On Thursday, Jan. 8 in the leak room of Duke Hall, the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement (OSLE) held the first community meeting of 2025. This meeting was an opportunity for students to meet and ask questions to the new Guilford College Leadership as well as GSBA.
With Guilford College’s recent transparency about the lack of financial income, students were concerned about a variety of issues. Questions involving food security, the future of clubs on campus, possible cuts of majors and minors and, most shockingly, the lack of care towards staff and professors.
The Q-and-A began with questions about food security because on Jan. 3, students with meal plans received an email from the Department of Residential Education & Housing that stated, “Meal swipes at entry into the dining hall are limited to you, the meal plan-holder and one guest. Beyond that, meal swipes are not transferable.”
This directly contradicts one of Guilford’s most notable attempts to combat food insecurity on campus, Pay It Forward. This was a meal swipe program in the main Dining Hall that allowed students with extra meal swipes to swipe in for other students who were lacking swipes of their own. This allowed Guilford College students to help each other stay fed in a currently high-priced economy.
During the meeting, Guilford College alumna Sarah Seguin shared the results of a 2023 survey, which featured 180 participants, that found three out of four students “responded with experiencing food insecurity.”
“So, it means a lot of the people in this room have experienced food insecurity,” Seguin continued. “So, when Guilford is making policy decisions around food insecurity and access to food, what checks and balances are being put in place to check for institutional cruelty amongst the policy decisions being made.”
This question resulted in a high amount of praise from students but not much of an answer from leadership.
“Decisions like this thing about the meal swipes, honestly, didn’t make it to the Board of Trustees, but that would be normal, but it wouldn’t, because that’s something that’s something that’s operational,” acting president Jean Bordewich said. “It’s not like there’s just one place and everything goes.”
“Because we’re not a hierarchy,” she clarified. “We’re more of a distributed leadership.”
Read more about Guilfords fight with food insecurity here.
Another concern was brought to light in the form of the campus club’s inactivity.
“I just want to ask a question about campus involvement and campus life, like clubs and events,” one student asked the committee and GSBA. “Are there any efforts for financial budgets for clubs? Because so far, we haven’t heard anything. And basically, campus life is kind of nothing happening.”
GSBA has been working tirelessly with clubs despite the lack of budget.
“You have to know how hard people are fighting for you,” said Lisa Cook, assistant director of the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement (OSLE) and a club advisor. “We understand your frustration, but we will fight harder. GSBA will fight harder.”
When asked about the advice GSBA provided to clubs for planning future budgets, GSBA president Jacob Mitchell responded with a measured suggestion, stating, “Prepare for both options.”
Campus clubs should plan with the expectation of limited budgets in the coming years while fostering a sense of optimism. They should aim to document ideas and strategies to ensure future success if budgets eventually return to sustainable levels.
On Friday, Jan. 9, Cook followed up with clubs, stating: “We still do not have access to club funds, so meetings and events will likely need to be free of cost.”
“That said, please, please, please keep meeting, keep spending time together, and ask for help if you need ideas,” she continued.
For more information about Guilford College’s Club Future here.
Another impactful question that resonated with the student community came from Ryan Shoenthal, a junior at Guilford College, who asked, “What are you doing for our staff and faculty?” Like many others in the Guilford community, they expressed concerns about the well-being of the professors and staff who provide vital support to students.
This question also brought forth a shocking revelation for the board that was confirmed by Interim Associate Provost Kathryn Shieldsm during the community meeting. There are members of the campus, specifically professors, who are teaching overloaded or additional classes without an increase in their pay.
With the new information, we weren’t given a lot of answers except promises to keep students updated as they attempt to discover how this lack of payment occurred.
To read updates and more information about the Guilford Faculty and Staff Community Overworked and Overlooked click here.
Lastly, given previous years at Guilford when new leadership had been implemented, it resulted in programs and full departments being cut. Students are concerned about that trend repeating now that the college has fallen on hard times.
Bordewich’s response to this question was lukewarm at the moment.
“We haven’t really looked at that yet, but that’s part of what we will be addressing,” she said. “I know that Maria (Rosales) and others have been working on an academic strategic plan. There’s a group of faculty — and I assume they’ve been talking with students — who are coming to us, probably next week or the week after, with proposals for some restructuring in the academic area.
“We want to be led by the community,” Bordewich continued. “So, I think, you know it’s a little bit premature. I don’t want to say no because I don’t know.”
In response to concerns about potential program cuts and their impact on students, Shields sought to reassure the community, stating, “We are committed to ensuring that your degrees get completed.” Despite this assurance, uncertainty remains about what students should expect moving forward.
Read more about Guilford’s Students Worry About Department Cuts here.