The Point University board plans to meet on February 24. Here are a few potential outcomes of the Point board meeting, though we are not certain what may unfold: The Point board may decide to affiliate with Montreat College and keep two residential programs, one in Georgia and one in North Carolina; the Point board may decide to affiliate with Montreat College and have one residential program in Georgia; the Point board may decide not to affiliate with Montreat College.

Letter sent to alumni by Interim President Joe Kirkland about the merger:

The Montreat College Board of Trustees met on February 18, and released the following statement:

“The trustees of Montreat College affirm the college’s mission to sustain Christ-centered higher education in North Carolina. The trustees continue to explore the full benefits of an affiliation agreement with Point University.”

The Point University board plans to meet on February 24. Here are a few potential outcomes of the Point board meeting, though we are not certain what may unfold:

• The Point board may decide to affiliate with Montreat College and keep two residential programs, one in Georgia and one in North Carolina.
• The Point board may decide to affiliate with Montreat College and have one residential program in Georgia.
• The Point board may decide not to affiliate with Montreat College.

The Montreat College administration will communicate to the Point University president strategies we are currently pursuing that will support a residential program within an affiliation. Strategies include cultivating an expanded donor base and launching new academic program initiatives.

Serving Him together,
Joe Kirkland, Interim President, on behalf of the Cabinet

The Montreat College Alumni Response to Statements from the Chairman of the Board and Interim President

The Montreat College Board of Trustees issued a statement this afternoon to the alumni with additional statements from Interim President Joe Kirkland. In their statement, the Board affirmed that they intend to pursue a merger with Point University. While they also state that they “affirm the college’s mission to sustain Christ-centered higher education in North Carolina” they did not make a commitment to maintaining a traditional residential campus in Montreat. It appears their only affirmation is in regards to online educational opportunities in North Carolina.

We are saddened and distressed that the Board did not affirm a commitment to maintaining Montreat College as an independent institution. We are also saddened and distressed that the Board did not affirm a commitment to maintaining a traditional residential campus in Montreat as a condition of moving forward with the proposed merger discussions with Point.

In the additional comments on the statement from Interim President Kirkland to alumni, some of which were removed from the press release to the media, he stated that the Board of Trustees for Point University will meet on February 24, 2014 to discuss a possible merger. Kirkland’s statement lists three possible outcomes from the Point Board meeting.

Point one says that they may “keep two residential programs, one in Georgia and one in North Carolina” but he does not state that they will consider maintaining a traditional campus in Montreat. The only consideration would be that it is somewhere within North Carolina.

Point two states that Point may decide to “have one residential program in Georgia” which clearly means that there would be no residential campuses located anywhere in North Carolina, much less in Montreat.

Point three states that the “Point board may decide not to affiliate with Montreat College.” Point three would be our preferred outcome of their upcoming Board meeting.

Why is the Montreat Board allowing the Board of Point to dictate the terms of any possible merger? The Montreat Board should have clearly stated what options would be acceptable to the Board as a condition of further discussions with Point so that the Point Board could have taken them into consideration at their upcoming meeting.

Kirkland also adds that the “Montreat College administration” not the Board of Trustees, “will communicate to the Point University president strategies we are currently pursuing that will support a residential program within an affiliation.” This does not affirm the commitment of the Montreat College administration to maintain a traditional residential campus in Montreat but is just a general affirmation to support a residential program located in some undefined location much the same as the Board has also stated.

The information sent to the alumni included the three points listing the possible outcomes of the Point Board meeting on February 24, however, these points were removed from the statement issued to the media. There exists today at least two different statements. There appears to be an effort by the Board and the administration to confuse the alumni and the public by deliberately releasing differing statements. We again call on the Board and the administration to begin an era of transparency which is still sorely lacking.

Montreat College Alumni Response to Faculty Vote of No Confidence

February 19, 2014

The Alumni Board of Montreat College affirms and supports the faculty in its vote of “no confidence” and its call for resignation of all Board of Trustees who voted for the merger, including a call for the remainder of Trustees to reconstitute the Board and begin an immediate search for a new President (Faculty letter is below).

Trustee and President of the Montreat College Alumni Board Willie Mangum ’88 made the following statement on the Alumni Facebook page:

This letter was sent to the Board of Trustees this morning on behalf of the faculty. I am sharing it with you and wholeheartedly affirm and support our faculty and ask you to do the same! Please continue to pray for the leadership of this college and a future that includes a thriving Montreat that will transform lives to transform culture for the next 100 years.

Willie Mangum ’88

Trustee and President of the Montreat College Alumni Board

Letter from the Montreat College Faculty to the Board of Trustees

Feb. 19, 2014

Board of Trustees

Montreat College

Dear Colleagues,

We would first like to thank you for your years of service, leadership, and significant financial contributions to Montreat College. We know you love this school and that you are committed to Christ-centered higher education. We recognize that there have been significant challenges and that you have taken what you considered to be appropriate steps to meet those challenges. We are grateful.

With the Feb. 18 decision of the Board of Trustees to continue pursuing merger with Point University, the faculty met this afternoon to discuss the implications of that decision.

Since Dan Struble resigned as President, we have been dependent on the Board of Trustees for leadership and communication of vision. Unfortunately, this communication has been sorely lacking. We have expressed this concern regularly and received assurances that it would be addressed but the consensus among the faculty is that communication has not improved. In the absence of knowledge and transparency, people are quick to fill in the gaps. The faculty, staff, students, and alumni have essentially operated in a communication vacuum, with Facebook and rumors supplying the narrative at crucial points where we needed clear communication and leadership. All here on campus have struggled to process their futures as alternate narratives fill the vacuum. We are also concerned that academics, a cornerstone of our institution, was not included in many of the discussions with Point regarding the merger.

Rightly or wrongly, this has created a slow erosion of confidence in the direction that our leadership is taking us. This culminated in the decision made by the Board last evening, a decision that the faculty view as, for all practical purposes, eliminating the residential program on the Montreat campus. As a faculty, we were largely in favor of the merger last fall when we thought it would bring new life to all campuses, including the traditional residential program. With the MRA roadblock, it seems now that pursuit of merger would essentially mean closing the residential campus.

As such, the faculty today voted in favor of the following resolutions:

1. That the faculty votes no confidence in the Board of Trustees and their leadership
2. That the faculty calls upon Board of Trustees members who support continuing to pursue a merger with Point University that includes the closure of the Montreat campus to immediately resign from the board
3. That the Board of Trustees be re-constituted immediately with new members committed to continuing our residential program on the Montreat campus.

Montreat College faculty

Kevin C. Auman

Chair, Faculty Executive Committee