I really couldn’t see this working at this point. I mean, what would this mean for all the colleges that agreed to take SB transfers? Will the students that transferred from SB be able to go to SB this fall? That’s a tough decision for them to make. Will those colleges that accepted SB students have issues now that the seats they anticipated being filled with SB students are now empty? Most of the colleges that let in SB students after the transfer deadline are very small; losing those students could be hard for them.
What does this mean for all the prospective incoming freshman that enrolled elsewhere- will SB be capable of scraping together a freshman class, at this point?
Nobody said it would be neat and tidy. I see them running a skeleton operation this year–with or even without students while this goes thru more litigation. If they prove viability they can start recruiting faculty and students for next year. All this might do is given them that option with new board.
After this ruling, Attorney Ellen Bowyer gets another chance at securing more relief in her legal challenge against Sweet Briar College.
She may or may not get this, but we’ll know by 6/24, since that’s the likely deadline for the circuit court to reconsider what temporary injunctions to put in place.
If they get everything they want, how would that work? It’s too late to sign up students for the fall and many of the current students would have already transferred.
@barrons It’s pretty tough to prove viability when you have no students.
You do a business plan like any business. Id go with free or minimal tuition for all students year 1 (probably next year) including former students that left. Gradually ramp that up as enrollment grows. Also taker serious look at coed or other major changes in focus.
@barrons I agree. What you suggest is similar to the way in which Antioch reopened. (BTW, Antioch’s president just announced he is stepping down.)
Many SBC faculty still on campus. They were crying with joy. It was pretty awesome. (Local Lynchburg TV news)
savingsweetbrair have a group of alumnae who have stepped up to cover deposits for transferring students to another school and back to SBC. These alumnae also offered to help those who choose not to return. Although they probably will not have a freshman class they have students willing to come back if it remains open. Many may have to because the teach-out schools will not honor the agreement written before this ruling because they were with the understanding with closure of a school. The students have been informed of this since the beginning…they would be consider transfer students causing many of them short of credits for timely graduations, if SBC stays open. I wish them good because they have raised awareness of what happens when a BOD stops believing in the mission they were given to carry out. Also, for those who do not know, the financial condition were not and are not what was presented on the announcing of the closing. They actually have seen an increase in endowment and a decrease in debt.
Do people really think that parents would send kids back to Sweet Briar? Sound like a pipe dream to me and at a minimum puts some students and parents between a rock and a hard place. If SB was bleeding financially, how do you keep a campus open with virtually no students or a handful of students that may have had all different majors without continuing the financial drain. Sounds like a scenario with no good ending.
@momofthreeboys I agree. While it’s very sweet that the alumni stepped up and offered to pay those deposits, none of the problems that SB had leading up to their closing have been solved. It just isn’t a school with a wide enough audience anymore. You can’t do the same thing twice and expect a different result.
Besides, those girls, particularly rising sophomores/juniors, would be out of their minds to come back to SB when it’s still technically in dire straits. What’s to stop SB from closing next year? Those transfer agreements that certain colleges offered before may not be offered again.
It’s sad the school closed and I will always feel sorry for the students and faculty this affected, but this ruling changes little.
You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. This is silly. Who is going to want to send a daughter there in this turmoil?
This just forestalls the inevitable. This is probably the most accurate statement in the link:
to be clear, the Court did not rule on the merits of the case, just a technical issue: does the lower court have the authority to issue an injunction. The Supreme’s said, yes, the lower court does have the authority, not that the lower court should issue an injunction (against “selling bequeathed” property).
Moreover, this still doesn’t mean that the college will continue. Back to the lower court for a trial/hearing, which will take months and another school year will have started without students? Alternatively, the SB board could just fold up shop and give/donate the land to the State. In the meantime, millions more of the remaining endowment spent on legal fees.
I can see that seniors would come back to finish up. That’s about it.
If they were prepared to quadruple the student body and go coed, they might have a chance.
I believe the capacity is closer to 1000. About double their last enrollment. The courts here dont take months–justice is amazingly swift. Ask the UVa lacrosse murderer. Meanwhile in WA state murderers from over 5 years ago still await trial.
I was thinking about quadrupling 800. 4000 would be even better.