To whom it may concern:

In all of my years working at Guilford College, I have been proud to be a member of this community.  However, in this year’s Goofordian, I was disappointed and ashamed by the lack of civility that our newspaper staff and writers showed when they chose to publish the “My Bad!” letter “from” College President Kent Chabotar.

Not only was this letter insulting and demeaning, it wasn’t the least bit funny.  What it seemed like to me was a cruel jab at a man who has worked for 12 years to bring this institution back from the edge of financial crisis.  Not everyone agrees with every decision he made, myself included, and many of you might even disagree with every decision.  That doesn’t give us the right to send off a member of our community with derision and scorn.

Guilford extolls the values of integrity, community, excellence, justice and stewardship — I believe that civility is key to all of these.  How about we, as the community of Guilford College, try to be better?  Try to be more?

I won’t go through each of the points outlined in the letter (and believe me, I have lots to say), but suffice it to say, Kent is not by any means the highest paid President at a private institution.  Nor is he the only one to have a company car.  He also isn’t a miracle worker, an alchemist, or an evil dictator.  He IS a human being deserving of respect.

It’s easy to cast stones in a cloak of anonymity, in a public forum.  That’s the Facebook society we live in. However, for the first time in 9 years, I am not proud to be a member of our community.  Is the post-Kent Guilford a perfect place?  Of course not.  But it could be a lot closer to being one if we all learned to treat one another with respect and compassion, despite our viewpoints.  I thought we, as Guilfordians, were the bigger people, and that we were better than that.

Signed,

Jen Agor