The Montre
WHET
n t Voice
ONE
Volume III, Number VII MoHtreatf NC 28757 April 25, 2003
Garrett Terminated; Sullivan Resigns
By Kortney Blythe
Two personnel decisions mean
major changes to the Athletic
Department; April 11 President John
Lindberg accepted athletic director
Colonel John Sullivan’s resignation,
just one day after former volley
ball and softball coach, Ed Garret
clutched his termination letter.
Garret recalls, “1 was handed a
letter with no explanation that said
my employment was tenninated,
effective immediately.”
Lindberg admits, “the termination
may have taken Coach Garrett by
surprise.”
Garrett met with Lindberg on
Tuesday April 15 to discuss reasons
for Garrett’s termination. The reasons
remain unrelcased and Lindberg had
no comment: “In this case it would
not help to disclose that,” he says.
The volleyball and softball teams
combined have 13 players; 5 overlap
and play both sports. Lindberg and
the three volleyball team seniors, Jen
nifer Jolley, LeAnn Lane, and Susan
Burkholder, swapped questions
and answers in a private meeting to
clarify the situation.
Garrett joined the Montreat coach
ing staff last year. He and his family
moved from Colorado where he was
head coach at Colorado Christian Uni
versity in Denver. Montreat boasted
Garrett as its second coach affiliated
with the Olympics. (Soccer’s Des
mond Armstrong played in ’88; Gar
rett coached a gold medal volleyball
team in ’96). Garret released a book
entitled Sport Scholarships: The
Tricks of the Trade on Getting Paid to
Play in November 2001.
Every Montreat employee signs a
salary agreement with the knowledge
that either party could terminate the
relationship. “People come to Mon
treat and some hope that it will be for
a lifetime, but I think everyone real
izes that plans can change and that it
might come to an end at anytime,”
notes Lindberg. Although Garrett
cleared his desk on Thursday, his pay
continues for another thirty days.
Garret did not feel the reasons for
his termination were just. “What con
cerns me also is that at no point was
I consulted with questions, concerns,
or info. This was the first time I’ve
ever met with him,” he says.
Garrett’s termination angered
Jolley, “Colonel Sullivan gave us
options for a coach [in a personnel
search last year] and wc chose Gar
rett.”
In contrast to Garrett’s termination
and sudden exit, Sullivan resigned
and will serve out the remainder of
his contract, which ends in late June.
Sullivan remembers, “I turned in
my resignation on Thursday April
10, and President Lindberg accepted
it Friday April 11,” the same day that
salary agreements were sent out to all
returning staff and faculty.
Along with the athletic director
and volleyball/softball coach, the
positions of golf coach and JV base
ball coach sit vacant. The reasons for
these openings range from financial
to personal, according to Dave
Walters, the current faculty athletic
representative.
In a recent e-mail to staff and fac
ulty, Lindberg announced that Walters
will take over as acting athletic direc
tor beginning July 1, 2003. Lindberg
continues, “To best prepare Dave
and serve the department, [he] will
immediately begin working with the
Athletic Department as he prepares
for the transition.”
Walters says of his future position,
“John Sullivan and 1 are very close
friends and I am not real comfortable
attempting to follow in the shoes of a
man that has poured out his life and
heart into Montreat College for the
past 8 or so years. When 1 think of
people that have made contributions
to Montreat College since 1994, he is
right there at the top and will be dif
ficult to replace.”
When asked if resigning was
his idea, Sullivan stated, “I respect
president comes new leadership and
he has the right to choose his own
team. It has been a great nine years.”
Sullivan plans to stay in the Ashe
ville area because his children and
grandchildren call it home. He says,
“1 will miss all the staff and students.
But 1 will go out with my head held
high. It’s just the way of business and
1 understand that.”
“1 think that the loss of Colonel
Sullivan is a step backwards for the
college,” Garrett confesses. Senior
George White agrees, “Colonel Sul
livan always listened to students.”
Though Lindberg acknowledges
that, “Sullivan’s success is evident.
[Lindberg’s] decision. With a new He has established a great athletic
department,” athletes and athletic
staff now worry about the future of
the department.
Jolley remembers, “we’re sup
posed to start volleyball practice next
Sunday but now we don't know if
we’ll have a team.”
Lindberg assures that, “we antici
pate the athletic department going
forward. We will be doing a broad
search for an athletic director and
new volleyball and softball coaches.
In fact, I just talked to some vol
leyball recruits from Oklahoma and
Texas and 1 assured them that we are
still planning on having a great vol
leyball team and coaching staff.”
Continued on page 4
Davis & Howerton Card Scanners: A Little Off-Key
By Dustin Etheridge
New and returning Davis and
Howerton residents were greeted
with a surprise at the beginning of the
spring semester. The typical way of
entering the buildings, via student ID
card scanner, switched back to the old
fashioned key lock.
The card scanners were instituted
as one part of a series of renovations
MONTREAT
COLLEGE
STUDENT
NAACP Considers Montreal Chapter
By April Heyward
John Hays, president of the Ashe
ville Branch of the NAACP, hopes to
launch a college chapter at Montreat.
President Hays’ plan would mesh
Montreat and Warren Wilson Col
lege into a joint chapter. He feels that
having a joint chapter creates a good
opportunity for the students of the
colleges to work together.
Many students embrace the idea
of a local chapter. Junior Sarah Kelly
anticipates the chapter will, “promote
a broader prospective” for some stu
dents’ worldviews. While, freshman
Rinicca Young views the NAACP as
“trying to enhance the advancement
of people in society in general, not
just a particular race.”
Others in the community hope the
prospect of the club will attract a more
diverse student body. Athletic director,
John Sullivan, “would like to see a lot
more diversity on campus and if this
will be a way to attract more minor
ity students certainly I will be all in
favor.”
Sophomore Carizma Chapman sees
tlie benefit, “to get people active not only
in the school, but in the community.”
A group of approximately 60
blacks and whites in New York City
conceived the idea of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) in 1906.
Today, it boasts of being the largest
and oldest civil rights organization in
the nation.
The NAACP initiated the Youth
and College Division in 1936 to
promote the younger generation’s
participation, and to inform them
about public education. Currently,
it branches to over 500 locations
nationwide.
Hays believes that the chapter
would give students better under
standing of the purpose of the
NAACP, and would like people to
know that “it’s not just a black orga
nization but that it seeks to achieve
the civil rights of all races.”
In order to initiate a chapter, the
members need to gather and create an
organizational committee of at least
eight people. Members in the com
mittee must write a charter to send
to the National NAACP for approval.
The group will select a president.
Continued on page 5
that took place during 1998 and 1999.
This series of renovations included
new furniture and various other fix
tures in the donns.
An exact price for the card scan
ners alone could not be determined.
However, assistant dean of residence
life, Tom Oxenreider described the
overall process, as “costly.”
The switch left many wondering
about the efficiency of the change
and the security of the dorms.
Dean of Students, Charlie Lance
added, “the assumption at the time
of purchase was that a scanner would
be located at every entrance on all the
dorms, however in some cases, they
weren’t.”
Female students enter McGregor
and Anderson through only one
door. Davis & Howerton each have
five doors. Two doors have installed
card scanners in Davis, and three
doors have installed card scanners in
Howerton.
Lance asserted, “We dropped the
card readers for two main reasons,
one - to secure the buildings, and two
- to allow residents of those buildings
to maintain the freedom to come and
go freely as they wish, efficiently.”
Often times the scanners didn’t
work in Howerton at all and students
would jerk or force the doors open.
Lance observed, “continued frus
tration in the doors not opening most
probably contributed to students find
ing access to the donn through means
other than the card scanners.”
The switch back to keys in Davis
was actually a result of vandalism
that left the building unsecured.
“Students were jamming pennies
in the lock, hammering the locks in,
taping the door shut, and leaving it
propped open anyway they could”
says Davis residence director Ken
Sigler.
Vandalism in Davis became such
a problem that in February, residents
were required to sign a form that
stated, “From this point forward,
Continued on page 4
Verse of tde V/eedl
Then a voice came from the throne, saying:
“Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear
him, both small and great!”
' Revelations 19:5
-NIV