Does Summerfield Town Manager Charles “Twig” Rollins Really Have a College Degree?

ByJoe Turner Reading Time: 5 minutes

The controversial background of Summerfield’s new town manager, Charles “Twig” Rollins, continues to be the topic of discussion around the small North Carolina town just outside of Greensboro.

Previous questions about his work history, evictions, and numerous tax liens and creditor judgments continue to be ignored by Rollins and the town council even though they have trumpeted their support for transparency in the past.

Now additional questions are being asked about his educational history and whether he really does have a college degree.

His LinkedIn profile suggests he graduated with a degree in business administration and management from Montreat College.

However, a review of all the publicly available commencement programs published online by Montreat College do not list Rollins as a graduate from their school.

We reviewed 56 commencement programs going back to 1980, when he would have been around 15 years of age, and up to 2020 which is the most recent program listed in their digital archive.

A link to each program can be found at the bottom of this post.

Time for Transparency & Answers

It is time for Summerfield council members like Jonathan Hamilton and Heath Clay to start answering these questions. It is my understanding that Clay led the effort and negotiations to bring Rollins aboard. I am also told that he assured other members of the council that Rollins’ background check was clean and that there were no issues.

Hamilton, the attorney who thinks he is the smartest person in every room he is in, touted his commitment to transparency when he first ran for office. And he has led the charge to persecute the former town manager and staff over supposed violations of town policy and procedures.

Yet — he has refused to answer any questions about Rollins.

Meanwhile, Rollins has stated that he believes in extreme transparency when interviewed by a local publication.

He is so “extremely transparent” that multiple members of the town council have publicly stated that Rollins cut them out of the information flow and did not inform them that he had launched an internal investigation into his predecessor and staff.

And these same council members state that they learned about a special February council meeting from the media — not their town manager.

Rollins is so transparent that the American Association of American Executives have asked the North Carolina’s State Bureau of Investigation to investigate these open meeting violations.

Release the Resume & College Transcripts

Why won’t Rollins and the Summerfield town council release his resume and college transcripts?

Meanwhile, the local media continues to sit on its hands and refuses to do any real investigation or ask the tough questions.

Research Documentation – Montreat College Commencement Archive

Last week, the Montreat College digital archive was available to the public. Today, it is no longer available but can be found here using Archive.org.

It lists all of their commencement programs going back to 1933. Here is a list to each one:

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