On December 16, 2021, Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., announced that it had reached its goal to raise $6 million. Drawing from over 2,750 distinct donors, the goal was reached six weeks before the January 31, 2022 deadline. The fundraising allows the college to avoid drastic cuts.
“This is an extraordinary moment for Guilford,” said Interim President Jim Hood. “At a time when the college needed their support most, Guilfordians stepped up. So many alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students, and friends came together. All of them recognized the impact this school has had on their lives and wanted to see that impact continue for others.”
Just over a year ago, the previous Guilford interim president, Carol Moore, announced plans for cutting 30 percent of the faculty and half of the academic majors in a cost-cutting effort.
But in January 2021, the Board of Trustees changed course. They set aside the cuts and said if the ambitious fundraising goal of $6 million was raised by the January 31 deadline, Guilford would “have the important time and space to do the necessary work together to establish a sustainable future.”
Suzanne Whitmeyer, who headed the fundraising effort, cited two events that repaired trust and allowed the goal to be met: the alumni creation of the Save Guilford College group and Jim Hood replacing Carol Moore as interim president.
She told the Greensboro News & Record that Save Guilford College “brought a lot of awareness to people and opened doors of communication that I sensed had been closed.”
And when Hood, a 1979 graduate of Guilford and a long-time English professor at the school, replaced Moore as interim president in February 2021, Whitmeyer said it “was the best thing that could happen for the college.”
On January 1, Kyle Farmbry became the tenth president of the Greensboro liberal arts college founded by Quakers in 1837, replacing interim president Jim Hood.
Comments on Friendsjournal.org may be used in the Forum of the print magazine and may be edited for length and clarity.