Guilford College Appoints Jean Parvin Bordewich as President

Guilford College’s Board of Trustees appointed Jean Parvin Bordewich to a two-year term as president Friday. Bordewich has been acting president since January.

The move comes after years of financial uncertainty and cost-cutting at the private Quaker institution. Many in the Guilford community have praised Bordewich’s leadership as the college navigates a financial crisis that has led to probation from its accreditor.

“She’s displayed such a positive aura facing a lot of challenges,” said Dan Mosca, chair of Guilford’s Board of Trustees, in a Friday statement. “Others have seen that and are drawn to her. They want to help the college succeed.”

Mosca has seen her “enthusiasm and passion” for the college after working closely with her over the last seven months, he said.

A major fundraising campaign led by Bordewich launched in March. It succeeded in raising $6 million by the end of June, surpassing its initial goal by $1 million. The For the Good of Guilford Campaign also doubled the number of alumni donors to about 2,200. 

While the numbers signify a significant step forward, the path has been anything but easy.

For the last decade, Guilford has faced increasing financial instability due to mismanaged budgets, millions in issued bonds, and drastic declines in enrollment numbers. Earlier this year, the board discovered a COVID-era policy meant Guilford had failed to collect $2 million in tuition and fees for the 2024-25 school year.

“We were admitting students, and then not requiring people to pay before they started classes,” Bordewich told the Assembly in May. “Don’t ask me why. Every college I’ve ever heard of requires you to pay your bills before you start the semester.”

During the pandemic, past president Jane Fernandes furloughed a third of the college’s faculty and staff. Her replacement, Carol Moore, proposed eliminating 19 majors and laying off a third of the faculty in November 2020. By January 2021, faculty had voted “no confidence” in Moore and the board, a first in the college’s history. Their efforts led alumni to raise an emergency $3.3 million. Ultimately, Moore left, and the second round of layoffs didn’t materialize.

But financial problems persisted. In December 2023, the school was placed on probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a move that puts the school’s accreditation at risk. The association will meet this December to determine whether to restore Guilford to good standing or revoke its accreditation.

Bordewich aims to continue raising money and reducing expenses. She hopes to do it without falling into the same patterns as some of her predecessors.

As the Assembly has reported, Bordewich has taken a more transparent approach, first as board chair in May 2024 and then acting president eight months later. She has expressed support for replacing the traditional administrative model with a Quaker-style deliberative council, an idea popular with faculty. She opposes cutting departments or majors to save money. But difficult decisions have also been made.

Guilford reduced its workforce by a quarter—including faculty and staff—over the past fiscal year, saving  $4.5 million. The school is also considering salary reductions for faculty. In June, the school sold development rights to a large section of its camps to the Piedmont Land Conservancy.

The board trusts Bordewich to continue leading Guilford in the right direction, Mosca said.

The college “remains committed to its Quaker tradition and to providing a positive, enriching experience for students, faculty and staff,” Mosca said. 

Sayaka Matsuoka is a Greensboro-based reporter for The Assembly. She was formerly the managing editor for Triad City Beat.