee, the following priorities within the strategic plan have been met:

• Friends Center is working in cooperation with congregations of the North Carolina Yearly Meetings to provide programs of renewal in Quaker history, spirituality, and testimony. (Recent program offerings have included “Quakerism 101” for Surry Quarterly Meeting, a book study on the conflict in the Middle East, and invited speakers such as Signe Wilkinson, Landrum Bolling, Ron Sider, Tony Campolo, Niyonu Spann and James Turrell).
• Booklets on Quaker history and testimony have been developed for use on campus;
• Faculty, staff, and students have been sent to Quaker decision-making workshops at Pendle Hill (a Quaker center for spiritual growth, study and service on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Pa.), and similar workshops have been held on campus;
• All new students are introduced to the Quaker ethos of Guilford through their first-semester courses.
• All new faculty and staff are given an extensive orientation to Quakerism.

It should be noted that numerous new Quaker faculty and staff hires have been made in recent years and that the number of Quaker students has doubled, keeping pace with the dramatic growth at the College to remain at 10 percent of the traditional student body.

Courses related to all the normative Quaker testimonies are integrated into the core curriculum of the College, and initiatives on ethical purchasing, anti-racism, and sustainability have been given significant impetus by the College.

For additional information on Friends Center director’s reports, newsletters of Friends Center and campus ministry and brochures on special Quaker programs, visit http://www.guilford.edu/about_guilford/services_and_administration/friends_center/index.html

Jan. 28, 2007