Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    Hands-On Career Preparation
    An AI-Driven Work Force
    Alternative Pathways
Sign In
Administration

Joy Over Sweet Briar’s Reopening Is Tempered by Questions About the Road Ahead

By Steve Kolowich June 22, 2015
Supporters who were determined to save the women’s college claim a victory. But the challenges remain, and the extent of the trauma caused by the decision to close the college is unclear.
Supporters who were determined to save the women’s college claim a victory. But the challenges remain, and the extent of the trauma caused by the decision to close the college is unclear.Julia Schmalz for The Chronicle

Sweet Briar College’s tentative reopening is a victory for its supporters, who refused to quit on the 114-year-old women’s college after the Board of Directors voted in February to shut it down.

That victory is tempered, however, by uncertainty about what will happen next. The college, on a 3,000-acre campus near Lynchburg, Va., now plans to reopen in the fall, but the extent of the trauma caused by the decision to close it — and the subsequent fight to keep it open — is not yet clear. Meanwhile, the college still faces the same enrollment and revenue challenges that prompted the decision to shut down.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Sweet Briar College’s tentative reopening is a victory for its supporters, who refused to quit on the 114-year-old women’s college after the Board of Directors voted in February to shut it down.

That victory is tempered, however, by uncertainty about what will happen next. The college, on a 3,000-acre campus near Lynchburg, Va., now plans to reopen in the fall, but the extent of the trauma caused by the decision to close it — and the subsequent fight to keep it open — is not yet clear. Meanwhile, the college still faces the same enrollment and revenue challenges that prompted the decision to shut down.

Many of the administrators who made that decision will not be part of Sweet Briar’s attempted rebirth. Under the terms of an agreement announced on Saturday by Virginia’s attorney general, at least 13 members of the Board of Directors will step down. Phillip C. Stone, a former president of Bridgewater College, in Virginia, is expected to take over the reins from Sweet Briar’s current president, James F. Jones Jr.

“Whoever becomes the new president will have a very, very fast turnaround in deciding what programs continue, and at what staffing levels,” said Cathy N. Gutierrez, who taught religion and classics at Sweet Briar for 18 years.

Ms. Gutierrez is glad about the reopening, but she said it offered cold comfort to Sweet Briar’s teaching force. “We are still terminated,” she said, adding that those who want to try to stick around under the new regime will not know if they have jobs until August.

Many have moved on, including Ms. Gutierrez. She plans to move to New York City, where her husband, Eric S. Casey, another refugee from Sweet Briar, has taken a job at a preparatory school. She said she expected to wait until the next hiring cycle, then apply for jobs.

By Ms. Gutierrez’s accounting, the faculty members who taught mathematics, engineering, and environmental science at Sweet Briar have all made plans to leave. “They need to staff those positions,” she said.

Some professors would jump at the chance to get rehired at Sweet Briar, she added, but the atmosphere probably will be different.

Creating that new atmosphere could be a challenge, and Sweet Briar’s new leadership may not have much margin for error. “Whoever is named president, that person needs to have a vision and position us in a way that no one has managed to do before,” Ms. Gutierrez said. “We need incoming students, we’re going to need new ideas. What really concerns me the most is that we’re going to need this so fast.”

In the meantime, key questions — about Sweet Briar’s ability to raise more money, bring departed students and faculty members back, and recruit new ones — are unanswered. “This is information that will be in discussions in the days ahead and not something we can answer right now,” Christy Jackson, a spokeswoman for the college, said in an email on Saturday.

‘Keep Your Promise’

Saving Sweet Briar Inc., the nonprofit group that led the push to keep the college open, now faces a new challenge: wrangling the millions of dollars that alumnae pledged to the effort.

ADVERTISEMENT

The group’s website flashed an exultant banner, “SWEET BRIAR SAVED,” followed by a caveat, “TIME TO KEEP YOUR PROMI$E.”

Saving Sweet Briar has raised more than $21 million in pledges, but less than 5 percent of that money has actually been collected, according to Eric Cote, a spokesman for the group.

Under the new agreement, Saving Sweet Briar must pay $12 million toward the “ongoing operations of the college.” The first payment, of $2.5 million, is due on July 2. The rest will be due 60 days after a judge signs off on the agreement, which is expected to happen on Monday, according to Mr. Cote.

Saving Sweet Briar now must make sure alumnae pony up more than half of the cash by late August.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Understandably, a number of those who pledged support were waiting to see the outcome of this case,” said Mr. Cote. Now that the initial battle has been won, “we know that those pledges are going to rapidly be converted to contributions,” he said.

Students who had made plans for life after Sweet Briar now must decide whether to return to a college that remains in limbo.

Reba Gagne, who just finished her junior year at Sweet Briar, was planning to go to Guilford College in the fall. Guilford, in North Carolina, had offered her all the financial aid she needed, along with assurances that her credits would transfer and that she could play lacrosse there.

Then she got a text from a Sweet Briar alumna, a day before the attorney general’s announcement, saying the Virginia college was going to reopen. The news was good, but also disorienting.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I am overjoyed Sweet Briar is able to reopen, but this does leave us with many questions,” she wrote in an email on Sunday. “We have yet to hear answers concerning financial aid, if our professors and coaches will be returning, and if it will be possible to graduate.”

Ms. Gagne said she had been on the phone with friends “nonstop” since the announcement. Many of them had not found a viable option after Sweet Briar announced its closure, she said, so they will probably return in the fall.

For Ms. Gagne, the decision is harder. She still loves Sweet Briar, but she is wary of the uncertainty hanging over the news of its reopening.

“If Sweet Briar is not able to pull through with my needs,” she said, “I cannot afford to gamble with my future and will not be able to come home.”

Steve Kolowich writes about how colleges are changing, and staying the same, in the digital age. Follow him on Twitter @stevekolowich, or write to him at steve.kolowich@chronicle.com.

Read other items in Sweet Briar Picks Up the Pieces.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Leadership & Governance
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
About the Author
Steve Kolowich
Steve Kolowich was a senior reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education. He wrote about extraordinary people in ordinary times, and ordinary people in extraordinary times.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Related Content

How Sweet Briar’s Board Decided to Close the College
Sweet Briar’s Demise Is a Cautionary Tale for Other Colleges
To Resurrect a College, Supporters Need More Than Nostalgia

More News

Photo-based illustration of a mirror on a green, patterned wallpaper wall reflecting Campanile in Berkeley, California.
A Look in the Mirror
At UC Berkeley, the Faculty Asks Itself, Do Our Critics Have a Point?
illustration of an arrow in a bullseye, surrounded by college buildings
Accreditation
A Major College Accreditor Pauses Its DEI Requirements Amid Pressure From Trump
Photo-based illustration of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia obscured by red and white horizontal stripes
'Demanding Obedience'
How Alums Put DEI at UVa in the Justice Dept.’s Crosshairs
Colin Holbrook
Q&A
‘I Didn’t Want to Make a Scene’: A Professor Recounts the Conversation That Got Him Ejected From Commencement

From The Review

American artist Andy Warhol, posing in front of The Last Supper, a personal interpretation the American artist gave of Leonardo da Vinci's Il Cenacolo, realized 1986, belonging to a series dedicated to Leonardo's masterpiece set up in palazzo delle Stelline; the work holds the spirit of Warhol's artistic Weltanschauung, demystifying the artwork in order to deprive it of its uniqueness and no repeatibility. Milan (Italy), 1987.
The Review | Essay
Were the 1980s a Golden Age of Religious Art?
By Phil Christman
Glenn Loury in Providence, R.I. on May 7, 2024.
The Review | Conversation
Glenn Loury on the ‘Barbarians at the Gates’
By Evan Goldstein, Len Gutkin
Illustration showing a valedictorian speaker who's tassel is a vintage microphone
The Review | Opinion
A Graduation Speaker Gets Canceled
By Corey Robin

Upcoming Events

Ascendium_06-10-25_Plain.png
Views on College and Alternative Pathways
Coursera_06-17-25_Plain.png
AI and Microcredentials
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin