The Core Values of Guilford College

Guilford College is guided by seven core values: community, diversity, equality, excellence, integrity, justice and stewardship. These enduring values are the basis of the College's mission.

The seven core values of Guilford College are based on, and consistent with, the five Quaker testimonies.  Indeed, three testimonies—community, equality, and integrity—are also core values.  Core values are the essential and enduring tenets of the organization.  They are timeless and independent of shifts in educational or societal values as well as current challenges and opportunities. Core values are not developed as much as identified; they exist and need only to be discovered and collectively defined. The campus community identified these values through a participative and inclusive process.

Guilford College’s core values are as follows:

Community.  We are committed to the cultivation of positive relationships between, and common experiences among, students, faculty, and staff.

Diversity.  We are committed to creating an academic institution where a variety of persons and perspectives are welcome. We are committed to providing an environment where students from all cultures and backgrounds may succeed.

Integrity.  We are committed to creating a community that acts with honesty and forthrightness, holding ourselves to high academic and ethical standards, and dealing with everyone with respect.

Equality.  We are committed to creating an institution and a society where everyone is appreciated and judged based on their contributions and performance rather than gender, race, religion, physical abilities, sexual identity, or socio-economic condition.  Through the work of this institution, we will both create awareness of, and work to eliminate, individual and institutional racism.

Justice.  We are committed to the peaceful resolution of conflict, sharing of economic and natural resources, and parity in educational opportunity.

Stewardship.  We are committed to making decisions that will ensure the long-term survival of this institution.  We must maximize the value of our human, financial, and physical resources in ways consistent with our Quaker heritage.

Excellence.  We are committed to setting high standards of academic rigor in courses and creating high expectations for achievement by everyone.  We seek the personal and intellectual transformation of our students through the liberal arts.

A unique “principled” approach to education, community, and problem-solving emerges from Guilford’s core values and Quaker testimonies.  The purpose is to focus Guilford’s mission in both the curricular and extracurricular life of our students towards the practical liberal arts. This commitment requires Guilford students to learn to address problems critically, creatively, constructively, with courage and conscience.