Sweet Briar College’s supporters celebrated on Monday when a judge approved what seemed improbable only three months ago: an agreement that will allow the women’s institution to stay open next year.
Since the deal was announced, students and faculty members have been buzzing about the hard choices they’re now faced with. Among both groups, there’s a wave of uncertainty about what the college’s future will look like. Faculty members don’t know when they’ll learn if they will be offered their old positions back. Some colleges where Sweet Briar students had planned to transfer have offered to return the students’ deposits, but those students must still decide where they will enroll this fall.
Saving Sweet Briar, the alumnae group that has led a campaign to keep the college open, says it is already trying to help the administration recruit and retain students and professors. Teresa Tomlinson, the mayor of Columbus, Ga., who was Sweet Briar’s 2015 commencement speaker, said the group had received more than 100 emails in 24 hours from students who might return to, or enroll at, the college.
Many faculty members also said they hoped to return. Here’s what some students and professors told The Chronicle about their plans, now that the college is likely to be open this fall:
Deborah L. Durham, professor of anthropology
Ms. Durham arranged to work as a research associate with Harvard University after it was announced that Sweet Briar would close. But she said she wouldn’t be paid or receive benefits, so she would have been living off of her savings.
Now she hopes to return to Sweet Briar and be part of the team that will help redesign what the college’s future will look like.
While faculty members are excited about what’s next, they’re still in a state of uncertainty, she said, since they don’t know how many will return to the college or when they’ll learn if they’ve been offered a job.
“That moment of jubilation was great; we won,” she said. “I think that’s the feeling, but right now — at least for myself — it’s this new sense of limbo because we don’t know that the financial arrangements will be successful.”
Tony Lilly, associate professor of English
Mr. Lilly signed a one-year contract at Washington and Lee University, but he said officials there had said they would release him if he were offered his job back at Sweet Briar.
Still, he’s pressed for time to make a decision as to whether he’ll start at Washington and Lee this fall. Having another job offer adds a “degree of complexity” to his decision making, he said, adding that the university would want to fill the position if he stayed at Sweet Briar.
“I would certainly like to come back here, not only because I’d be coming back to my rank and my old salary, but to be part of rebuilding a place where I’ve put in so much time and energy and love,” Mr. Lilly said. (Photo credit: Meridith De Avila Khan, Sweet Briar College)
William R. Kershner, chair of the department of theater and dance
At 63 years old, Mr. Kershner decided not to look for a new position after it was announced that Sweet Briar would close. But he’s hopeful that he’ll be able to return to the campus, where he raised his sons and worked for 28 years.
The changes will force Sweet Briar to do things in new ways, and push faculty members and others to think outside of the box, Mr. Kershner said.
“I’m excited,” he said. “I’m ready to go, if they ask.”
Claudia Chang, professor of anthropology
Ms. Chang had just two years to go before she could retire, and she was one of the faculty leaders at the forefront of saving Sweet Briar. She also had funds left in a grant from the National Science Foundation, and a book she hopes to finish this summer.
She arranged to complete the research for her grant this fall at New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. That will probaby include an archaeological dig in September or October, Ms. Chang said. Ideally, she would return to Sweet Briar to teach starting next spring.
Getting some space away from Sweet Briar will be good for her, and distance could also give perspective to new ideas to help Sweet Briar move forward, Ms. Chang said.
“I need to have a mountaintop somewhere in Asia that I can look down at and contemplate the larger issues in life,” she said. “I want to have a little bit of distance.”
Katherine Martin, a sophomore and a marketing and media major
Ms. Martin said she was “always kind of in denial” about the possibility that Sweet Briar would close. She had made plans to transfer to Lynchburg College, but she hadn’t put down a deposit because she had little doubt that she’d be coming back.
Her mother, a Sweet Briar alumna involved in efforts to save the college, told her several times, “don’t give up and stay positive.” Ms. Martin also believes that most of the professors in her major will be returning to the college.
“I don’t see the alumnae or current students ever letting it get to this point again,” she said.
Ginny Williams, a junior and an anthropology major
Ms. Williams said she’s thrilled that Sweet Briar will remain open and praised the alumnae who’d made it possible. But she had made plans to transfer to Mary Baldwin College this fall, and she’s not sure whether she’ll return to Sweet Briar.
She and her parents are waiting to see which faculty members return to the college and whether she’ll retain all of her financial aid.
“My heart is at Sweet Briar,” she said. “If I can, and my parents agree, I would love to return.”
Tory Fairman, a junior and a biology major
Because it’s only guaranteed that Sweet Briar will stay open for one more year, Ms. Fairman said she won’t be returning to the college this fall. If Sweet Briar were to close before her senior year, she would worry about credit-transfer problems’ preventing her from graduating on time.
Ms. Fairman, who plans to transfer to Longwood University, said at least two professors in her major at Sweet Briar had found new positions, which added another layer of concern.
She’s upset that the college’s departing leaders left students and faculty members with an uncertain future. But she’s rooting for the college. “Hopefully, one day, I can send a daughter there, too,” she said.
Emily Hawk, a sophomore and a biology major
For Ms. Hawk, the decision to stay at Sweet Briar this fall was an easy one. She’d considered transferring with some of her friends to Lynchburg College, but she eventually decided that “Sweet Briar was always my first choice and will continue to be.”
Ms. Hawk said she attended several court hearings in the college’s legal disputes, and she’s done her homework about the financial viability of the college, so she’s confident that the institution will be around for the long term.
She has a lot of questions, and she knows other students do, too. Still, she’s getting the feeling that many students are excited to “come home.”
Correction (6/23/2015, 5:21 p.m.): This article originally misstated Tony Lilly’s job title. He is an associate professor of English, not an assistant professor. The article has been updated to reflect this correction.
