Friend speaks my mind

This week, I learned that the statement above is a common response in Quaker worship that shows those in the audience agree with the speaker. I'd bet that I would never have learned this phrase except that a small Quaker college in Greensboro (Guilford College) has found itself embroiled in a media frenzy because of a sad and troubling incident on campus.

It appears that several of the college's football players attacked three Palestinian students - two from Guilford College, and one from NCSU. What makes the violent act even more disturbing is that it seems unprovoked, it happened on a campus that claims a pacifist heritage by being Quaker, and it could be deemed a hate crime.

Certainly, that an incident like this should happen is upsetting to everyone involved and to the community as a whole. However, there are gifts inherent in this problem. After the dust settles and the smoke clears, Guilford College will almost certainly go through a period of mourning and re-evaluation. They will begin building an even better campus community - perhaps one of the best. This gives Guilford and all of their stakeholders a chance to critically assess and transform campus attitudes. Although it will be hard work, it will be well worth it.

Dean for Campus Life Aaron Fetrow and his media staff have done quite a good job - almost completely by the book - of dealing with the challenges inherent in dealing with such a crisis. One point of disagreement, however: Fetrow was quoted on NPR's Morning Edition as saying that this sort of thing "happen at campuses all over the nation, all of the time."

I couldn't disagree more. Yes, such violence does happen on other campuses, but if this happened on every campus, all the time, it wouldn't be such a big deal (heaven forbid that ever happen). People would be apathetic to news like this and if that were the case, Guilford College wouldn't be receiving the media attention which they have now. Thank God that this sort of violence does NOT happen frequently - and we can only hope that such things never happen again, anywhere.

Guilford College President Kent Chabotar says this at the beginning of his statement regarding the incident: "This is a sad time for Guilford College. This is a sad time for the students, especially the students who were injured on Saturday morning. Our sympathy and prayers are with them and their families."

Friend speaks my mind.