From Staff Reports 

Montreat College has announced an “All In” program for fundraising $8 million. Proceeds will go toward hiring a new president, renovating facilities, augmenting the school’s scholarship fund, paying off debt and diversifying academic programs.

When the program was announced March 1, the college’s Chairman of the Board Barney Wright said the college had already collected $6.4 million in gifts and pledges.

Kevin Auman, chair of the faculty executive committee, indicated the faculty and board of directors had buried the hatchet in support of the initiative. The school has been running up annual deficits of about $3 million in recent years.

Faculty members, however, are somewhat suspicious. Trust was broken when the board was not open about closing the campus as part of recently scuttled merger negotiations. Some have expressed curiosity about how the $6 million suddenly appeared.

Montreat College’s plans to merge with Point University in Georgia fell apart Feb. 19. The joining of the schools had been considered by the board of directors as a means to resolve financial difficulties. But the school’s faculty and alumni were vehemently opposed.

They launched a campaign, which students and members of the local business community joined. There were concerns when word got out that closing down the Montreat campus was a serious consideration in negotiations. However, it was technicalities in the college’s deed restrictions that proved their saving grace.

The college was forbidden to have a majority on its board from any faith but the Presbyterian Church. Point is a nondenominational Christian college that was at first associated with the Church of Christ.

Precipitating the end of the merger was a letter drafted by Montreat faculty calling for the resignation of any trustee that supported a campus-closing merger.

On Feb. 24, the trustees announced the school could run out of cash as early as June. Prior to that, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges had “placed a sanction” on Montreat, requiring it to submit additional reports to continue its accreditation.