Friends Center Director's Report
Winter 2005

Friends Center General Programming

There was no "October Surprise" this year as there was with the "boxcutter incident" of a year ago, but the fall was busy, nonetheless.

Friends Center organized a public presentation by Nat Heatwole on his experience discerning his act of civil disobedience and the ramifications of his actions - and coordinating the program carefully around the concerns of Nat, his lawyer, and his probation officer was time-consuming! Owing to all the constraints, the event did not offer the opportunity to explore all the aspects of Nat's discernment that we had wished, but it did offer fascinating insight into the circumstances around his actions.

Courses taught in the fall occupied a great deal of time. Two sections of FYE "Plain People" were taught, along with the Quaker Studies course on the spiritual roots of the Friends testimonies and the QLSP senior seminar. Final projects in each course indicated that the subject matter was both intellectually and spiritually challenging for the students. A course on American Quaker history was taught at the Wake Forest University Divinity School with good attendance by regular grad students and community auditors

As part of the FYE course, a second annual "Take Back Your Time Week" was held in conjunction with the national "Take Back Your Time Day" initiative. Many activities were held the last week of October to focus on time poverty and estrangement in US culture.

A number of visitors have shared with the campus since the last report: Peterson Toscano, a New England Friend and performance artist, presented a well-attended and received play on his spiritual journey through fundamentalism and a homosexual "halfway house." Christian communitarians and members of Christian Peacemaker Teams Art & Peggy Gish spoke of their work in Iraq and Hebron, led a non-violent direct action training workshop, and shared in classes; as always, they challenged and inspired students. Frank Levering spoke to classes about his and Wanda Urbanska's new book Nothing's Too Small to Make a Difference and PBS series "Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska." John Bowles gave an interesting presentation on December 7 about his childhood memories of living in Honolulu on December 7, 1941. He shared many of the stories of his kindergarten classmates chronicled in his new book The Day Our World Changed. Tom Mullen and Nancy Faus (Mullen) were on campus January 23-25 as Luby Casey Campus Ministry Visitors; their presentations were well attended and well received. Kristin Henderson, a Quaker author, met with students January 28 to talk of her Quaker convincement as well as leading off the Quaker Renewal Program series on Friends and writing.

Visitors for the remainder of the year include Quaker writers J. Brent Bill, Philip Gulley, and James Mulholland; Judith Weller Harvey Quaker Scholar artist James Turrell, March 24-25; and Israeli and Palestinian academics Sari Nusseibeh, Said & Raja Zeedani, Avishai & Edna Margalit, and Yehudah Gellman, April 6-8 (coordinated by Jonathan Malino). Friends Center is working with a coalition of campus ministries and congregations to bring Episcopal bishop and author John Shelby Spong to Greensboro in May. He will speak at New Garden Friends Meeting on May 1.

Visitors for the 2005-06 academic year will be J.M. Ward Distinguished Quaker Visitor Lon Fendall in November; Luby Casey Campus Ministry Visitors Peter and Annie Blood-Patterson in January (tentative); and Judith Weller Harvey Quaker Scholar Niyonu Spann in March.

During spring break of March, 2005, Max and Jane Carter will be part of a consultation in Ramallah, Palestine on the future use of the newly renovated Friends meetinghouse there. We hope to return to Ramallah for two weeks in June/July of this summer with another work team to help at the Friends Schools, meetinghouse, and play centre.

As the spring semester gets underway, the disaster in South Asia is on our minds. Eric Mortensen, a professor of religious studies, organized a January 11 panel of faculty with expertise in the geology of natural disasters, the culture and history of South Asia, the situation in Sri Lanka, and ways to contribute to the relief effort. I shared on the panel with recommendations about relief organizations and reflected on the difficult theological questions such events raise. It was Book of Job time.

Campus Ministry

Following an initial strong showing at early morning quiet worship, attendance settled into a regular 2-3 faculty & staff and a similar number of students daily. Midweek worship also experienced low numbers through most of the fall semester. College Meeting for Worship, by contrast, continued to build through the fall to an average attendance nearing 30, with occasional peaks in the 50s. A core group of regular attenders is developing; messages seem to be better prepared; more music has been added to the services, with members of the college choir presenting on several occasions. An excellent list of speakers for the spring semester has been selected.

Religious groups had mixed success during the fall. Quaker Concerns was not active, having been largely eclipsed by the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program; the Guilford Christian Fellowship has excellent staff leadership but is struggling to find effective student leaders; Hillel held several well-attended events; and Catholic mass was held weekly in the Moon Room, led by Fr. John Frambes and peer minister Chris Johnson. A small group participated, including president Kent Chabotar on frequent occasions. Mass has now moved back to the Hut. Buddhist meditation, led by new faculty member Eric Mortensen, has been so successful that a second weekly meeting has been scheduled; the pagan mysticism group continues to be small but enthusiastic; the Guilford Council of Religious Organizations (GCRO) was also small but mighty: the Caw newsletter was published bi-weekly, stump speeches attracted considerable media attention, College Meeting for Worship has been well served, and successful events in the Hut such as the "Holiday Fun Night" were held.

For the spring semester, GCRO planned an interesting Religious Emphasis Week around the theme, "Seriously, Faith is a Laughing Matter" and will sponsor a series of interfaith visits to area places of worship. More than 300 people attended the various Religious Emphasis Week activities. A spring break work trip to western North Carolina with Friends Disaster Service is already confirmed. Another spring break project will be held at an organic farm in the NC mountains.

The fall break work trip with FDS was one of the most successful yet. Fifteen students and three staff participated, most of them first-timers. Hard work was done responding to the floods in and around Clyde, NC, and wonderful connections were made between the FDSers and those from Guilford.

Friends Center Work with the Guilford Strategic Plan

At the request of Kent Chabotar, Friends Center will coordinate the implementation of Continuing Goal 3.1 in the recently adopted college strategic plan. CG 3.1 calls for the college to recommit itself to the values and practices of the Quaker testimonies and specifically calls for training in Quaker decision making and understanding of how Quaker principles impact the college and its culture. CG 3.1 also states that the college is to increase the number of Quaker students, faculty, and staff; strengthen relationships with the Quaker community; sustain the goals of the Initiative on Faith & Practice; and develop ethical purchasing and institutional vendor policies.

The Friends Center director has been invited to join the Strategic Long Range Planning Committee and has been working with SLRP members and other "stakeholders" in CG 3.1 (including QLSP and GCRO) to develop strategies of implementation. Strategizing sessions on campus have already been held with students and staff and off-campus with the superintendent of North Carolina Yearly Meeting (FUM). Time will be set aside on the agenda of the upcoming Executive Committee meeting of NCYM (F) to discuss possible collaborative efforts between the college and the Quaker community. Opportunities with the Conservative yearly meeting will be sought.

Syllabi for Quaker Studies courses are being adapted to include projects that will address the need for providing services to the Quaker community and training materials for the campus. Essays on the Quaker testimonies from the fall GCRO Caw are being edited into possible use as a brochure for students, faculty, and staff. Future Quaker Renewal Program series may be developed specifically to provide curriculum for Friends meetings and groups.

Related to the strategic plan's goal of strengthening relationships with Friends, Kent Chabotar will host area Friends at Ragsdale House 3:00 - 4:30 pm on Sunday, April 17. We are working on making the day a "Quaker Festival Day," as it begins our annual Quaker Festival Week on campus, and several students from the yearly meeting (FUM) are playing in varsity athletic events that day. Campus historical tours will be offered along with other activities.

Adult Programming

Fall's Quaker Renewal Program book study was well-attended and successful. Several newcomers participated; the student-led session went nicely for all involved; participants included other-than-Quakers as well as members of several different meetings.

The winter QRP series "Friends and the Ministry of Writing" is shaping up to be excellent, and registrations have been good. The quality of the leaders is attracting considerable interest. Spring's QRP series on "Challenges and Hope for Friends" is still in the works, with little change in speakers and format from the report of last fall. It will be held at Jamestown Friends Meeting, beginning with a March 19 workshop and continuing for five consecutive Tuesday evenings.

As Friends Center continues to coordinate the implementation of Guilford's Continuing Goal 3.1 from the strategic plan, it is anticipated that future themes and programs of the QRP will be developed to help meet the goal of strengthening relationships with the wider Quaker community. We will be consulting widely to see how QRP may be useful in meeting the needs of the yearly meetings.

Funding

Slow progress is being made toward meeting the Annual Fund goal of $50,000. As of January 26, $23,000 had come in, a little less than this time a year ago. Events conspired for a late mailing of the fall/winter newsletter and follow-up solicitation letter, pushing arrival of the annual appeal in people's mail boxes into the new year. It will be interesting to see whether missing the tax deduction balances out with not getting lost in the Christmas mail. We will closely monitor progress of the Annual Fund to see whether missing our mailing target will require special efforts in the spring to meet our goal.

Friends Center Assessment and Fund Drive

Henry Freeman has been hard at work conducting interviews as part of the assessment for Friends Center's proposed "subscription." In addition to the original 65 or so on the list, additional names have been added as the assessment has been fine-tuned through the fall. A full report will be ready for the Friends Center steering committee meeting February 22 and the subsequent Board of Trustees meetings.

Quaker Recruitment

Preliminary indications are that we will not duplicate last year's good numbers of Friends students in the student body and increased diversity of Quaker background in QLSP, although last year's "crop" is flourishing, and we have good leads on current high school juniors. Similarly, there is little indication that there will be the needed Quaker hires in the faculty, staff, and administration to off-set recent retirements, re-assignments, and the increase in the employee pool. Gaither Terrell's new employment at Guilford is a pleasant exception. The strategic plan calls for an increase in all categories, and discussions around CG 3.1 have included strategizing about attracting local Quaker faculty to teach at Guilford, working closely with the yearly meetings to encourage students to attend Guilford, adding staff in the Admissions Office dedicated to Quaker recruitment, and attending a broad range of national Quaker conferences, camps, and other gatherings to represent the college to potential students.