Friends Center Director's Report
Winter 2006

Friends Center General Programming

Life is seldom boring around Guilford College, but every so often the fates throw something new at us just to keep us on our toes. Two years ago it was the "box cutter" incident and two weeks of media frenzy on campus. That incident afforded Friends Center the opportunity to help interpret Quaker faith & practice as reporters tried to get a handle on the College and the motivation for our student's act of civil disobedience. A student in my Quaker history class this semester reports that this incident produced the most "hits" about Quakers in the news that year, as chronicled by a new website on Quakers in the news.

We were sailing along fairly quietly this fall, enjoying the good press coverage the College was receiving for the Year of Spirit and Spirituality, when the hostage incident in Iraq brought another descent of television, radio, and newspapers to campus. Tom Fox, one of the Christian Peacemaker Teams members kidnapped in Baghdad on November 26, is a friend to many on campus and is the parent of a 2001 Guilford graduate. That connection created quite a buzz in the local press, and several on campus were featured in print and electronic interviews, with the coverage garnering headlines and leading off the news broadcasts on a number of occasions.

Friends Center was quite involved in organizing prayer vigils for the hostages and their captors, arranging interviews, and handling phone inquiries. We sought to use the opportunity to help communicate the central Christian teaching of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation and hope that a little of the Quaker perspective was shared in the process.

Aside from the excitement and anxiety of those events, it was still a busy fall for Friends Center. Lon Fendall of George Fox University spent three days on campus as the J.M. Ward Distinguished Quaker Visitor, sharing helpfully from his work in global and peace studies. His Ward lecture on "Toward a Progressive Evangelicalism" featured insights into Tony Campolo, Jim Wallis, Senator Mark Hatfield, and William Wilberforce and displayed a keen social consciousness imbedded in evangelical Christianity. It was a very helpful perspective to share on a campus where many are skeptical about the goals and aims of some of the Christians active in the public sphere.

Friends Center also brought Michele Tarter to campus for conversations about Quaker women. She met with students at Guilford and with my Wake Forest Divinity School course on Quaker women. Michele's lively presentations about the full-bodied experience of early Friends' encounter with the Spirit delighted and amazed everyone.

Our second annual "Take Back Your Time Week" successfully introduced the wild concept of kicking back and enjoying time through simple activities like hikes in the woods, nap-ins, making s'mores by the fire, and eating homemade doughnuts, washed down by cider in the Hut. The week concluded with a Hallowe'en lantern-lit walk through the New Garden Friends cemetery, featuring historical vignettes about the many fascinating people resting there -- and the critical historical events associated with that space. More than 250 people participated in the various TBYTW activities.

Friends Center also organized two different activities related to the discussion on campus about providing "alcohol friendly" social settings for those who are of drinking age. "Senior socials" at which alcohol would be available were scheduled by Campus Life during the fall; the planners' hope was that this controlled environment would promote responsible drinking and collegiate conversation. Parallel to these "senior socials," Friends Center sponsored a "Coffee, Tea, and Thee" event in the student coffee co-op, the Greenleaf, at which we paid for the coffee and tea and provided student musical entertainment. Later in the semester we held a "Bring Your Own Root Beer" event in the Hut. At this event we provided imported Hires Root Beer and other Quaker-related food products.

Total attendance at the two senior socials was under 20. Attendance at the two coffee and root beer events exceeded a total of 250. Not that we were counting.

As a result of the lively debate about alcohol, several articles in the student newspaper focused on the issue, and a number of interviews were given to Guilfordian reporters. Good practice for the media storm that broke later in the semester!

Friends Center organized a six-week orientation series, "Quakerism 101" for the campus. The various sessions covered Quaker history, spirituality, testimonies, decision-making, diversity, and influence on the College. Perhaps lured by the free lunch -- or by genuine desire to learn more about Friends -- there were 30-40 regularly in attendance, including a new trustee, faculty, staff, students, upper level administrators, and interested others. A repeat of the series will be offered in the spring semester.

Friends Center continued to offer academic support for the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program and the Quaker Studies Concentration. I taught the first-year QLSP course on the spiritual roots of the Quaker testimonies, the senior QLSP capstone seminar, and the College's Quaker History course. In the spring, I will continue the QLSP senior seminar and teach Quakers, Community, and Commitment and the Quaker Studies Concentration capstone, Quaker Faith & Practice. I will also teach a "Fast Track" Quaker History course.

Our annual "Quaker Festival Week" will be held April 16-22 and will feature QLSP senior projects and an Open House hosted by North Carolina Yearly Meeting (FUM).

Thanks to the good contributions of many writers and editors, the Friends Center newsletter went to press on time this fall and was distributed to good reviews. Our gratitude goes especially to Michael Crouch of Public Relations who did the basic lay-out and Lynn Van Horn of the mail room who fit the mailing into their busy schedule.

A reminder about speakers coming through Friends Center in the spring semester:

• January 21-24: Peter and Annie Blood-Patterson (Luby Casey Campus Ministry)
• January 22: Jerry Neal (Built on a Rock)
• January 26: Arthur Magida (The Rabbi and the Hit Man)
• February 13: Fergus Bordewich (Quakers and the Underground Railroad)
• February 28: Arthur Larrabee (clerking and Quaker decision-making)
• March 26-27: Niyonu Spann (Judith Weller Harvey Quaker Scholar)

Speakers for the 2006-07 academic year are Landrum Bolling (J.M. Ward); Signe Wilkinson (Judith Weller Harvey); Noel Paul and Betty Stookey (Luby Casey -- tentative); and Ben Pink Dandelion (Friend-in-residence). Ann Riggs has agreed to speak in 2007-08.

Campus Ministry

We have continued to enjoy the increased attendance and quality of College Meeting for Worship. Speakers have been good, and the depth of the silence in unprogrammed worship has been felt. At its end-of-semester planning session, the Guilford Council of Religious Organizations (GCRO) selected another outstanding line-up of speakers for the spring semester.

Morning quiet worship has been small but steady, with 4-6 in regular attendance. The experimental Vespers program continued through the fall with a core group of 2-3 who depended on it as a fitting close to the day. We will continue Vespers during the spring semester on a reduced schedule of Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Several students have volunteered to lead it on occasion.

Quaker Concerns revived successfully this fall and has been working on interpreting Quaker testimonies on campus. The Catholic campus ministry has also revived under the work of a new minister appointed by the diocese. To complete the theme of renewal, the Episcopal campus ministry has experienced new life. Continuing to perk along are Buddhist meditation, pagan mysticism, and a small Guilford Christian Fellowship. GCRO has been very successful with its programming, but only two students have been regular in their attendance.

Stump speeches have continued each Wednesday, with most days witnessing at least a few practicing free speech. On a few occasions, these, too, have attracted the local press, and we find ourselves on the pages of the paper or on NPR. Twice the stump speeches preceded peace vigils.

Several major vigils have been held on campus -- two related to the war in Iraq, and others related to the kidnapped CPTers. Friends Center has played a role in organizing each.

The fall break work trip with Friends Disaster Service to Bogalusa, Louisiana was a huge success. Twenty-five from the College joined fourteen FDSers in re-roofing eight houses and repairing six others. A grant from the AFSC made possible our transportation. A follow-up trip with twenty-two from the College joining FDS will be made the first week of January; a grant from the Bonner Foundation will pay for student transportation. FDS has already scheduled future work trips to coincide with spring and fall breaks.

Issues of the GCRO Caw newsletter have continued to be published bi-weekly under the capable editing of Tristan Wilson. Articles reflecting various traditions of spirituality were featured in each newsletter in conjunction with the Year of Spirit and Spirituality at the College.

Religious Emphasis Week will be held the last week of January, with a theme of "Spirit, Spirituality, and the Spirit of the World." Featured speakers and resource persons will be Peter and Annie Blood-Patterson, Jerry Neal, and Arthur Magida. The Blood-Pattersons will lead a music workshop out of their songbook, Rise Up Singing! and will present a concert and a number of public presentations. Jerry Neal, a member of Poplar Ridge Friends Meeting and co-founder of RF Micro Devices, will give a talk about his new book, Built on a Rock. Arthur Magida, a Guilford parent and editor of Jewish Lights Publications, will speak on his book, The Rabbi and the Hit Man.

Fergus Bordewich, author of Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America, will speak on campus February 13 as a guest of Friends Center and Campus Ministry. His wife is a Guilford alumna, and he did research for the book in the Friends Historical Collection. One chapter features Guilford County and the Quaker community.

Beginning in the spring semester, a new "passional attraction group" will be offered with the title "Am I the Only One?" The group's purpose will be to bring together those students (and others) who feel they are the "only one" on campus to hold particular beliefs or make certain lifestyle choices.

Friends Center Work with the Guilford Strategic Plan

Through offering "Quakerism 101," we continue to address the strategic plan's goal of orienting the college community to Quaker principles and practices. Friends Center is also still working on recruitment of Quaker faculty, staff, and students, along with developing programs to strengthen the relationship with the wider Quaker community in North Carolina. I have talked with the director of Quaker Lake Camp about cooperative ventures between Guilford and the summer camp in areas where the College has expertise.

The goal for spring semester will be to coalesce input on the strategic plan's priority of developing benchmarks for an ethical purchasing policy. During the fall semester, various groups have been offering suggestions: Quaker Concerns, academic courses, and several individuals.

Seven "problem areas" have been identified for our consideration:

1. What do we do when a product cannot be found "ethically?"
2. How do we deal with the complexity of how "pure" we can be?
3. How broad can we be in our scope -- how do we define procurement and consumption?
4. How do we address the relationship of structural violence to sources of products?
5. Whose ethics will we adopt?
6. What if ethics costs more?
7. How do we gain the support of the community in making the sacrifices that might be needed for ethical procurement? And what of the freedom of individual choice?

Four areas have been identified for examining "purchasing:"

1. Hired labor
2. Procuring financial security
3. Goods
4. Energy

Forums will be held during the semester to gather further community input, and Quaker Concerns will take the lead in interviewing the Purchasing Department about current policy and surveying other colleges about their policies.

Adult Programming

Fall's Quaker Renewal Program book study on A History of God was well-attended and successful. Several newcomers participated, with some traveling from as far as Durham. Of course, it helped having the first two sessions be presentations by Karen Armstrong herself!

The winter QRP offering will be a music workshop led by Peter and Annie Blood-Patterson on January 21. The Blood-Pattersons are the authors of the popular "Bible of folk singing," Rise Up Singing!

A spring study of Huston Smith's The Soul of Christianity will begin on March 14 with Huston Smith, himself, leading the first session.

Not related to QRP but certainly to adult programming, I will be teaching a January/February series on the world's religions for the Shepherd's Center of Greensboro.

Funding

As of December 15, more than $15,000 had been received toward our Annual Fund goal of $50,000. This represents a 10% increase over this time last year. The annual solicitation letter will be mailed out before Christmas.

Friends Center programs have been aided by grants of $2,500 from the AFSC and $3,000 from the Bonner Foundation to support our work trips to Louisiana with Friends Disaster Service. A Chace Fund grant of $5,000 has supported our Quakerism 101 series and the students we sent to Arthur Larrabee's Pendle Hill workshop on clerking. The Taylor and Shoemaker Funds of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting have again been generous in supporting scholarships for the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program.

Printouts of Friends Center endowment funds indicate approximately $1.4 million of principal in the various accounts, with an average of 10% earnings on those accounts the past year, and a 5% draw from those earnings. The Business Office indicates that all related Friends Center expenses were covered by our Annual Fund, with reserves going into a quasi-endowment that now totals nearly $100,000. These reserves and enhanced endowment principal are crucial for Friends Center's plans to support QLSP in the future when the Lilly Grant expires. Candace Lofano from the Business Office will be at the Friends Center steering committee meeting in January to explain the books and the status of Friends Center funds.

Friends Center Fund Drive

Friends Center and the College are in the "quiet phase" of the next major fund drive for the College. The Advancement Office has been very helpful to Friends Center in making calls on donor prospects and accompanying me on visits and telephone interviews. One $500,000 pledge to QLSP endowment has already been signed, with promising prospects with three other potentially large donations.

In addition to visits with Advancement Office staff, I have also been doing a few "cultivation" calls on my own. At our January steering committee meeting, we will dedicate a major portion of the agenda to considering future steps in organizing Friends Center's fund drive.

Quaker Recruitment

We will have to scramble hard to meet the goal of a 9% Quaker enrollment in the traditional-aged student body for the fall of 2006. Applications to Guilford are running at a record pace, well in excess of last year's record numbers. This means that we should be getting a proportionately larger number of Quaker applications, but it is doubtful that Quaker applications are keeping pace with such a large number. We will have to focus on yield.

Some positive results are being seen from previous contacts at YouthQuake and visits to various yearly meetings. Several Quaker students from North Carolina have been identified for particular attention, including two pastoral ministers' children from NCYM (FUM). One has already applied, and the other promises to.

The hiring of Betsy Blake (QLSP '99) in the Initiative on Faith and Practice and the imminent hiring of an Admission Office staff for Quaker recruitment are promising signs.

We continue to encourage Quaker prospects for faculty and staff positions, and the College has advertised prominently in Quaker journals both for students and for tenure-track faculty appointments.

Work with the Initiative on Faith & Practice and the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program

Friends Center continues to offer substantial program support for QLSP through academic programs, procuring of grants for workshops, conferences, and work trips, and the visits of Quaker speakers. Friends Center is providing a portion of the salary for Betsy Blake, a new staff appointment in IFP as a program assistant for QLSP.

The IFP has applied for a sustainability grant from the Lilly Endowment to support key programs for a period of three years between the expiration of the Lilly Grant in December, 2007 and the College's taking over full funding of those programs in 2010. Under the terms of the application, Friends Center would provide the College's "match" for the Lilly sustainability grant. That match would total $370,000 and would cover QLSP program expenses and three staff salaries.

For Friends Center to accomplish that match, it will be necessary to have substantial success in our fund raising efforts over the next two years. At the January steering committee meeting we will discuss details of the sustainability application and plans for meeting the match.

Max L. Carter, director
Friends Center
12/15/2005