Within a week of the announcement that Sweet Briar College (SBC) will close its doors in August, Mary Baldwin University has stepped up in various ways to lend support to its sisters across the Blue Ridge.
From quickly mobilizing an admissions process to smoothing out academic plans to wearing Sweet Briar pink and green and posting supportive messages on social media students, staff, and faculty are encouraging SBC students to consider Mary Baldwin their new home as they begin the transfer process.
“My friends and I on campus are heartbroken at the loss of Sweet Briar College,” said Taylor Frick ’17, a psychology major from Martinsville. “I know the impact an all-women’s college can make on the lives of its students. I am completely devastated at the loss of [a school such as Sweet Briar] because I find them to be empowering.”
At a special meeting this week, Mary Baldwin faculty unanimously affirmed a teach-out agreement with Sweet Briar, which paves the way for students who wish to continue their undergraduate studies at a women’s college. The provisions of the teach-out agreement recognize the integrity of the Sweet Briar academic program: students in Sweet Briar’s honors program will be automatically invited into Mary Baldwin’s Global Honors Scholars program, and all SBC courses transferred in under this agreement will be treated exactly like Mary Baldwin courses. Usually grades do not transfer and students have to start over with a new GPA when they move to a new school; for Sweet Briar students those rules are being suspended in order to recognize all their collegiate work.
“From the day of the Sweet Briar announcement, the Mary Baldwin faculty has been working on creative strategies to serve SBC students. Departments have drawn up course equivalency charts to help Sweet Briar students see how courses will transfer, and individual faculty members have responded quickly to calls and emails from Sweet Briar students in their respective majors,” said Catharine O’Connell, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college. “Most striking of all has been the sincere compassion expressed by our community for everyone at Sweet Briar — students, staff, and faculty. I have been moved by the generosity of our faculty and their immediate desire to reach out to our sister school.”
Vixens on Campus
“If there are chemistry or psychology SBC students visiting and need some insight about classes at Mary Baldwin, I’d love to help,” someone posted on the anonymous message board Yik Yak, popular among students. Many in the Mary Baldwin community, including an impassioned alumni base, have used the hashtags #stayfoxyatmbc and #vixenswelcome to show support. “I was sad to hear the news about Sweet Briar, but I’m so proud of my alma mater for stepping in to lend assistance,” Rebecca Morrison ’98 posted to Facebook. Looking Inward In the immediate aftermath of the SBC closure announcement, Lindsey Lieberman ’04 was inspired to support her alma mater with a gift to the Baldwin Fund in honor of Sweet Briar. “Tonight, as I raise my glass to 114 years of Sweet Briar College women, I am reminded once again of just how fragile women’s colleges really are,” Lieberman posted on Facebook. “Sweet Briar’s closing is heartbreaking, and I refuse to sit by and allow my alma mater fail — especially now that we have opened our doors to the Vixens.” Likewise, leadership of the college’s Alumnae/i Association Board of Directors took the opportunity to reaffirm support of President Pamela Fox and the Board of Trustees for providing vision for Mary Baldwin. “We thank you, and applaud you, for having the foresight and courage to position Mary Baldwin for success before dire circumstances had the opportunity to surface. You have been brave. You have been steadfast. You have been passionate and successful,” wrote Christy Howell ’93 and Theresa Cash Lewis ’99. With Sweet Briar’s closure, Mary Baldwin and Hollins University in Roanoke will be the only two all-women colleges in Virginia. With a national spotlight on all-female institutions of higher learning, Fox penned an op ed for The Washington Post to challenge the notion that small, women-centered, liberal arts colleges are doomed to failure, pointing to Mary Baldwin’s own record of reinvention that has allowed the institution to thrive for 173 years. “At first glance, Mary Baldwin — a women’s college in a small Virginia city without a large endowment — might seem to fall into the endangered species category,” Fox wrote. “Mary Baldwin has defied all odds because it has evolved in ways that connect enduring heritage with courageous, entrepreneurial spirit to serve new generations of students.”
“If there are chemistry or psychology SBC students visiting and need some insight about classes at Mary Baldwin, I’d love to help,” read a recent post on the anonymous message board Yik Yak, popular among students.
Many in the Mary Baldwin community, including an impassioned alumni base, have used the hashtags #stayfoxyatmbc and #vixenswelcome to show support.
“I was sad to hear the news about Sweet Briar, but I’m so proud of my alma mater for stepping in to lend assistance,” Rebecca Morrison ’98.
Looking Inward
In the immediate aftermath of the SBC closure announcement, Lindsey Lieberman ’04 was inspired to support her alma mater with a gift to the Baldwin Fund in honor of Sweet Briar.
“Tonight, as I raise my glass to 114 years of Sweet Briar College women, I am reminded once again of just how fragile women’s colleges really are,” Lieberman posted on Facebook. “Sweet Briar’s closing is heartbreaking, and I refuse to sit by and allow my alma to mater fail — especially now that we have opened our doors to the Vixens.”
Likewise, leadership of the college’s Alumnae/i Association Board of Directors took the opportunity to reaffirm support of President Pamela Fox and the Board of Trustees for providing vision for Mary Baldwin.
“We thank you, and applaud you, for having the foresight and courage to position Mary Baldwin for success before dire circumstances had the opportunity to surface. You have been brave. You have been steadfast. You have been passionate and successful,” wrote Christy Hawkins Howell ’93 and Theresa Cash Lewis ’99.
With Sweet Briar’s closure, Mary Baldwin and Hollins University in Roanoke will be the only two all-women colleges in Virginia. With a national spotlight on all-female institutions of higher learning, Fox penned an op ed for The Washington Post to challenge the notion that small, women-centered, liberal arts colleges are doomed to failure, pointing to Mary Baldwin’s own record of reinvention that has allowed the institution to thrive for 173 years.
“At first glance, Mary Baldwin — a women’s college in a small Virginia city without a large endowment — might seem to fall into the endangered species category,” Fox wrote. “Mary Baldwin has defied all odds because it has evolved in ways that connect enduring heritage with courageous, entrepreneurial spirit to serve new generations of students.”