University Business July 1, 2015 Alumnae group delivers $5 million in donations to Sweet Briar College By KARIN KAPSIDELIS Richmond Times-Dispatch Richmond Times-Dispatch Sweet Briar College supporters Tuesday delivered $5 million in donations - twice the amount required - to trigger a new era for the embattled private women's school, the alumnae group Saving Sweet Briar Inc. announced. Officially, the changing of the guard will take place at 4:59 p.m. Thursday, when the resignation of current members of the board of directors takes effect and the new leadership is installed a minute later, the group said. The new board will meet by conference call and its first order of business will be to formally elect Harrisonburg attorney Phillip C. Stone Sr. as president. "It's just so exciting to be part of this renaissance of the college," said Alice Dixon, a Richmond resident and 1982 Sweet Briar graduate who will serve on the board. Under the agreement reached to end litigation, the leadership transition hinged on Saving Sweet Briar delivering $2.5 million to the college by July 2. Saving Sweet Briar said that given the pace that pledges are being honored, it expects to have no problem meeting the terms of the negotiated settlement, which stopped the current board from permanently closing the college on Aug. 25. The group is required to provide a total of $12 million by early September, with the next installment due by Aug. 2. With the first transfer of funds, the college can begin the process of requesting that the state Attorney General's Office release restrictions on $16 million of endowment funds to support college operations for the coming academic year. Sweet Briar will be required to submit modification requests that will be reviewed by the AG staff to ensure that the proposed use is still in keeping with the charitable purposes expressed by the donor, said Michael Kelly, spokesman for Attorney General Mark R. Herring. The funds will be released in a series coinciding with the donations transferred to the school from the alumnae group, he said. Saving Sweet Briar raised $21 million in pledges - pledges that are legally binding, said another new board member, Teresa Pike Tomlinson. Tomlinson, the mayor of Columbus, Ga., rallied Sweet Briar supporters with a never-give-in commencement speech at what was to have been the college's final graduation in May. She said by email Tuesday that she is helping with fundraising now while other teams are working to recruit and retain students and bring back professors who had accepted positions elsewhere. Dixon said the heads of several key programs have agreed to return, and the college expects 200 to 300 students will be on campus this fall. Prospective freshmen have come to campus for tours, she said. "That's very encouraging." In a statement Friday, Stone, the former president of Bridgewater College, said he intends to provide returning students the same level of financial aid they received last year. He also said the college will expedite the review of financial aid requests from accepted freshmen who did not submit aid applications after the outgoing board announced March 3 that the college would close because of financial difficulties. When she heard that announcement, Dixon said, she felt initially resigned to accept the decision, "as painful as that was to me." But her view changed within the week as she learned more about how the college had been operated, she said, such as the fact that Sweet Briar did not have full-time directors for admission or development. The problems suddenly began to seem fixable, said Dixon, a chemistry teacher at Collegiate School in Henrico County. Alumnae now hope all the exposure Sweet Briar received will be a lesson in resilience and empowerment that will help recruit new students to the college in rural Amherst County. "We did this. We pulled this off in a little over 100 days," Dixon said. "The fact that we were able to raise over $21 million in approximately 100 days, with no donor records, through grass-roots efforts is a testament to the commitment that these alumnae have for saving this college." But she and others acknowledge the challenges ahead, and the college's website reflects the lingering questions. "During this transitional period, we know that you have lots of questions," says a message that pops up for visitors to the site. "However, please understand that it may be a few days before we have answers, and we will share them as quickly as possible." kkapsidelis@timesdispatch.com SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.