Officer Ashley Gargus is just one of the five members of UMPD participating in No-Shave November. Photo by Jasmyne Ray.
If you’ve seen some of the university police officers around campus lately, you’ll notice that most of them have started growing facial hair. This year, UMPD is participating in November, where individuals let their facial hair grow out for the entire month of November and donate the money that they would usually spend on shaving products to help raise cancer awareness. For UMPD, as well as the town of Montevallo, this year’s “No-Shave November” will be used to help support the memory of John Oliver “Ollie” Tetloff.
Tetloff was diagnosed with neuroblastoma when he was seven years old. He loved science and, as young as he was, had a large children’s anatomy library. After he passed, his family has been working towards establishing the John Oliver “Ollie” Tetloff Memorial Scholarship in his memory. The scholarship would be used to help a student in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“It’s awesome.” says UMPD officer Ashley Gargus. “It’s for a good cause.”
Chief Chadd Adams, head of university police, also commented on the memorial scholarship.
“We have some of the brightest minds come through the University of Montevallo,” said Chief Chadd Adams. “We chose to support the Memorial Fund knowing that one of our [own] students could be the professional that breaks through this awful disease and finds a cure.”
One of the standard operating procedures (SOP) for the police department is that officers aren’t allowed to grow facial hair. For “No Shave November,” officers were allowed to grow facial hair if they paid $50 to the memorial fund. By working with Gary Johnson in Advancement, Adams was able to make sure people who wanted to donate could do so through the university’s Planned Giving website.
“[They] love it,” Adams replied, when asked how the officers are enjoying being able to grow facial hair. “Everyone that is participating wants to change our SOP to allow beards. I appreciate that they enjoy not shaving but then ‘No Shave November’ would not be special or give us the ability to raise money for this special cause.”
