10 Questions Live: How lawyer Phillip Stone brought Sweet Briar College back to life
Sweet Briar College is well into its second year of its second life. In March 2015, the school’s board of directors announced its decision to close the school down, citing endowment issues and low enrollment. After protests and lawsuits, a summertime settlement emerged that ensured classes could remain in session, but many students and faculty had departed. The new president, lawyer Phillip Stone, arrived at Sweet Briar on July 2, 2015 with a big job ahead of him.
Stone has experience in turning around small schools: He spent 16 years at the helm of Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, Virginia, where during his tenure enrollment doubled and the endowment grew by $40 million.
“When I got [to Sweet Briar] … all the staff had just been fired,” Stone told Jenny Davis during the ABA’s 10 Questions Live Google Hangout on Thursday. “So, we had to be open for school in just six weeks. So, getting open for school was the first landmark of our success. If we got that, that would be a miracle, but it was critical that we get there. And then we had a fabulous year fiscally in our first year.”
Watch the video of Stone’s full conversation with Davis below.
