Picking up from the last blog, the year is 2015 and Sweet Briar Women’s College has decided to close its doors in the wake of the financial crisis (Biemiller, 2017; Newberry, n.d.; Newberry, 2015; Poleski, 2020; Svrluga, 2020;Woodhouse & Jaschik, 2015). The news of the schools pending closer stirred controversy in the Higher Education Community (Woodhouse & Jaschik, 2015) One outspoken member of the community was Blueridge College President Phil Stone. Stone stated that there was no reason to close Sweet Briar college (Elfman,2015). With Stone’s encouragement and support the Sweet Briar Community took action to save the school.
Alumni, Faculty, staff, and stakeholders joined together and started a charity in efforts to save Sweet Briar (Poleski, 2020). In approximately 100 days the charity raised $28 million dollars and sought legal action against the former administration (Svrluga, 2020; Newberry, 2015). The legal action was originally dismissed by the administration as a mere distraction meant to keep them from their duties (Woodhouse & Jaschik, 2015). However, the case made it to the Virginia Supreme Court and found the board in fault of their familiarity responsibility and allowed for a new administration to come in that very summer with Phil Stone at the helm (Elfman, 2015, Newberry, 2015).
The new administration had to move quickly to reopen the school by August, 2015. They managed to do exactly that, with new Bylaws in the works and 324 students Sweet Briar reopened in fall of 2015 (Newberry, n.d). Two Years later Sweet Briar would announce the retirement of Dr. Stone and a new President, Meredith Woo (Biemiller, 2017). Dr. Stone has been credited for stabilizing the school's financial decline and setting up enrollment goals (Woodhouse & Jaschik, 2015). However, it was Dr. Woo who established a new tuition plan that would make it happen. Under Dr. Woo’s leadership the new administration sought a more Linear Strategic approach to the financial crisis.
The Linear Strategic model is rooted in profit management and focuses on planning and changing the product to fit the market (Chaffee, 1985). The product of higher education is knowledge. These meant redesign the curriculum and core focus. The college shifted to focus more on leadership as well as the school’s liberal arts roots (Biemiller, 2017). Dr. Woo acknowledged the value of liberal arts education and the need to prepare women for the modern world (Biemiller, 2017) .
Dr. Woo’s biggest change was moving away from what she called the confusing “high price and heavy discount tuition pricing model” associated with private liberal arts colleges (Biemiller, 2017). The new pricing model has the cost of attending Sweet Briar College now within the range of Virginia’s flagship insulation (Biemiller, 2017). Dr. Woo’s vision for Sweet Briar is to move the school from the past focus of serving the upper class to meeting the needs of the diverse community (Biemiller, 2017). These changes are consistent with the Linear Strategic Model as they depend heavily on foresight and changing to meet the needs of consumers (Chaffee, 1985).
Sweet Briar College is still open today and in that regard the campaign to save the school was successful. However, the school is still operating with low enrollments numbers. As of the 2019-2020 school year, Sweet Briar College had only 354 students enrolled, less that half of the goal number set in 2016 (E02: Fall Headcount Enrollment (1992 thru Current Year), n.d.). However, an unexpected twist turned low enrollment into an attractive quality. The final blog in this series will cover how Sweet Briar College responded to COVID-19 and what other lessons are to be learned from their near closer and return to operation.
References
Biemiller, L. (2017, September 6). After All but Closing, Sweet Briar Will Shift Curriculum and
Pricing. Chronicle.com. https://www.chronicle.com/article/after-all-but-closing-sweet-
briar-will-shift-curriculum-and-pricing/?
bc_nonce=hra8ivxfovufvh14b47tn&cid=reg_wall_signup
Chaffee, E. E. (1985). Three models of strategy. The Academy of Management Review,
10(1), 89–98.
E02: Fall Headcount Enrollment (1992 thru Current Year). (n.d.). Research.Schev.Edu.
Retrieved November 24, 2020, from
https://research.schev.edu//enrollment/E2_Report.asp
Newberry, J. (n.d.). More lessons from the ( sweet) Briar Patch. Retrieved November 24,
2020, from https://www.steptoe-j
ohnson.com/sites/default/files/More%20Lessons%20from%20the%20(Sweet)%20Briar
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Newberry, J. (2015). Lessons from The ( Sweet ) Briar Patch. https://www.steptoe
johnson.com/sites/default/files/Lessons%20from%20the%20(Sweet)%20Briar%
20Patch_0.pdf
Poleski, D. (2020, March 3). Defining leadership: five years after the Saving Sweet Briar effort.
Sweet Briar College | News. https://sbc.edu/news/defining-leadership/
Woodhouse, K., & Jaschik, S. (2015, June 22). What the case of Sweet Briar means for other
colleges. Www.Insidehighered.com.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/22/what-case-sweet-briar-means-
other-colleges