Saving Sweet Briar — a non-profit organization founded by Sweet Briar College alumnae seeking to save the college from its recently announced closing — has gathered new support from some of the college’s faculty. The all-women’s liberal arts college is set to close after this spring semester due to financial, enrollment and endowment concerns.
John Ashbrook, History department chair and associate professor, was one of the faculty members to speak out in support of attempting to save the college according to a press release from the non-profit. He was joined by Sweet Briar Anthropology Prof. Claudia Chang and Asst. Prof. Marcia Thom-Kaley, both of whom spoke out against the closing.
“We knew the school was in trouble, but not to this degree,” Ashbrook said. “If the administration and board had been more forthcoming and told the alumnae and faculty we were in this much trouble, I am sure we would have seen the same level of engagement as the Save Sweet Briar movement, but with more time to turn us around.”
Ashbrook said he and others were told by the administration that the college needed to turn itself around within a few years if it was to avoid closure. However, he said he remembered being told not to worry.
“I don’t want to point any fingers, I’m not trying to do that, but I don’t think that we were given enough time and I don’t think that the Board and past administrations have done enough to save the school,” Ashbrook said. “There was poor financial planning and a lack of vision, and now we are at a point where the higher ups think it necessary to close the school.”
Sweet Briar President James F. Jones said the strain on financial aid dollars proved to be one of the most difficult challenges involved with keeping the school open. He said 43 percent of the entering class were on Pell grants, requiring an immense amount of financial aid dollars.
“We gave away 62 cents of each of our financial aid dollars, leaving only 38 cents for operational purposes,” Jones said. “Schools that can do this are very well off…we cannot afford this because our endowment is very, very small.”
Jones said a wide spectrum of solutions was explored in attempt to ameliorate the financial situation of the college, none of which worked out.
“We have run a marketing survey to see if we could change our basic mission to attract more women [and] we ran another survey to check the donor capacity for a huge new campaign, neither one of those came back with any positive repercussions,” Jones said. “We looked at all forms of mergers, being absorbed into larger institutions, larger curriculum models, changing our missions from purely liberal arts to missions concentrating on learning disabilities, environmental stability, even equestrian focuses — simply none of those options played out to change the yield on who actually comes here.”
Ashbrook said he saw Sweet Briar’s impending closing as a threat to liberal arts and single gender institutions nationwide.
“Some of us, not me personally, feel that if we speak out there will be repercussions,” Ashbrook said. “However, if the faculty and alums give up, there will be repercussions for traditional liberal arts schools across the country. It isn’t just Sweet Briar’s fight. It’s a fight for liberal arts.”
Jones echoed what he said is the intrinsic value of a liberal arts education, recalling his time at the University, from which he graduated cum laude in 1969.
“I have held for 40 years that the most important tool that any school can put into your toolbox as a student is the tool of breadth and judgement,” Jones said. “I’m not sure that you get that out of purely vocational training. I can look at my life and see how it has been blessed in myriad ways through a liberal arts education, even at my time at the University of Virginia and then beyond...I will go to the grave in support of liberal arts in every possible way.”
Despite the surge in activity by Saving Sweet Briar, however, Jones held steadfast on the board’s decision to close the school.
“If there had been any way to keep the school open, I can assure you that with the diligence that the Board has been working with for a very long time, the Board would not have elected to do something as hard and difficult as voting unanimously to close,” Jones said. “The board’s unanimous decision to close is final.”
All the same, Jones said he has been floored by the support being given to Sweet Briar students. There are now 200 schools willing to let current and newly admitted Sweet Briar students enroll, including 12 “teach-out” schools that have waved transfer dates, agreed to accept Sweet Briar credits and have accommodated residence plans to help provide alternatives for students.
“The outpouring has been absolutely mind-boggling,” Jones said. “We are all incredibly appreciative of the support received from these schools, including that of the University of Virginia.”
Though these options are available for Sweet Briar students, leaders of Saving Sweet Briar urge current students and other universities to wait on making definitive commitments for the upcoming fall, as the organization tries to rally efforts to keep the school open.
"As we advance our legal strategy and develop alternatives to the closure of Sweet Briar College, it is critical that current students give our efforts time to bear fruit before they commit to attending other institutions," Saving Sweet Briar said in a March 7 press release. “As we ask our current students to wait before making decisions to leave, we also ask our sister colleges to give our efforts time to succeed.”
Ashbrook also said he encouraged the alumnae and Sweet Briar community to continue to fight against its closing.
“I would like to encourage the alums and the community, if they can, to support Saving Sweet Briar, and to stay strong,” Ashbrook said. “We didn’t teach the alums to be passive, we taught them to be active in their time here and there is no better time to show that than now.”
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