John Shearer: Sweet Briar College Closing Met With Sadness By Local Alumnae

The word “alma mater” means nurturing mother in Latin, and that is because graduates of a college often have familial-like feelings about where they went to school.
 
Many cannot help but recall with soft hearts the way their college stimulated them academically, helped them mature and expand their lives socially, and often did all of that amid a nice physical setting.
 
That might explain why the several dozen Chattanoogans and former Chattanoogans who attended Sweet Briar College for women in Virginia are reacting with such emotion along with other alumnae over its planned closing.
 
“When I read the letter (from the school), it felt like a death in the family,” said Lee Parham of Lookout Mountain.
 
In early March, the school announced plans to close in August the liberal arts college in the foothills of Central Virginia near Lynchburg. Reasons cited included declining enrollment due in part to its rural location, students leaving before graduating, major maintenance needs, and the fact that the school has had to dip into its endowment for operating expenses.
 
The school -- which opened for classes in 1906 after being founded in 1901 -- has already set up agreements with other colleges, including rival Hollins College in Roanoke, to allow the current Sweet Briar students to transfer.
 
A number of women’s colleges have struggled or closed in recent years, as have some historic black colleges and other small private colleges. The reasons have ranged from changing social customs to the growth and greater availability of online learning and state-operated universities and community colleges.
 
The historically black Knoxville College and the United Methodist Church-affiliated Hiwassee College in Madisonville are two East Tennessee schools that have been in the news in recent years over enrollment and financial problems.
 
But when it is your school, it hits home in a hard way, and that is the case with the alumnae of Sweet Briar. A non-profit group called Save Sweet Briar has been formed and has already raised several million dollars in an effort to persuade the college to stay open. Lawsuits have also been filed to halt the closure.
 
In recent days, those fighting the closing have also tried to get the Virginia General Assembly involved.
 
According to a Sweet Briar official, approximately 50 Sweet Briar alumnae live in the Chattanooga area. Many are also connected with prominent local families.
 
Some of them also attended Girls Preparatory School when attending an all-women’s college was popular as well, especially in the North Carolina/Virginia region where single-sex colleges were so numerous a generation or two ago. However, one GPS official said few, if any, GPS graduates have attended Sweet Briar in recent years.
 
According to a list provided by Mrs. Parham, Sweet Briar alumnae in the Chattanooga area besides her include Julia Sanford, Emily Brown, Mollie Nelson, Peggy Laney, Libby Wann Duff, Susan Martin, Mary Ferris Kelly, Elizabeth McCallie, Stevie Keown, Kathy Patten, Virginia Polley, Katherine Warner, Janie McNabb, Fran Palmer, Norma Mills, Keating Griffiss, Frances Smith, and Sarah Moore, among others.
 
Among the deceased Chattanoogans who attended were Mildred Montague, Hedy Davenport, Ruth Street, Madden McCallie, Jane Bradley, Hilda Chapin, Kitty Maclellan and Mary Oehmig, Mrs. Parham said.
 
Although Mrs. Parham has regularly substituted as a teacher at GPS in recent years, she actually attended a public high school in Norfolk, Va., before enrolling at Sweet Briar and graduating in 1963.
 
For her, the college was perfect in both its setting and offerings.
 
“It’s just a magnificent spot on this Earth,” she said of the bucolic campus that features a number of buildings designed by noted American architect Ralph Adams Cram.
 
She said it was also a great place for nurturing female leadership, as the women students held all the leadership positions.
 
It was also a fine environment for intellectual stimulation, as she met noted poet Robert Frost, heard writer Flannery O’Connor and listened to the Washington, D.C., symphony orchestra on campus.
 
“I feel like I had a wonderful liberal arts education,” Mrs. Parham said.
 
1978 GPS graduate Lucie Stephens Holland also attended Sweet Briar and has similarly warm feelings of being challenged in a positive way.
 
“A Sweet Briar education for me meant rigorous classes tailored to fit each student’s interests, strengths and goals with accessible and caring faculty in a serene and historic setting,” said Mrs. Holland, who now lives in Virginia outside Washington, D.C.
 
She decided to attend the school for a variety of reasons: its rural location, its excellent academic reputation and the friendly welcome she received on her campus visit.
 
“It felt like home from the first moment I entered the grounds,” she said.
 
She also had relatives living in the area, and had also admired Chattanooga area alumnae like Madden McCallie, who was a friend of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gerry Stephens.
 
As part of an opportunity that has been available for Sweet Briar students since long before study abroad programs became popular at a number of other schools, Mrs. Holland also spent her junior year in Paris.            
 
Both Mrs. Holland and Mrs. Parham say Sweet Briar has an active alumnae group, with Mrs. Parham adding that the women used to have regular gatherings in Chattanooga.
 
The alumnae are leading the efforts to keep the school open, and both Mrs. Holland and Mrs. Parham say they are following with hopeful interest that chapter of the story.
 
“I think they were blindsided by how much response there has been from the alumnae and others,” said Mrs. Parham. “I really believe the story at this point is the legion of women all over this country and abroad who want to save the college.”
 
In terms of public outcry, the Sweet Briar situation has not been totally unlike the efforts of many to prevent the University of Tennessee from dropping the Lady Vols nickname from all women’s sports teams except basketball.
 
Mrs. Holland said she is not sure of all the nuances and complex factors regarding the decision to close Sweet Briar and realizes every story has two sides. But she is hopeful the college will not close as is currently planned.
 
“All of us involved realize times change, but I hope the college won’t be denied the chance to survive and thrive until all options have been explored,” she said.
 
Just a few days ago, Mrs. Holland attended a Friends of Art of Sweet Briar meeting at the college, where the status of the school’s art collection was discussed.
 
Needless to say, she also took a little time to admire another seemingly priceless treasure for her – the school.
 
“It felt like home to be there, and I was reminded how special and spectacular the campus is and how fortunate I was to have received such an excellent liberal arts education there,” she said.
 
While the college’s future is uncertain at best, its past is definitely cemented in the hearts of both Mrs. Parham and Mrs. Holland and others.
 
“I loved it and so many people did, too,” Mrs. Parham said.
 
Added Mrs. Holland, “It’s a strange feeling to wear a class ring from a college that might no longer exist, but the value of our diplomas will never be diminished.”
 
Jcshearer2@comcast.net