“On what was essentially a Hail Mary play. If you can raise over $20 Million in months you have some real leaders. I also think the focus on the 1 year issue is overblown and can be changed as funds come in and a new admin takes over with a new plan.”
The “plan” means nothing without an ongoing influx of students. I don’t know where you think they are going to come from. You’re letting your Lynchburg love blind you to the reality of the situation.
BTW, I initially did look at Sweet Briar for my daughter in the context of single-sex. There was just no comparison between what they could offer and between what Wellesley, Smith, Bryn Mawr, etc. could offer. SB just doesn’t have much to offer within the niche in which it competes.
I would not have expected SBC to compete well with those others. That’s like comparing Northern Illinois to NU, Wisconsin and Michigan. Yet NIU continues to exist too.
The plan has not even been released yet so there is no way to know the plan. I’ll let everyone know when it does come out to the public. But not many thought the legal challenge would work and it was a near slam dunk.
Or you can follow along:
Yes. Because there is a big chunk of students at the NIU level. There’s enough demand to keep NIU afloat. There isn’t enough demand to keep SBC afloat.
I’m really torn about this. My DD attends an all women’s college so I’m a big proponent of Sweet Briar’s overall mission. However it seems like SB has been on a path to irrelevance for a very long time. While I applaud the efforts of the alumnae to rescue SB it seems to me the fundamental structure is going to have to change and I’m not sure that’s what the alumnae who are trying to “save” SB have in mind. I wish them well but the future for SB looks murky.
NIU is a relatively cheap, less selective public in a highly populated state. It offers the residential experience for students who may not be able to get into or afford UIUC. There are maybe four other IL schools like it. By contrast Sweet Briar is attempting to attract wealthier students (many of whom come from urban areas) to a small, rural, same sex college. There are dozens of schools exactly like it although these colleges have the dual benefits of having a student body and not being featured on national news for going under.
Barrons, the rumor way back when LU first floundered, well more than a decade ago, was that the government saved them, by building a secret bunker under the campus.
Part of SBC’s problem is that it had to dig for other than wealthy kids, to fill the ranks. That’s one reason they simply don’t get the volume/consistency in donations they once did. No one is saying what built the current 21 mil in SSB pledges- how many are from wealthy folks willing to continue at that level?
It’s nuts to have to compare SB against any old women’s college(s.) Proves my thought the school diluted its former strengths, what made it work before.
DeanJ | UVaAdmission @UVaDeanJ 4m4 minutes ago
We emailed #SweetBriar transfers admitted to #UVA today. We support them & will refund enrollment deposits if they wish to stay at #SBC.
whenhen–dont be so literal. And your image of SBC students is 20 years out of date.
A very experienced retired trial lawyer in our group suggested a lawsuit against the prior board and admin might be in order. I would not want to go down that road… You need people to take those roles without getting sued.
What parent in their right mind would let a student go “back” to Sweet Briar if accepted at UVa. Sweet Briar might implode at any point in time and the student has already gone through the first implode.
I served on a Board where someone threatened a lawsuit against the Directors.
1- That organization is no longer in business. The Attorney General of the state where it was registered got the final say on the disposition of assets, how to handle long term contractual obligations, who got to use the name, etc. with most of the input coming from- you guessed it- former board members. (who else understands the place?)
2- No lawsuit was filed- but it tipped the organization over the edge. The former CEO resigned as did several of the deep pocketed board members; you couldn’t back-fill the director roles. Even with insurance (and we had adequate insurance indemnifying members of the board) none of us wanted to spend our time giving depositions and doing court appearances. We were volunteers- who volunteers to serve on the board of a charitable organization only to end up in a lawsuit?
3- It was a terrible outcome for the actual people being served. (the org closed down and the assets distributed elsewhere). It was a great outcome for law firms- the one leading the charge to sue the directors (they got paid via a disgruntled stakeholder who could afford it) and the one working with the AG’s office on the wind-down. The staff of course- unemployed. More legal bills for a couple of estates which had not yet paid out legacy donations-- donors naming an organization in their will which are about to go under- so the estates needed legal advice on what to do with the assets.
My guess is that a threatened lawsuit against the former board of SB will end up with a similar outcome. Money for lots of lawyers; bad outcome for students and faculty.
But sure- talk about lawsuits. And so happy you have a very experienced retired trial lawyer on your side. Especially one with his hand on the trigger.
Barrons – that is literally the worst suggested legal advice I’ve ever heard. Good thing your friend is retired from practicing law!
Board members get “indemnified” by the school they serve. If SBC sues its outgoing trustees, then SBC has to pay for (i) the lawyers suing those board members and (ii) also the lawyers the board members hire to defend themselves against such a suit. If those board members are found liable, then SBC and its insurance policies pay the damages.
Unless the claim is that the trustees were embezzling school funds, for a school burning cash suing the outgoing board is literally the last thing you would decide to do.
And if SBC is not suing the trustees- but a third party suing on behalf of someone with standing (students, staff, faculty), then someone needs to pay those legal bills (i.e. a generous donor). Is this where SB’s generous alums want to spend their dough right now???
Heritage of retro, swanky, horsey finishing school. But 43% of current students are on Pell Grants. Rural location, non-selective academics and all female. Pretty hard to see how those cards make a winning poker hand.
See, northwesty, the drive to “save” the school seems to be where the real and deep planning ends. What students, what remaining faculty, what dollars, what ways to pull this baby up from the depths and ensure it goes forward, etc, are all hidden from view, if they even exist. Suing sounds empowered, just as forming SSB did. They need more.
Suing will really attract a fresh crop of students. Yes siree.
Honestly, barrons, you just seem to be someone who is so enamored of the area that you live in that you discount the fact that there’s a college there that just ain’t appealing and doesn’t have what it needs to compete in the higher education world in 2015.
“What parent in their right mind would let a student go “back” to Sweet Briar if accepted at UVa. Sweet Briar might implode at any point in time and the student has already gone through the first implode.”
Seriously, barrons. There’s ZERO INCENTIVE for any student to remain at SB.
This might sound stupid or ingenuous, but could Sweet Briar being taken into the UVA system somehow, with single-gender dorms and classes available, as well as single-gender ECs and so on?
I am totally against single-gender schools, but I can see how some people might be for them.
Rutgers had Douglass College as a women’s college, but it has been integrated more lately:
(BTW, “any undergraduate student who identifies as a woman” can go to Douglass College)
Note also that Douglass is now sort of an overlay, a residential option with significant resources, and students can pursue any major within the “academic colleges”.
Oh, they may return as seniors, their friends may be there, it’s the path of least resistance. Or the non-seniors may be so dependent on finaid, assuming it continues, that it’s the better option, even at the risk of the school closing again.
But it;s not sane, long range planning. It’s like bringing up a sunken ship, expecting it to float, just because. Alas.
I wonder how many professors will want to return to a job that has a questionable future. Based on how the last board treated them, I suspect that any that do return will be actively looking for another position.
True, but it is a tad difficult to take a college seriously that presents itself like a Lilly Pulitzer explosion and whose sports teams are the “Vixens.”
RH – are there any public single sex colleges left in existence?
Given the VMI Supreme Court case in 1996, a public single sex college in Virginia would never happen even if it were even legally possible (which it may not be).