The Guilford core values are the cornerstone of Guilford College. They stand as guideposts to all who pass through our brick-layered buildings pursuing an education based on Quaker principles.

As the presidential search committee considers who should lead this institution into the future, the voices of Guilford are drowning in the din of bureaucratic ambivalence. Recently it was announced that the search may be made private, which would appear to violate a cardinal tenet of Quakerism.

Seeking to raise the chorus of opinion among our community, The Guilfordian offers a running series focusing your opinions on the future of Guilford College in relation to the presidential search.

We asked members of the Guilford community the following question:

The Guilford core value of Stewardship is “the activity or job of protecting and being responsible.

“The next president has the exciting opportunity of shepherding the College away from the corporate mentality so pervasive in higher education and setting a leading example for other institutions.” 

— Department Chair and Assistant Professor of English Diya Abdo

“(The next president) should focus on making us more like what Guilford College once was: a unique and vibrant place of higher learning, where merit and effort determined success.” 

“A step towards stewardship would be to invest in some new dorms and overhauls of current ones. I remember hearing about mold in Bryan (dorm) a lot this year (…) Building a fountain while students suffer from health hazards is bad optics; it shows a lack of stewardship of current students.”

— Senior Michael MacVane

“(Stewardship) is every bit as valuable to the College as our endowment.  Indeed, it is our endowment!” 

— Director of the Friends Center & Campus Ministry Coordinator Max Carter

“Stewardship at Guilford is an essential element of our school. I’d like to see higher investment in internships, career development and gaining real life experience.”          — Lucas Kempton ‘04

— Sarah Welch ‘13