The news that Sweet Briar has survived to educate another day inspires me to post a banner from their campus, "You will change the world." A small but highly, highly motivated group of alumnae just put that slogan into action. Perhaps it's also time for a line from Daniel Webster's Dartmouth College case: "It's a small college but there are those who love it."
I used Sweet Briar's library as part of a library trivia question a few years back.
The root of Sweet Briar's problems is that's it's just too expensive; there's no way they can continue charging almost the median household income and expect to be put on firm financial footing.
However, the actions of the board to close the school so suddenly have looked extremely suspicious, considering the size of the endowment. What I've wondered is, what was the board's endgame? They'd probably have a good chunk of the endowment left, plus valuable real estate. What would happen to those assets?
The most convincing theory I've heard (might have been on a comment here, but can't remember) is that the entity that runs the school would be repurposed as an educational foundation or trust that would offer to well-compensated sinecures to the same board members who voted to close it down. I don't know if that's true, but if it were it makes sense that the board would back down when the state started getting involved.
I don't know about your suggestion (suspicion), DC. If that was their plan, it's not going to happen now. Many of the board members who supported closing Sweet Briar are now being replaced by people who want to keep it open, according to the Inside Higher Ed story I linked to above.
Even if my suspicions are correct, the replacement of the president and a large chunk of the board by members chosen by plaintiffs probably does end that attempt. I'd be curious to know exactly what went on in the boardroom before the decision to close would be made; while Sweet Briar was originally used as an example of the financially-unfeasible liberal arts college, it looks more and more like there was something else going on.
That makes sense, DC. I thought the trustees moved too quickly to shut down the school and obviously so did a lot of other people. My fear is that at this point, months after telling everyone that they were shutting down, it's going to be much harder to turn the finances around. I wish them the best of luck with this and I very much hope that the new team is able to capitalize on their energy and enthusiasm and the love that so many people have for Sweet Briar.
As to what the Board was thinking, there was a very good article, I think it was in the Chron, but it might have been Inside Higher Ed or WaPo or somewhere else, which detailed a lot of the thinking of the Board and President. That also left me with the impression that they were giving up too early.
The problem I see for Sweet Briar now is can the bell-be-un-rung? Can a college whose situation was so poor that a board made the decision to shut it down attract the quality of students it now needs to stay open? Can it do it as a single sex college? Can it continue its engineering program which was its relaunch effort?
Who will apply to Sweet Briar under these circumstances – and if accepted, who will take Sweet Briar over another college? Hand on heart, would you let you kid commit to going to Sweet Briar?
I'd probably let my hypothetical daughter enroll; most schools have very streamlined transfer procedures (I transferred twice as an undergraduate).
If she was taking out loans, and the school closed, she could then get them discharged. Yes, theoretically, the DoE could come after her for that money if she finishes a degree elsewhere using the Sweet Briar credits, but it's possibly she'd slip through the cracks and get a free year or two of tuition.
I don't think we will ever know what was behind the decision to close Sweet Briar. It has been reported that no minutes were kept by the Executive Committee. Essentially, it was the Ex. Comm. that made all of the decisions; the Board existed to ratify what was brought to them.
Judy & DC:
I can see that the decision to close was a mistake – BUT – once taken,maven if reversed can the damage be undone. Moreover, the executive committee may have made a mistake, but the conclusion that the school had a medium to long term problem has to have been more than a "frolic."
Transferring schools can be easy or very hard – it depends on the timing, the subject and the ability of the student to integrate. I'd be very leary of a school that seemed likely to close in 2-3 years.
It seems to me that more is needed now than a "yay! We're staying open." A real effort to show the school has a solid future has to be undertaken – and it may involve for example dropping the single sex restriction, though this could be legally much more onerous than ending racial segregation which Sweet Briar did with difficulty.
Ever if reversed – not maven
Weird spelling correction on the iPad ….
I thought given the school's endowment, it was inexcusable not to just stop admitting freshman, allow students to finish and gradually wind down. Transfer students rarely have the same access to financial aid as freshman, at a minimum, the endowment should have helped out transfer students. I do not know what the thought process was of the prior trustees, but it screamed selfish to me.
"I don't think we will ever know what was behind the decision to close Sweet Briar. It has been reported that no minutes were kept by the Executive Committee. Essentially, it was the Ex. Comm. that made all of the decisions; the Board existed to ratify what was brought to them."
Posted by: Judy Brown Fletcher |
In my mind, that confirms the looting hypothesis.
My guess is that there are a lot of young women who'll be very interested in attending Sweet Briar and being part of its renaissance. I suspect there are a lot of faculty, especially emeritae faculty from outstanding schools, who would also be interested in joining the cause. There are huge challenges ahead, and the Board's premature decision to close has compounded them, for sure, but the grit and determination that the alumnae, students, and faculty have shown makes me optimistic for their future.
As to challenges to the original grant for Sweet Briar, to the extent its terms need to be changed, the venue for that will be the Amherst County Court. Everyone in the county wants Sweet Briar to succeed. The financial crisis is about the best evidence one could hope for to support a cy pres action. If that's the direction the president and new board decide to go in, that'll be relatively easy, I'm guessing.
I'm hoping that a great many young women will now apply to enter the freshman class at SBC. What a great opportunity! They will be pioneers. They will help guide the college's future. I envy them, I really do. I wish I could be 17 years old again and making my college choice. It would be a no-brainer.
And think of the bragging rights, some years from now. "I was one of the first." "I helped turn it around." "It was an exciting experience the whole four years." And so forth. Not since 1910, when the first Sweet Briar women graduated, will there have been such a memorable class–the first to graduate from Sweet Briar 2.0.
Furthermore, these new students will join and always belong to that very special group, "Sweet Briar women". I believe few colleges have such dedicated, talented and energetic alumnae. Look how quickly they leaped into action. Look at what they have accomplished in just over three months: raised about $21 million; designed a number of workable new business models; made contingency plans for the details of running a college; selected with intelligence and care a new board of directors. They have fought rapidly, thoughtfully, and successfully. They did it for two reasons: because they loved Sweet Briar, and because they knew what to do and how to do it (guess where they learned that?). I don't think many colleges create such a loyal, fast-reacting, and competent group of people. Sweet Briar is truly special and I am proud and grateful to call myself an alumna.
Ms. Greene, I'm glad to hear you feel so strongly about Sweet Briar but the reality is that it's a high cost single sex college in a remote location. Why should anyone for whom college expenses are a serious matter choose a school like Sweet Briar over their home state public universities?