Letters to the Editor
October 25, 2013
Group letter regarding APSA
D ear Guilford College community members.
We are a group of students that has come together to
follow up on the APSA proposal and analyze what this
means for our community and the future of our school. We are
writing to all of you as a step towards unifying the campus and the
different communities that make this school such an academically
and educationally challenging, diverse environment. We believe that
it is only through solidarity as individuals and as a whole that we can
continue to sustain and be stewards of this institution. As students
we want to express our gratitude for the dedication and commitment
that you all bring to Guilford College. It is because of your effort that
Guilford can remain a sustainable and dynamic institution. We also
want to acknowledge that there is a lot of work to be done, which is
why we are expressing the need for continued collaborative efforts as
we move forward. Ai^A has provided a catalyst for a conversation
that is long overdue. How can we as students support faculty, staff and
administration as they support us? How can we progress as a cohesive
body accountable to each other and ourselves for the continued
prosperity of our school? These are the questions that we keep in
mind, and hope you do too, as we continue to try to understand the
implications of tltis proposal.
As you may know, the deadline for submitting feedback has been
extended until Wednesday, Oct. 23. This provides our community
with more time to educate ourselves and others about the proposal, as
well as engage in creative and constructive conversations concerning
Guilford's identity and its surrounding culture.
We should recognize this moment in our College's history to come
together in these sorts of conversations and begin to fundamentally
change our culture of communication through a critical lens. This
needs to start now in relation to APSA but reach beyond the proposal
and move past the hypothetical and into tangible action.
On this last note we would like to emphasize that this letter is taking
a step out of the formal, and into a more organic way of expressing our
concerns. At the forum it was mentioned that we must cut the drama,
but in no way are we intending to make this into a performance. On
the contrary we are holding our genuine emotions and compassions
up to the light of transparency and truth seeking. As students we want
to be able to understand this process, we want to be able to participate
on these discussions and not have the legitimacy of our emotions
compromised.
We are a group of students that have united across educational,
social, departmental and generational lines around a shared concern
for the well-being of our school. It is true that we are not coming to
you with any immediate ideas or proposals at this time but rather we
are asking for everyone's active involvement in fostering a culture of
inclusivity on all possible levels of decision-making. It is imperative
to take this out of the hypothetical and begin to create concrete
intentional spaces in which free and safe commi5nication can happen
on a community-wide level.
Once again we would like to thank all of you for your time and
diligence, we are looking forward to continuing conversations about
the future of Guilford.
Written by:
Alex Barbour
Kieman Colby
Ben Evans
John Madden
Noah McDonald
Danial Gallant-Reader
Ines Sanchez De Losada &
Chloe Wiener
Current Traditional Guilford Students
f
Just keep the family together
G uilford College's mission statement defines its institutional
goal as "to provide a transformative, practical and excellent
liberal arts education for every student" This has absolutely
been my experience thus far. I joined the Guilford College family in the
fall of 2012 as a CCE student. As a Peace and Conflict Studies major,
most of my dasses are offered during the day where traditional. Early
College and CCE students share not only space, but thoughts and
ideas — enriching us all.
Beginning on page 33 of the Administrative and Program Services
Assessment draft, the committee writes that there are significant
differences between the traditional and CCE student population.
In some ways, this is a true assessment — outside of the dassroom.
However, in the dassroom there are not a whole lot of differences
between the two groups, except most of the traditional students
can study way later than I can! The conversations in the classroom
are deeply enriched because of the differing viewpoints — and in
Ae classroom we are all equally curious and excited to be a part of
"the excellent liberal arts education" being offered to us by Guilford
College.
As a Prindpled Problem Solving Scholar, I see the benefit of
evaluating all of the different programs and asking faculty and students
alike to help in the process of figuring out what's working and what's
not. This is problem solving at its best However, I think splitting up
the Guilford family would do more harm than good.
I urge the committee to rethink its proposal of restructuring the
CCE program by splitting Guilford College in two. Personally, I
have learned so much, and my education has been enriched because
I am sharing classes with the traditional students. I am quite certain
there is a better solution that would both meet the financial needs
of the institution while allowing the current structure to stay intact.
Guilford College would be remiss if they were to split the college into
two separate institutions, depriving both students and faculty of an
enriched, diverse learning environment.
Diversity is one of Guilford's core values, and it has made Guilford
the beacon of educational institutions not only in the South but across
the United States. Like the real world, Guilford reflects diversity, but
goes a step further by embracing it and understanding there is much
to be learned from differing points of view. The diversity of Guilford
is a significant factor to the success of both the traditional and the CCE
student programs.
Again, 1 urge the committee to rethink its proposal of restructuring
the CCE program by splitting Guilford into two distinct parts. It
would not only be detrimental to both programs, but would also be a
disservice to every single student attending Guilford College. I have
grown to love my GuOford family, and it breaks my heart to think that
the committee is even considering splitting it up for business — in
turn, destroying the school I have grown to love. The diversity and
excellence of every single student's liberal arts education is at stake!
Gia Henry
CCE Student