Friends Center Director's Report
Autumn, 2002

Friends Center General Programming

This summer witnessed a transition in Friends Center staffing through the emergence of the Initiative on Faith and Practice. Sara Beth coordinated a very successful Exploring Carolina Quaker Crossroads experience before assuming her duties as full-time director of the Initiative. Deborah attended the Friends Association of Higher Education conference at Wilmington College and was a co-leader of the Quaker Youth Pilgrimage before going half-and-half between the Initiative and Friends Center. Scott Pierce Coleman assumed his position in the Initiative as director of the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program and Career Services Liaison on July 1. Max experienced his transformation from QLSP director to new coordinator of the Quaker Studies Concentration and re-newed director of adult programming while transitioning between traveling in the Middle East with the international Quaker Working Party on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to participating in the North Carolina Yearly Meeting (FUM) workcamp in Kenya and attending the Triennial gathering of Friends United Meeting in Nairobi. It was a busy summer!

Fall semester at Guilford has begun with a gentle feeling-out of new staff alignments and emerging programming. A highlight of the first weeks for Initiative and Friends Center staff were the sessions of NCYM (F) at Black Mountain and Kent Chabotar's visit. He was received warmly and made a great impression. His line "Where there is a will….Guilford wants to be in it!" was oft-repeated through the weekend. Scott and Max both had good opportunities to meet with the high school youth and leaders during the sessions.

Friends Center has been working with Peace & Conflict Studies in organizing a year-long response to the issues around the events of 9/11. Rather than focusing efforts on the anniversary, an extended series of events titled "Nine Months/Eleven Events" is being planned. Including the worship, convocation, and vigil of September 11, the series will continue with reports, workshops, and campus visitors into next spring. Following are some of the program highlights:

October 28 - Visit by foreign policy analyst and Middle East expert Stephen Zunes.

November 9-10 - Non-violent training workshop with Nancy Nye and Mubarak Awad.

November 25 - Visit by native Afghan Ahad Shahbaz of InterLink.

January 15-16 - Judith Weller Harvey Quaker Scholar Helena Cobban, Middle East correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor.

Januray 17-20 - Friends World Committee for Consultation peace conference at Guilford College, "Friends' Peace Testimony in a Time of Crisis."

February 27-28 - Concert by Holly Near (co-sponsored with the Initiative and Union).

Other programs will include a report from Crystal Waitekus' summer with the Friends Peace Teams in Burundi, a report from the Africa workcamp participants, and faculty colloquia in Peace Studies.

As noted above, Helena Cobban, a member of Charlottesville, VA, Monthly Meeting, will be the Judith Weller Harvey Quaker Scholar. Rosemary Moore, a British Quaker historian, will be the J.M. Ward Distinguished Quaker Visitor October 8-10. Melanie Watson Weidner, a Quaker artist from the Northwest, will be the Luby Casey Campus Ministry Visitor for Religious Emphasis Week, the last week in January.

Mahmoud Amra, principal of the Ramallah Friends Boys School, will visit Guilford December 3-4, sponsored by FUM. He will meet with Guilford students from the Friends School, strengthen the relationship between Guilford and RFS, and talk about the current situation in the Palestinian Territories.

Final plans have not been made for our hosting of the NCYM (F) ministers' association meeting on campus in March. A suggestion had been made to coordinate it with a visit to FCNL in Washington, D.C., but there has been a lack of positive response to that. We are open to suggestions for that program and for Ward, Harvey, and Casey speakers for 2003-04. Michael Sells, Friend and Haverford professor, author of UNC's First-year book selection, Approaching the Qur'an, has been suggested as a visitor.

Campus Ministry

Deborah Shaw continues to coordinate the "worship and welcome" programs of Friends Center with great grace and skill, working with the Guilford Council of Religious Organizations (GCRO) to plan meaningful worship opportunities on campus and make visitors for Friends Center programs feel warmly welcome. College Meeting for Worship has continued to enjoy increased attendance. Fall semester speakers include Kathy Coe; Kent Chabotar; several QLSPers; the student body president, Naz Urooj; and other students and staff. Morning and midweek worship have not been well attended but have attracted a few loyal first-year students.

Bradley Podair and Liz Baltaro have been effective co-clerks of the Guilford Council of Religious Organizations, encouraging a larger number of representatives from campus religious groups to attend weekly meetings. Students from Hillel, Quaker Concerns, the pagan mysticism group, Guilford Christian Fellowship, and the Muslim students' organization have been faithful attenders.

Liz Baltaro continues to edit the GCRO Caw and serve as the campus ministry student worker. Her work with Deborah in assuring that each edition of the Caw is produced and distributed on time and well is greatly appreciated.

Quaker Concerns has experienced a revival - of sorts! There are more students attending this year, and Dan Worrall, the clerk, has enthused the group with ideas for programming around Quaker spirituality and social testimonies. A pet idea of his is to create a coalition of groups to fund the placement of a "peace pole" on campus.

Hillel, the student Jewish organization, has a new director, Yolanda Hairston, a vibrant young woman who attended Salem College and is of Ethiopian Jewish descent. We have had good conversations, during which I raised frank concerns about relations last year between the College and the Jewish community. She appreciated the "heads-up" and felt after our conversation that it shouldn't be a concern this year. Guilford Hillel has adopted the national Hillel purpose statement of "Where we stand, we stand with Israel."

Unitarian-Universalist students have indicated an interest in reviving their group; Episcopal students continue to enjoy connections with St. Mary's House at UNCG and the weekly visits to campus of Charlie Hawes of St. Mary's House; Catholic campus minister Doug Campbell is working on increased visibility of Catholic ministry on campus and a monthly Sunday Mass.

The Campus Ministry Office made a conscious decision not to pre-plan any Seekers Sessions or other small group programs for the fall, but rather to recruit over the summer a number of "moles" in each of the residence halls who could help gauge and encourage student programming interest. On September 13, GCRO held a "Holy Mole-y Fun Night" in the Hut to welcome the ten "moles" to the program and discuss possibilities of how they might organize meetings for sharing ideas of what programs might meet student needs and interests. Snacks included guacamole, moleasses cookies, and other goodies of less pungent quality.

Work trips continue to be a cooperative effort among the Initiative, Campus Ministry, and student clubs. The summer workcamp in Kenya was a tremendous success, with Initiative funds supporting three students' participation in the Friends United Meeting and NCYM (F) work prior to the Triennial. Students and recent grads grew greatly and made wonderful connections with Kenyan Friends and American participants from across the FUM and NCYM (F) spectrum.

Fall break trips are being organized, with the annual trip to Tompkins' Organic Farm being planned, and contact with the Friends Disaster Service being made. Earnest conversations are being had with Quaker Bolivia Link to plan next summer's trip to Bolivia. Details for the three-week trip in May/June are exciting; students are already expressing interest. FUM has again asked Friends Center to co-sponsor a work trip to Israel/Palestine next July. This time, the trip will be expanded to include the co-leadership with Max and Jane Carter of Jonathan Malino, a rabbi and Guilford philosophy professor. Half the time will be spent in relationship to the Ramallah Friends Schools and with Palestinian contacts; the other half in Israel and projects with peace groups there.

Adult Programs and Exploring Carolina Quaker Crossroads

A very successful ECQC was held in June with eleven enthusiastic participants, some enabled by Initiative funds to attend. Sara Beth reports that this year's program was the best yet. Genealogical interests drew most participants. The group continues to send enthusiastic notes about the conference and is willing to hype the program.

Everyone who participated heartily endorsed continuing the program. Tom Hamm wants to see it continue and is willing to promote it at the Earlham Quaker Collection. People in North Carolina Yearly Meeting (FUM) continue to say they want to do the program, but it hasn't worked out yet. One attendee this year was from Friends General Conference and will recommend it for folks new to Friends.

The program takes minimal staff time during the year to organize; having attended the program this year, Leslie Essien can easily handle inquiries. Minor changes could lead to meeting or exceeding expenses (ECQC almost broke even this year).

Some observations: Participants want an evening off. Most take advantage of the $25-off early registration; if the price is upped to $525, with a $495 early price, it would not scare away anyone who has participated in the past. There is likely to be a Stanley family reunion in mid-June at Guilford, and some of them may well want to stay for the following week's program if dates are coordinated.

There is nothing else like ECQC in the Quaker world. Sara Beth suggests we do it again. With 3-4 more paying participants, expenses can be met.

The Quaker Renewal Program begins its eighth year with a fall offering of "The Light in Their Consciences - a conversation with Rosemary Moore." The five-part study of Moore's new book on early Quaker history will begin at Quaker Lake Camp on September 10 and conclude with Moore's visit to the group on October 8. Quaker Lake was chosen to be more central to Friends who have not participated in QRP before. The program has been endorsed by NCYM (F)'s continuing education committee, and they provided $200 to support discounts for registration and books for pastors and those under the care of the recording committee. At yearly meeting sessions this fall, the committee approved continuing this relationship with Friends Center and QRP and budgeted an increased amount to support the program next year.

With registrations still arriving, fifteen have signed up thus far. Two are pastors who have not been in QRP before; one is a Guilford student; three others are first-time QRPers. The remainder are old stalwarts.

We are talking with Melanie Watson Weidner about doing an art and spirituality workshop as the winter QRP offering during her visit as the Luby Casey Campus Ministry Visitor. The suggestion has been made that the spring series address a concern for defining a vibrant, centrist Quakerism for our time, with facilitators drawn from QLSP, Friends Center, and pastoral leadership. Books such as John Punshon's Reasons for Hope or Doug Gwyn's Seekers Found might serve as a basis for conversation.

Fund Raising

The 2001-02 fiscal year ended with Friends Center's exceeding its goal of $45,000 again! $46,220 came in, much of it through a "last-gasp" effort in the spring when gifts were lagging behind. Some very generous gifts arrived to help us surpass the goal, a few as additional donations. Already $3,656 has come in for the current fiscal year, much of it from the regular contributions of Friends meetings and one "Quaker" - level gift.

Friends Center's fall newsletter will go out by early November, followed by our annual appeal. The goal for the year is again $45,000.

Special grants received since the spring include $15,000 from Greensboro Monthly Meeting (for QLSP scholarships); $5,000 from the Shoemaker Foundation (for QLSP scholarships); and $500 from the Taylor Fund for general expenses. A proposal will go to the Chace Foundation this fall for $10,000 to support Friends Center programming.