Closing of Sweet Briar College--A Case study

Recently, there have been discussions about the survival of 4 year colleges with a Liberal Arts focus. In the case of Sweet Briar College, they are closing.  This has brought up various discussions about the future of higher education in America, especially on the nature of the purpose of higher education.  When a college closes, both the students and faculty get hurt.  The administrators will just move on to the next job position.

The Richmond Times Dispatch reports:

Exactly one month after Sweet Briar College’s announcement to close, the tidy and manicured grounds of Sweet Briar House, home of the college’s president, was transformed into a center of activism during Friday’s sit-in protest.

Additionally, they are trying legal avenues.  It goes on further stating:

The Amherst County attorney seeks a legal injunction to prevent the college’s closure. A petition circulated among the crowd thanked Amherst County and requested signatures from those who are against the college’s closure. Organizers also requested participants send letters to Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring.

In the case of Sweet Briar College, it is a private institution, so we can't be certain that the plaintiffs have standing to go the legal route.

If a college closes, you lose your jobs.  This is something that certain members of the senior faculty at Compton Community College prevented.  The fact that the doors are still open is directly connected to the active work of the E-Boards at the time.  Several survivors of the initial turmoil continually try to warn people not to be complacent.

This is a case in which it appears the decision was somewhat shocking to faculty. The Atlantic reports,

The school has been having trouble attracting students to a woman's college, the president explained. Revenue from the increasingly discounted tuition and a restricted endowment couldn’t cover expenses—particularly those that were arguably quite lavish. Some employees, many of whom live on campus along with students, were reported to have wept silently in the pews as they heard the news.
This story has reverberated across the higher-education community over the past week, as many worry that other small colleges may soon suffer the same fate. It's already happening in some pockets. The governing board of Tennessee Temple University, a Christian liberal-arts college, for example, recently voted to shut down the school this May and merge with another Christian campus in North Carolina. It may be too hard for the small liberal-arts college model to survive in modern times.

The lesson of Sweet Briar College is that you can't assume your job is secure.  Also, the reasons for the closure of this college is getting more and more complicated.  What about donors to the college?  What about alumni?

Is it always about student success?  Schools like Sweet Briar College, a private well endowed institution, can close.  City College of San Francisco is still not out of the crosshairs of the ACCJC.  The fate of the institution formerly known as Compton College is still in flux.