Guilford College is a
private liberal arts college
A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on Undergraduate education, undergraduate study in the Liberal arts education, liberal arts of humanities and science. Such colleges aim to impart ...
in
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...
.
It was founded in 1837 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...
). Guilford has both traditional students and students who attend its Center for Continuing Education (CCE).
Guilford's program offerings include such majors as Peace and Conflict Studies and Community and Justice Studies, both rooted in the college's history as a Quaker institution. Its campus has been considered a
National Historic District by the
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...
since 1990. The college is
accredited by the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges but was placed on probation in 2023 due to severe, ongoing financial challenges.
History
Guilford College is the only Quaker-founded college in the southeastern United States and the first co-ed college in the South. Opening in 1837 as "New Garden Boarding School", the institution became a four-year liberal arts college under its current name, "Guilford College", in 1888.
Levi Coffin, a well-known abolitionist, Quaker, and political dissenter grew up on the land, which is now considered a historical site.
The woods of New Garden, which still exist on campus today, were used as a meeting point for the
Underground Railroad in the 19th century, run by Coffin.
2020s financial challenges
Jane Fernandes, having served as president since 2014, chose to furlough and lay off colleagues during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and announced that she would leave office on June 30, 2020, followed by a one-year sabbatical and transition to a tenured faculty position in English; however, she left to be President of
Antioch College
Antioch College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection and began operating in 1852 as a non-secta ...
in mid-2021. Carol Moore was appointed the interim president and she began a "program prioritization" process that would significantly reduce the number of majors offered once approved. The college announced in November 2020 that it would likely discontinue 19 out of its 42 majors and cut 16 tenured professors.
In November 2020, as a response to this plan, the faculty voted
no confidence in Moore and the Board of Trustees' leadership, the first no-confidence vote in the college's history. Moore subsequently left the college and Jim Hood, a faculty member, was selected as the new interim president at the end of February 2021.
In early 2021, the college paused the November 2020 layoff plans and began significant fundraising effort, placing a hold on the layoff question until after the spring semester.
As of late March 2021, the fundraising plan was slightly ahead of schedule. On January 1, 2022, Kyle Farmbry became Guilford's 10th president.
In late 2023, the college's
accreditor, the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, placed the college on probation due to its ongoing, severe financial challenges. The probation was initially for one year but in late 2024 it was extended for another year. In December 2024, while the college was on probation, president Farmbry resigned and the college's board of trustees appointed one of their own, Jean Parvin Bordewich, acting president.
Campus events
* Bryan Series: In the past decade, Guilford's Bryan Series
has brought many notable speakers to the campus and city for an annual public lecture series. Past speakers have included
Desmond Tutu,
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
,
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell ( ; – ) was an Americans, American diplomat, and army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th National Security ...
,
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Körbelová, later Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political science, political scientist who served as the 64th United States Secretary of State, United S ...
,
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
,
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
,
Ken Burns,
Mary Robinson,
David McCullough
David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United S ...
,
Toni Morrison
Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically accl ...
, and
Venus Williams.
* Eastern Music Festival (EMF): Every summer, the college hosts the five-week-long Eastern Music Festival (EMF), where professional and student musicians come together for seminars and public performances. Each year, EMF features more than 70 concerts and music-related events on- and off-campus.
* Serendipity: The largest campus-wide event of the year is "Serendipity", held annually in the spring. It began in 1972 as a replacement to the somewhat antiquated May Day festivities, and has featured games, musical performances, and "general mayhem." During its peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the weekend festival was attended by Guilford students and alumni and thousands of students from other local institutions in the Triad area. Musical acts have included Dave Matthews Band, Widespread Panic, Hootie & The Blowfish, Common, Talib Kweli, De La Soul, Luscious Jackson, The Violent Femmes, Man Man, The Village People, and The Squirrel Nut Zippers.
* WTH?! Con: This event has occurred annually since 2001. Major guests include a host of webcomic creators and
wrock bands. The 2018 event attracted around 300 attendees. Peak attendance has been around 500 people. The most recent con was held the weekend of March 15, 2019.
Early College at Guilford
The Early College at Guilford ("ECG") has approximately 200 students and is located in
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...
. ECG was started in 2002 as a partnership between Guilford College and
Guilford County Schools as the first early college high school in North Carolina, allowing students to graduate with a high school diploma and up to two years of college credit from Guilford College.
WQFS
The radio station WQFS is run out of Founder’s Hall on the Guilford campus, and is operated by students.
Broadcasts include news, lectures and a wide range of music, the latter focusing on independent labels.
[
]
Athletics
Guilford athletic teams are the Quakers. The college is a member at the Division III level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
(NCAA), primarily competing as a member of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) since the 1988–89 academic year. The Quakers previously competed in the Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAC, now Conference Carolinas) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...
(NAIA) from 1930–31 to 1987–88.
Guilford competes in 20 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, tennis and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track & field, triathlon and volleyball.
Accomplishments
The school has won five national championships, including the NAIA men's basketball championship in 1973, the 1981 NAIA women's tennis title and the 1989 (NAIA), 2002 and 2005 (NCAA Division III) men's golf titles.
Notable faculty
* David Hammond — director and acting teacher, former professor of theatre studies at Guilford
* Mary Mendenhall Hobbs — wife of Guilford President L.L. Hobbs, raised funds for women's education
* David Newton — American sculpture artist, worked at Guilford as an art professor
* Adam Daniel Beittel — minister and former president of Tougaloo College
Notable alumni
* Mary Ann Akers: reporter for '' Roll Call''
* William "Bill" Lindsay: professional baseball player
* M. L. Carr: professional basketball player, head coach and executive
* Howard Coble: member of U.S. House of Representatives (6th District, N.C.)
* Joseph M. Dixon: U.S. representative, Senator and Governor of Montana
Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
* Rick Elmore: judge, North Carolina Court of Appeals
* Rick Ferrell: professional baseball player
* John Hamlin Folger: U.S. representative
* World B. Free (formerly Lloyd Free): professional basketball player
* Griff Garrison: professional wrestler
* Rick Goings: CEO of Tupperware
* Greg Jackson: professional basketball player
* Bob Kauffman: professional basketball player, coach, and manager
* Jennifer King: professional football coach
* Penelope W. Kyle: president of Radford University
* Junior Lord: professional football player
* Warren Mitofsky: inventor of the exit poll
* Dave Odom: college basketball coach
* Thomas Gilbert Pearson: secretary and later president of the National Audubon Society
* Carolyn Pfeiffer: film producer
* William Queen: author
* Doc Searls: journalist and author
* Ernie Shore: professional baseball player and Guilford professor
* D. H. Starbuck: North Carolina lawyer, judge, and political figure
* Ben Strong, professional basketball player
* Sam Venuto: professional football player and high school athletic director and football coach
* Tony Womack: professional baseball player and Olympic athlete
* Hunter Yurachek: college athletic director
* Tom Zachary: professional baseball player
See also
* WQFS
References
External links
*
Athletics website
{{authority control
Liberal arts colleges in North Carolina
Quaker universities and colleges
Private universities and colleges in North Carolina
University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
Universities and colleges in Greensboro, North Carolina
Universities and colleges established in 1837
Colonial Revival architecture in North Carolina
Neoclassical architecture in North Carolina
Gothic Revival architecture in North Carolina
Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
Quakerism in North Carolina
1837 establishments in North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places in Guilford County, North Carolina
Brick buildings and structures in North Carolina