Staff Editorial: Make your voice heard — save Guilford
This year we have faced difficult truths: the COVID-19 pandemic will not end as soon as we expected, the climate crisis is worsening, political uncertainty fuels animosity and Guilford College is changing, leaving behind programs and professors which fostered the institution’s liberal arts education.
The program prioritization process announced earlier this semester, put in place to resolve financial issues the College is dealing with, has come to an end. According to Rockingham Now, the process enacted by the Board of Trustees and interim president Carol Moore has manifested into the loss of 23 professors, 16 of which were tenured, and the discontinuation of 19 major programs, including mathematics, chemistry, community and justice studies and political science.
Among the changes Guilford College has experienced, including building renovations, the removal of the Bonner House and the furloughing of key Bonner staff members such as James Shields and Susan May, and the implementation of the Guilford Edge, this latest change seems to have brought into question the validity of the mission statement and values of the College.
Community has gathered in the midst of these changes, creating a Facebook group titled “Save Guilford College,” starting Instagram pages with the usernames of @nathanhunt1837, @studentsreclaimingguilford, @guilfordintheknow and @saveguilford, and participating in student demonstrations all to preserve the liberal arts identity long cherished by Guilfordians.
The financial crisis of the College has prompted many difficult decisions by the Board of Trustees and Moore, but at what cost? Is it the loss of the liberal arts beloved by those who choose to attend the College? The loss of the Quaker values embedded in the foundation of the College? The lack of transparency by the administration? The few efforts done to hear the pleas of the community?
If you care about preserving what attracted you to the school, now is your time as Guilfordians and community members to make your voice heard. Join the social media groups, sign the petitions and demonstrate all that makes this college Guilford.
Mike Waddell ‘91 • Nov 22, 2020 at 9:23 am
Asking the Interim President and Board of Trustees to stop making difficult decisions when the college is on the brink of fiscal collapse woefully inadequate. We can’t bury our collective head in the sand and wish away these problems, wrapped in the comfy blanket of what used to be. Cuts are abhorrent – to majors, to staff (over 120 over the past 3 years) and to faculty who were the last group to feel the sting. It’s all awful. All of these cuts. What’s worse has been the landscape of the former president who bit by bit ate away at Guilford’s soul. Who was complicit were members of the Guilford community who have for 30 years refused to change incrementally and eventually gave rise to a person like the former President who was faced with declining enrollment and needing to force change. Guilford has always been slow to change and has held its self in higher esteem than anyone outside the campus did. That attitude has finally caught up with the college and it’s going to suffer in the near term, and for a while to come. Two things need to immediately happen via the BOT… they must endorse a plan which stabilizes the fiscal emergency as without that the whole place could go under…. and the Board must have a thorough and thoughtful search for a new visionary President to lead forward for the next 20 years. We don’t need someone like Charbotar who treated the job like it was a hobby, spending more time in New England than in North Carolina, likely someone more like McNemar who left, frustrated with the faculty, saying in 2001 that “ `I believe that individuals and institutions need change from time to time,’ he said. “In order to grow and prosper, there need to be changes.’ 19 years ago McNemar’s harbinger was shared. Two more presidents, as flawed as any of us, ran into the same roadblocks. Guilford must have a vibrant, creative, polished academic & fundraiser who wants a challenge. Guilford is a dumpster fire right now and in the middle of a pandemic this search is most challenged, even if we were in regular times. Without a strong, empowered leader with a vision there will not be a Guilford. It’s not about the Guilford that was in the 70s 80s 90s 00s, as that’s the last and Guilford needs to be positioned for the 20s 30s 40s and 50s. If not, our campus will be sold off by the acre and turned into something other than the special place we remember. Status Quo from the good ole days is not a sufficient answer.
Lynne Walter, '98 • Nov 20, 2020 at 8:08 pm
Thank you for the amazing ongoing reporting, staff of The Guilfordian! Yes, now is the time for the extended Guilford College family–past and present students, staff, faculty; alumni; Friends; people who care about justice; and people who care about liberal arts education–to ACT to stop the Board of Trustees from permitting these decimating and destructive cuts from taking place and realign the College with its founding core principles and Quaker values. The Board of Trustees must leade with Light and refuse to accept any proposal based in darkness.