SWEET BRIAR, Va. — Weeks into his presidency at Sweet Briar College, Phillip C. Stone still marvels at the energy of passionate alumnae who helped save the school just a few months ago from the fate of dozens of other women’s colleges: closure. But he knows that, without a serious change in fortune, the salvation will only be temporary.
The 72-year-old lawyer sat in his office this month as dozens of former students fanned over the 3,250-acre grounds in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to paint, pull weeds and mulch ahead before classes start Aug. 27.
“Our alumnae are really gassed up to help,” Stone said. “They are all over the campus.”
And they want to do more, he said.
“They want to help us recruit students, and we’re going to turn them loose,” Stone said, calling their pitch to prospective students “passion sales.”
But Stone admits the school’s long-term future will require more than just the fierce loyalty and the millions in donations that Sweet Briar women summoned to achieve a rare feat in higher education—saving a school from shutdown.
“The key is more students,” Stone said. “That’s going to be the heart of what we do.”
