The Garfield College Building, known as University Hall was renamed the Davis Administration Building after Friends University founder, James M. Davis.

On June 30, Friends University received a telegram noting that it finally met accreditation standards of North Central Association of Colleges and Universities and was being officially reinstated. Additionally, Friends was granted membership into the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. The university was one of very few liberal..Read More

Higher standards set by the North Central Association of College and Secondary Schools required Friends University to have an endowment of $650,000. A fundraising campaign started in January 1927 raising only $400,000. The university was dropped from North Central’s accreditation list.

The City of Wichita was presented with an “All-America City” award, an award given annually to 11 cities on the basis of citizen participation and achievements. Look Magazine and the National Municipal League were co-sponsors of the award. Friends University’s Singing Quakers provided music at City Hall when the “All-America..Read More

“Friends University May Close” reports a Wichita newspaper, The Sun, on June 16, 1976. A candid interview with president Cope revealed that the school needed $500,000 in less than a month in order to close the books in the black. He also stated that there would be no salary raises..Read More

With the looming Great Depression plaguing the U.S. economy, Friends University students were also experiencing financial hardship. The number of students who held part time jobs increased. Out of 175 freshman enrolled that year, 76 had employment. Out of 98 sophomores, 58 worked. Out of 64 juniors, 39 worked. By..Read More

Harold Cope considered a future apart from the Yearly Meeting. He prayed intently about the decision. As he did, he internally head “Look at the Yearly Meeting minutes. Look at the Yearly Meeting minutes.” He asked chairman of the trustees of the Yearly Meeting, Stanley Brown, to look through the..Read More

David Morton Edwards became the third president of Friends University. Edwards had previously served as president of Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa for 12 years and then at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana for 10 years. At the time of his coming to Friends, he was a pastor of First..Read More

Friends University was reaccredited by North Central. The university would sustain this position until 1990 when the visited team expressed reservations on the financial status of the university.