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Letter from
the Editor
Josh Cohen | Editor in Chief
Last year was the most difficult I've
experienced since my 2004 autumn arrival
at Guilford. Friends tell me I'm not alone. A
series of violent events challenged the com
fort and ease that, along with caring faculty
and staff, often create an escape from the
thimder of the conflict, poverty, racism, and
warfare that lurk beyond the peacefulness
we experience daily.
Eleanor Branch used to teach English
here. She received a negative tenure decision
and had to leave Guilford. There are issues
of privacy and professional peer review,
no doubt, that can interfere with a fully
open discussion of what happened. But,
the Guilford student community is deeply
affected by what happens to faculty and
staff and, at the least, we need to find ways
to better imderstand college decisions that
impact our lives. It is not simply that the
college's tenure practices are, or are not, fair.
Or even that barring deeper understanding,
a suspicion that race was a factor, whether
it was or not, can drill into perception and
routine. The controversy surroimding ten
ure should lead to a critical examination
of the school's faculty hiring and retention
practices - for the sake of student under
standing, as well as for faculty security.
There were other controversies. Some
students called the ethics of Sodexho, the •
multinational corporation that provides our
cafeteria food, into question over their cor
porate policies. There were concerns about
their corporate conduct and their involve
ment in private prisons, which fueled ques
tions about the treatment of Guilford cafe
employees.
The infamous Bryan incident caused
more pain than the physical bruises inflicted
on each other by the students who came
to blows in the residence hall. Our school
was divided into factions. We experienced
an unbelievable range of emotions that
stretched us beyond our zones of comfort
and safety. Anger and sadness and frustra-
See "Cohen" on page 9
Introducing
ON PAGE 2
Joanna Bernstein | Staff Writer
Guilford's 2007 first-year class is the
largest in the school's history, with 450
freshmen accoimting for 31% of the tradi
tional student population.
This year Guilford's pool of applicants
reached a record high of nearly 3,500. Of
the less than 60% accepted, 23% chose to
enroll.
The goal of Guilford's strategic plan
for fall 2007 was to enroll 1,405 traditional
students.
"We've surpassed that goal by 43
and enrolled 1,448 students," said Vice
President for Enrollment and Campus
Life Randy Doss. "Next year's goal is to
have 1,471 traditional students enrolled
on campus, and then have 1,520 enrolled
the following year."
Doss doesn't attribute the growing
number of applicants to print advertise
ments or to Guilford's quality of life rat
ing of 75/99 in the Princeton Review.
"When it's all said and done, it comes
AUGUST 31, 2007
VOLUME 94, ISSUE 1
UILFORDIAN
The Student-Run Newspaper of Guilford College
GUILFORDIAN.COM
Amnesty International
goes pro-choice
Simon Kelly | Staff Writer
In the wake of its call for the decriminal
ization of abortion last April, human rights
organization Amnesty International faced
the general rebuke of the Roman Catholic
Church. Now, with Amnesty showing no
signs of retracting its decision to remain
pro-choice after this August's conference
in Mexico City, Vatican officials are urging
Catholics to stop funding the organization.
"To selectively justify abortion, even
in the cases of rape, is to define the inno
cent child within the woman as an enemy,
a 'thing' that must be destroyed," said
Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the
Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and
Peace, to the National Catholic Reporter.
"They think of abortion as an act of
violence, and therefore it fits m with their
opposition to violence—which is an inter
nally coherent logic," said Jane Redmont,
assistant professor of religious studies.
American Catholic organiza
tions, such as the United States Conference
for Catholic Bishops, are not any more
charmed than the Vatican by Amnesty
International's decision. In fact, the group's
president. Bishop William S. Skylstad, pre-
SEE "Pro-choice" on page 4
Largest first year class in history
down to word of mouth," said Doss. "It's
not about the Website or our other pub
lications. It's about people talking to one
another about the s^ool."
While Doss is quite satisfied with this
growth, students dining in an overcrowd
ed cafeteria are finding themselves some
what flustered.
"It's overwhelming (in the cafeteria).
There are a ton of kids in here and I feel
like I don't recognize any of them," said
sophomore Raji Ward. "Most of them are
probably freshmen, but that's not a bad
thing."
"This semester's traditional student
headcount doesn't differ much from last
year's. It's just that there are more stu
dents living on campus," said Doss.
"I wonder about the future of the
school since the on campus population
keeps rising," said junior Matt Harris.
"I have no qualms with this large first
year class, but is Guilford going to keep
See "Largest Class" on page 3
Another year, another housing shortage
Sean Urquhart | Staff Writer
The fall semester has begun, a new
batch of students has arrived, and once
again Guilford has a housing shortage.
There are currently four rooms on campus
with three residents, all of them located in
Shore Hall.
^ "It sucks," said Dean of Campus Life
and Interim Head of Public Safety Aaron
Fetrow "It was a problem and we did our
best to fix it. We refused to take the student
loimges in Milner and Binford like we did
last year. We picked Shore because it has
large rooms that can accommodate three
people better than rooms in Milner and
Binford."
Guilford is currently in a transitional
period; the administration keeps admitting
more and more students in the hopes of
making Guilford a larger institution while
still keeping class sizes small. Both Fetrow
and Randy Doss, the vice president of
enrollment and campus life, have said that
the school is trying very hard to get the
funds to build a new dorm, but until then,
housing shortages may occur.
The housing shortage has not only
affected first-year students. In April of last
year, when the housing lottery began, many
people did not get the rooms that they
See "Housing" on page 3