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Redefining
diversity
This past Tuesday, America experienced
an unprecedented change in leadership. It
finally broke from its long legacy of white
leaders from the upper crust, opting instead
for a minority candidate with ties to - and
so far, seemingly, a deep understanding of
- the lower classes. After eight years of
Geofge W. Bush's leadership, it was very
obvious: we were ready for a change, and
a major one.
Change takes many forms. In President
Obama's case, it means choosing to work
across party lines - a choice for which he has
already been repeatedly lambasted. Instead
of sticking to appointing cabinet members
strictly from within the Democratic party,
Obama has taken a more diverse approach.
Strangely, though Obama's whole cam
paign centered on the importance of diver
sity and bi-partisanship in government,
the many who criticize him appear to have
forgotten that. It seems that America has a
similar problem to Guilford in its generally
accepted definition of diversity as a one
sided phenomenon.
We must remember, both in our lives
on this campus and outside of it, that true
diversity is multifaceted and difficult to
achieve. Diversity does not mean accepting
only those viewpoints that you can tolerate;
it means allowing for viewpoints of every
variety, even those that you downright
abhor. And unity, another emphasis in the
Obama campaign, requires not only accep
tance of all forms of diversity, but active
work across its many branches.-
Let us take a page from this administra
tion's leadership and work with those that
differ from us instead of simply writing
them off as wrong or ignorant. Whether
it's between races, political parties, athletes
and non-athletes, or otherwise, our campus
has many divides that can only be bridged
through active discussion and cooperation
- but that's the second step. The first step is
a broader definition of diversity that allows
for all sorts of difference, even those that we
do not necessarily like.
The editorial board of ‘
The Guilfordian consists of five section .
editors, two photo editors, a layout edi
tor, an art director, a managing editor,
and the editor-in-chief. .
Reflecting Guilford College's core Quaker
values, the ideas and
content of Staff Editorials are
. chosen through consensus
of all eleven editors.
FORUM
Get involved on campus
CCE SGA president, Jessica Butler, en
courages all students to find a place where
they can get involved and can give back to
the Guilford community.
"I just think that everyone should be
come involved in some way. We have got
to be good Guilford Quakers - woo-hoo
- and support our college," said the newly
appointed CCE SGA president, Jessica But
ler, when asked why CCE students should
get involved with the SGA.
Although Butler is passionate about her
role as president, her open-mindedness was
evident, especially when she didn't chastise
me for my lack of involvement in the SGA
during my three years at Guilford.
Although I expected a rebuke, Butler
explained she believes that part of the col
lege experience at Guilford involves giving
back to the college in some way, but recog
nizes people have different interests and
passions.
For Butler, she sees her role as the CCE
SGA president as her way of giving back.
She wants to use her role to help others find
where they can get involved at Guilford.
Butler believes that there is a place for
every student to serve that makes a differ
ence for the college and for the students,
faculty and staff.
"We should build healthy traditions that
we can leave behind to help the Guilford
community after we are gone," said Butler.
Last semester, Butler was part of helping
to begin a new tradition for CCE students
in hopes to help relieve some of the exam
week stress.
During the week, the SGA provided
food and drinks in Hendricks Hall. They
also hired massage therapists to help allevi
ate some tension for the students.
"Massage therapists were there from 5
to 7 (p.m.) and didn't rest for one minute.
We had someone in every chair for every
minute for every day," said Butler.
This semester, Butler hopes to tackle
some other issues that CCE students have
brought to her attention, like the need for
a longer bookstore hours. She also realizes
that Saturday-only students feel discon
nected since most activities occur Monday
through Friday.
CCE students pay an activity fee each
semester and she wants to give that mon
ey back to the students through seminars,
food, drinks, and even massage therapy.
Ideas and suggestions for how the SGA
spends the student fees are always wel
come. One way to get those ideas conveyed
is to attend the monthly SGA meetings.
The meetings are held on Sunday after
noons when there won't be class conflicts
and even children are welcome to attend.
The next meeting is schedule for Jan. 25 at 4
p.m. in Hendricks Hall.
She encourages all CCE students to come
and find out more about the SGA at the Jan
uary meeting. The board will describe their
job responsibilities and opportunities for
service, and, as always, take suggestions for
how to better serve the CCE community.
Several SGA officers will be graduating
this semester, so Butler hopes to be able to
fill those positions with innovative and pas
sionate people. Elections are held in April.
Even if you have never considered par
ticipating in the SGA, this might be a great
time to find out more. Butler said, "Get in
volved."
She wants CCE students to be proud of
being Guilford Quakers and knows that in
volvement, whether it is with campus gov
ernment or some other activity (tutoring,
mentoring, writing) helps a student feel
like part of the community, enact change,
and make a difference.
Guilford a good bang
for the buck?
By Ian Young
Staff Writer
According to Princeton Review's
"100 Best Value Colleges of 2009,"
seven North Carolina colleges and
universities can take the honor of
providing a great bang for the buck.
Unfortunately, however, Guilford
College is not on the list.
The list includes schools in the
area such as UNCG, UNC Chapel
Hill, Elon, and Duke.
For those of us who have loans up
to our necks just to be able to go to
this school, you have to wonder, am
I getting what I pay for?
Being one of the many who are
paying fairly little now, but am
already tens of thousands in debt,
this ranking really makes me think
about the "value" I am getting out of
this college.
Personally, the main reason I came
to Guilford was because of the finan
cial aid the school gave me. I was
amazed how low my tuition was
after all the aid the school gave me
and continues to give me every year.
"The cost is better than what I
might pay at other schools, but it
sucks that you have to pay so much
if you need more than 18 credits a
semester," said junior Isabel Kelliher.
"I think Guilford is a good value
for students who aren't exactly sure
what they want to do when they
come to college, mostly because the
school makes you take pretty diverse
classes."
Junior Ryan Phelan agreed that
Guilford academics were a good
value, but feels that the social scene
is lacking.
"The academics here are good for
what you pay, but I think they could
offer more social things like clubs
and activities," said Phelan.
Ryan "Big Worm" Jarrell, a for
mer student at Guilford, commented,
"Yeah, the academics were OK, the
class sizes were really small and inti
mate. I really like that, no, I mean I
Really like that."
I must say, I think the value of
Guilford College is something that
one really can't find out by studying
a survey.
Once you get into the thick of it
and have a few years behind your
belt, you really begin to appreciate
all that Guilford has to offer.
As Jarrell puts it, "I don't trust
those college surveys, never did. I
just had to experience it to find out if
it would be good for me."
All in all, I would just say live it
up now and get the best experience
while you can. Because pretty soon
we're all going to be working our
nine-to-fives trying to pay off our
loans, and there certainly aren't any
Serendipity celebrations in the work
ing world.
Letter to the Editor
I walk beneath the flag boasting Guilford's
claim to appreciation of Diversity on my way to
class every day. As a part of the Diversity Plan,
the school plans to boost its American Indian
student population over the next few years.
However, this is going to require institutional
accommodation rather than the expectation of
assimilation.
For the third time since my acceptance, I
was fined for having "evidence of burning"
in my room because of the shell that I use for
smudging, our ancient way of praying using
sacred medicines that come from Mother Earth
and are burned to go to Creator through smoke,
carrying our prayers to father sky. I understand
that there are rules for the residence halls, but
this is the point where Guilford needs to decide
whether this diversity that they are in search of
is truly a goal of the institution.
If the institution is not willing to make
accommodations for students that don't come
from mainstream white cultural backgrounds,
then it should cease to be marketed the
way it is, boasting the seven core values of
Quakerism. Instead, the school should be
honest with perspective students and call
itself a White school, because without a doubt,
white students are the only true residents on
this campus.
We are supposed to smudge where we live
and sleep. My ancestors have had to hide their
spiritual practices for 500 years in order to
survive. I refuse to do it anymore, especially
at a school that I chose to attend on the basis
of its institutional values. Accepting American
Indian students involves more than letting us
in, it involves accepting our whole selves, our
spiritual and cultural selves; these cannot be
separated, nor should that be the expectation.
Marshall Jeffries, senior