Who Gave Us Guilford College?

Dear readers, this is an essay I have been working on in my role as the Director Friends Center at Guilford College. Some of you may know I have worked at Guilford for 10 years now in both a staff and faculty role, teaching Quaker studies and leading our office that seeks to nurture the Quaker tradition, as well as religion and spiritual life on campus. Guilford has been struggling with financial issues for at least the past 6 years but things have come to a head in the last 12 months. Today, the leadership of college - members of the Board who have stepped down from their roles to step into operational support of the college, are doing all they can to ensure a strong future for the college while remaining rooted in its Quaker practices and principles. However, we need more help so I wrote this to all Friends everywhere. Thank you for reading and sharing with anyone who you think might have interest.

Dear Friends Everywhere,

In 1918, during one of Guilford College's most challenging periods, President Raymond Binford posed a provocative question to North Carolina Quakers: "Who gave us Guilford College?" His article in The Friends Messenger was both historical reflection and urgent plea—the college needed Friends' support to survive.

More than a century later, as I write from the porch of Friends Center on Guilford's beautiful campus, surrounded by ginkgos and oaks, with New Garden Friends Meeting visible in the distance, Binford's question echoes with fresh urgency. The streets around me—Friendly Avenue, New Garden Road—and the buildings bearing names like King, Hobbs, Binford, and Campbell all testify to generations of Quakers invested in this specific place.

But Guilford's current crisis mirrors 1918 in striking ways. Once again, the college faces financial uncertainty. Once again, we must ask: Who gave us Guilford College? And more importantly: Who will ensure it continues?

Binford's answer in 1918 was clear: North Carolina Yearly Meeting had a moral responsibility for the institution as its founders and spiritual ancestors. Today, I believe the answer—and the responsibility—has grown far beyond the borders of North Carolina.

Binford understood that North Carolina Friends had created something vital in Guilford. As he wrote, "Most of our leaders believe that we could not long exist as a church in North Carolina without a college." For Binford, Guilford was built through sacrifice and sustained by a conviction that Quaker education was essential to their faith community's survival.

In the century since Binford's plea, Guilford's reach has extended far beyond what those founding Friends could have imagined. Just months ago, I traveled to Phoenix for the Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas meeting. There, Guilford's fingerprints were everywhere: I met young alumni for the first time, worked alongside other graduates, spoke with parents of alumni, discussed some of our challenges with past board members, and witnessed the leadership of our new FWCC executive secretary, Evan Welkin ‘06—himself a Guilford graduate and alumnus of our Quaker Leadership Scholars Program.

This isn't unusual. With over 20,000 Guilford graduates and 400+ who have participated in the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program over the past 30 years, the college's impact on American Quakerism far exceeds its 300-acre footprint in Greensboro. From yearly meeting clerks to meeting pastors, from Quaker organization leaders in well-established and brand new organizations to peace activists, Guilfordians serve throughout the Religious Society of Friends.

Guilford has become a crown jewel of American Quakerism—if Quakers were ever caught wearing such decorations! It remains the only Quaker college in the American South, a nationally recognized site marking the Underground Railroad's interracial collaboration here, and home to one of the world's finest Quaker archives. For four decades, the Friends Center has nurtured young Quaker leaders who now serve meetings and organizations across the country and beyond. Friends Center staff work to infuse the college with Quaker ethos through their leadership, trainings, worship, workshops, retreats, classes, and community-building. The undergraduate Quaker studies offerings on campus remain strong with plenty of interest from students both Quaker and non-Quaker.

Binford was right that North Carolina Yearly Meeting couldn't survive without its college. But today, something larger is at stake: American Quakerism itself has been shaped and strengthened by Guilford's continued existence. The college no longer belongs just to North Carolina Friends—it belongs to all of us.

The truth is that having been a cornerstone of American Quakerism for nearly two centuries, Guilford's pulse has slowed. Some challenges stem from past leadership mistakes, others from forces largely beyond our control, but none of these challenges would suggest the college is dying or that its mission has become invalid.

I agree with Binford when he wrote:

"In spite of its faults, in spite of mistakes that may have been made, in spite of many improvements that should be made, Guilford College is a unique institution."

The spirit of Guilford lives on—in the silence that begins and ends classes, in the Quaker testimonies that guide decision-making, in the ongoing formation of students who carry these values into the world.

But legacy alone is not enough. We need seeds for the future. Just as North Carolina Friends responded to Binford's 1918 call with "heroic sacrificial effort," today's crisis demands action from the broader Quaker community that has benefited from Guilford's witness.

I am reminded of the words of Judith Weller-Harvey, founding Director of the Friends Center, when she wrote to Guilford Trustees, many of whom were Quakers at the time,

"Our heritage is our responsibility and our opportunity (1982)."

If you are a Quaker, or someone who supports the Quaker tradition and education, would you consider an unrestricted gift to help bring Guilford out of this challenging time? Whether as individuals, meetings, or yearly meetings, your support can help lift the college from its current challenges and ensure it continues educating future generations of Quaker leaders and allies.

The hour is upon us. In the last century, Guilford has strengthened Quakerism far beyond North Carolina's borders. Now Quakerism beyond North Carolina's borders must strengthen Guilford. As Binford wrote to his generation of Friends: "We look to you. We have confidence in you. Let us go forward to victory."

Who gave us Guilford College?

North Carolina Quakers gave it to us in 1837, built from local clay and sustained by faithful sacrifice. The broader Quaker community has nurtured and shaped it across nearly two centuries.

Today, the answer is clear: Quaker faithfulness gave and has sustained Guilford College. And if it is to continue its vital work among Friends, our faithfulness must sustain it still.

Sincerely,
C. Wess Daniels

William R. Rogers Director of Friends Center and Quaker Studies at Guilford College

PS: Our giving goal is $82,000 in unrestricted funds for the college because Friends Center was started in 1982. It’s a way to honor the Quaker tradition of the college, while supporting the college more broadly.

If your meeting would like for a visit from Liz Nicholson, Director of the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program, or myself, we would be happy to visit your meeting, worship with you, and share a little about Friends Center’s work at Guilford. We are also happy to offer a workshop to your meeting if that is something that would be beneficial.

Some Workshop Offerings for Friends Meetings Liz and I could bring:
- Support Running Clearness Committees
- A talk on using Appreciative Inquiry for Meeting Renewal
- Presentation on Resisting Empire
- A Query Potluck activity
- Workshop Conflict Styles

Thank you all for helping to support Guilford during this time. We especially want to thank local meetings like New Garden Friends Meeting, Friendship Friends, First Friends, Jamestown Friends, and others who have been supporting the college and our students in a number of crucial ways this past year (from supplies, clothing, food for the Quaker cupboard, to money for travel, programming, and more).

Reach out to me at danielscw@guilford.edu for more information.