Category Archives: Quaker Colleges

Guilford College in Crisis (Again? Yes.)

This weekend I was thinking about trouble at Guilford College, when a memory popped up: during my college years, a B- was not a bad grade.

Okay, it wasn’t great, especially if you were aiming at the honor roll or grad school.

But it was above a C; over the line (if just barely) into the upper tier of the scale.

That was then: now it’s another century —hell, another millennium. Things have changed.

What about, in 2025, a grade of BBB-? Continue reading Guilford College in Crisis (Again? Yes.)

For Quakers (& Justice Seekers), September Should Be “Willie Frye” Month; Here’s Why . . .

The Top Ten Things Quakers & Seekers Need to Know About Willie Frye Jr.:

A Preamble: Why should September be Willie Frye month?

Willie Frye Jr. (1931-2013)

Two main reasons:

One, because he was both born (on the 26th) and passed away (on the 9th) in September. And–

Two, because of the remarkable but little-known legacy he left us (Friends and other modern seekers); which takes some explaining. That follows, along with a confession.
Continue reading For Quakers (& Justice Seekers), September Should Be “Willie Frye” Month; Here’s Why . . .

Tell It Slant — With Lemonade: A Book Launch at Haverford

Adapted from Tell It Slant, by Emma Lapsansky-Werner, with Chuck Fager:

George Fox: not a friend of the arts.

For most of the three-plus centuries since the founding of Quakerism, Quakers had viewed the arts as snares and “distractions” from listening to the Word-of-the-Divine within.

George Fox threw down the marker as early as 1678:

All ye Poets, Jesters, rhimers, makers of Verses and Ballads, who bend your wits to please novelties, light minds, who delights in jests and toyes, more than in the simple naked truth which you should be united to, you are for the undoing of many poor souls, it is your work to tickle up the ears of people with your jests and toyes; this proceeds from a wrong heart … which is a shame to all that be in the modesty and pure sincerity & truth and cleanness of mind. …  

Fox had preached against the visual arts, too:  Continue reading Tell It Slant — With Lemonade: A Book Launch at Haverford

Announcing: A Very Special Quaker Publishing Award

For years, I’ve been loudly protesting the sky-high, exclusionary prices on “academic” or “scholarly” books and monographs.  The particular focus of my ire has been publications by or about Quakers and Quakerism, though the price-gouging has infected many other fields of study.

Today I want to recognize and celebrate a successful challenge to this uber-inflationary practice. Continue reading Announcing: A Very Special Quaker Publishing Award

“Fleecing The Faithful”: Court and Trial Updates

Fleecing The Faithful– Updates

(To read the full text of the report, click here.)

[Note: Some links in these reports from 1998-99 have expired.]

Court Updates, Part 2: Phil Harmon, Insurance Fraud & “Operation Island Scam”:

More: Rogues and Heroes — Photos from the Quaker Fraud Scandals


 

Online back issues of the print edition (1981-93) of  A Friendly Letter

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