Speaking of Quakers

Today charges were dropped against six Guilford College football players, who were accused of attacking and using racial epithets against three Palestinian students. From the News and Observer:

The Palestinian students, including an N.C. State University freshman, said they were called "terrorists" and taunted with racial slurs as they were beaten and kicked Jan. 20.

On Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Howard Neumann said he dropped the charges after reviewing witness statements from nearly 30 people. All six players faced assault charges, and five of them were charged with ethnic intimidation.

The case was ugly enough to merit international attention - even Al Jazeera sent a film crew to Greensboro, NC, where the school is located.

All the more perplexing, as the News and Observer article points out, because Guilford is a school with a "rich heritage in the pacifist Quaker faith" - founded in 1837 by Friends and the only Quaker college in the Southeast.

"Any time a violent incident happens on a Quaker campus," [Nic Brown, assistant director of college relations at Guilford] said, "there's going to be intense scrutiny."

In both the News and Observer story and in a piece by the AP, the story raises the question of whether the players' apologies prompted the dismissal of the charges. The Palestinians' lawyer said "that if the players apologized, they would consider asking for the charges to be dropped." But:

[Guilford County Assistant District Attorney Howard] Neumann said he considered the apologies, ``but we're not setting a precedent in Guilford County that as long as you say you're sorry it's OK to break the law.''

But apologies can go a long way. There is an opportunity here to talk about how Quakers resolve conflict. The idea of "Gospel Order" is central to many Quaker communities. Part of it is summed up in Matthew 18:15-17:

If your brother sins against you, go and point out what was wrong. But do it in private, just between the two of you. If that person listens, you have won back a follower. But if that one refuses to listen, take along one or two others. The Scriptures teach that every complaint must be proven true by two or more witnesses. If the follower refuses to listen to them, report the matter to the church. Anyone who refuses to listen to the church must be treated like an unbeliever or a tax collector.

Conflicts are resolved close to home, with the courts of law only involved as a last resort. And Quakers are no stranger to conflict. The "peaceful" Friends have been on the front lines of most of the 20th century's social movements, which has brought them into conflict, both external and internal, with some regularity. Their historical mechanisms for consensus building and conflict resolution are pretty amazing - check out some here.

As Guilford tries to reconnect with it's Quaker past in the wake of the brawl, it will be an interesting to see if that message of brotherhood can extend these ideas to the modern clash between America and Islam.