By: Alexis Stallard, Editor-In-Chief
As the Newman community returns to campus for another new school year, two familiar faces are noticeably absent.
Over the summer break, both Christine Schneikart-Luebbe, vice president for enrollment management and student success, and Morris Floyd, head of security, turned in their resignations, said Newman President Kathleen Jagger.
Schneikart-Luebbe cited personal family obligations in her resignation, Jagger said. She had been working at Newman since 2018 after leaving Wichita State University, and she originally started as the Dean of Students before slowly making her way up to vice president in 2021.
“It was kind of a sudden decision, but I understand,” Jagger said. “We have to allow people the opportunity to put their families first.”
Jagger said that a leadership team has been conducting interviews for the past two weeks with people who could fill the job on an interim basis and that Newman hopes to have someone in that position by early September.
“They will be interim for a year, so not just a couple of months, and then…we can focus on doing a national search to replace Christine who’s going to be here in the longer term,” Jagger said.
Jagger said she is less sure whether the head of security position left vacant by Floyd will be filled. Floyd also turned in his resignation shortly before the school year began, Jagger said, but the daytime shift that he was responsible for has since been covered by the Smart Security team that already handles the rest of campus security.
“They’re looking at possibly hiring a former Wichita police officer, like Mo…or staying with Smart Security and just getting a person who would be the regular day-time person,” Jagger said.
Floyd had been at Newman for eight and a half years and was a former Wichita police detective. Floyd said he will miss interacting with students, attending sporting events, seeing the athletic teams off before road trips, and organizing his occasional scavenger hunts. He said he will also miss planting and gifting succulents to students to brighten up their dorm rooms.
“The students were always my focus and priority,” Floyd said.
Floyd said he had been planning to leave Newman since 2020 after feeling the COVID-19 mask exemption he was granted due to his PTSD was mishandled.
“Because I received this exemption, I was restricted to my office and received no communication from anyone during the first 30 days of this forced restriction, even after repeated emails, so I didn’t know what my exact ‘restrictions’ were, what the parameters were, and under what authority it was being imposed on me,” Floyd said.
Floyd said that, during the period that masks were required at Newman, the university requested that he hire another private security guard to come in to do his job. He said he felt trapped and embarrassed throughout the months of the mask mandate, which is when he began looking for a new job. He began working as a security officer for WSU Tech in March 2022, he said, which is what he is doing full-time now.
“It’s not the same as being at Newman, but I’m adapting and feel it’s a good fit for me at this point in my life,” Floyd said.
Jagger said she could not comment on Floyd’s situation, saying that it is the school’s policy not to discuss personnel matters to protect the privacy of employees and former employees.
PHOTO: Courtesy photo, University Relations