Change, like wind through trees as old as the college itself, has blown perpetually throughout Guilford’s long history. Today’s limited cigarette smoking sections were once full bans on tobacco, alcohol and profanity; the new pizza delivery service was once an on-campus farm to ensure fresh milk, eggs, meat and produce; and the recently-dedicated mural decorates the halls of the campus’ third version of King Hall. Growth and innovation at Guilford finds a home in the 1888 transition from boarding school to college under the school’s first president, Lewis Lyndon Hobbs. Hobbs’ tenure as president, from 1888-1915, not only saw the construction of more buildings (seven) than any other president, but also witnessed the birth of a new breed of curriculum. Introducing majors, minors and electives for the first time, Hobbs’ new curriculum allowed students to follow a more concentrated area of interest and signified a shift away from traditional education through the classics and rote memorization.
Always at the educational forefront, Guilford’s next major curriculum change came with the school’s third head, Raymond Binford. President from 1918-1934, Binford’s implementation of a stronger core curriculum and stricter graduation requirements allowed the school to be admitted into the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1926. Another of Binford’s curriculum changes reverberates in today’s orientation for first-years.
Binford’s implementation of a course specifically for first-year students “aimed at bringing the College experience into focus early in the student’s college career,” wrote Alexander Stoesen in “Guilford College: On the Strength of 150 Years,” which provides a detailed account of the college from its founding until 1987.
The next big chapter of change came during “The Milner Years,” in which Clyde A. Milner acted as President from 1934-1965. Under Milner’s reign, the college began to take its modern day form, with the acquisition of the Greensboro Evening College (today the CCE program) in 1953 and construction of much of today’s campus, including the lake in 1951, Shore Hall in 1954, English Hall in 1957, Dana Auditorium in 1961, and both Milner Hall and the Dining Hall addition to Founders Hall in 1962.
Social change moved along at varying degrees during the Milner years. While the school helped lead the way in terms of some social change, evidenced by the fact that the school admitted nine Japanese-American transfer students at the height of WWII, attitudes toward gender separation were typical for the era.
“Girls were not allowed to go near Cox Hall,” said Eldora Terrell ’49 of the former all-male residence hall formerly located at the site of present-day Hege-Cox Hall. “And boys had to yell ‘Man on the hall’ if they ever had to help carry something heavy into New Garden (all-female dorm later renamed Mary Hobbs Hall).”
However, such attitudes changed when WWII ended and enrollment spiked with married servicemen taking advantage of the GI Bill of Rights. To accommodate these couples, often with children, the school acquired a pair of army surplus barracks that had been built at the back of campus where Haworth Field resides today. These were later demolished for the construction of the Frazier Apartments in the 1950’s, the last of which today houses the Mail Services Department.
And so Guilford continued to progress into the term (1966-1980) of President Grimsley T. Hobbs, grandson to first president Lewis Hobbs. Construction continued with Binford Hall in 1967 and Bryan Hall in 1968, while social change took the driver’s seat.
During his tenure, Hobbs sought to bring Guilford up-to-date in terms of rules and regulations for students, including a relaxed dress code, residence hall visitation hours, and new classroom attendance policies. Hobbs also ended smoking regulations for women, removed required chapel attendance and overturned the school’s prohibition policy, allowing the consumption of alcohol in dorm rooms and at residence hall keg parties.
Innovation was not limited to social changes, according to ’79 graduate and current Professor of English Jim Hood.
“Guilford was really at the cutting edge of Women’s Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies,” said Hood. “There were also some early experimental learning programs, including a geology department program called Seminars West.”
Featuring trips to such locations as the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park, Seminars West provided students with out-of-the-classroom learning opportunities while exploring the American West.
Travel study opportunities have since grown immensely in the form of numerous study-abroad programs. Enrollment has also grown, and with it the campus has continued to expand.
Construction of the Ragan-Brown Field House was completed in 1980 and the older Apartments North was built in 1991, with the Frank Family Science Center following in 2000 and the newer Apartments South in 2005.
Most recently, the Armfield Athletic Center was completed in 2008, the Ragan-Brown Field House pool was transformed into the current fitness facility in 2009, and the grill and student lounges in Founders Hall were revamped in 2009 and early 2010.
With student involvement maintaining the steady force it has for generations, we can be proud that one day students will marvel at the changes we have experienced and the difference we have made.