Dive Brief:
- Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is arguing that the Amherst County attorney who filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state to keep Sweet Briar College from closing this summer lacks standing in the case.
- Herring said attorney Ellen Bowyer does not have the right to represent the state in the matter and, if a judge agrees with him, Bowyer will have to appeal to keep her case alive, the News & Advance reports.
- Herring’s office is already reviewing Sweet Briar’s decision to close the college and its obligations based on laws regulating use of charitable gifts, and the attorney general wants to continue that review without interruption by Bowyer’s case, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
Sweet Briar College trustees announced at the beginning of March that the college would close at the end of this academic year. While it still has an approximately $80 million endowment, trustees decided systemic financial troubles could not be resolved in time to save the school. Sweet Briar alumnae have fought the closure, raising nearly $4 million in pledges to bolster the college’s finances. Reversing the trustees’ unanimous decision, however, seems to be likely only with a court order. Wilson College in Chambersburg, PA, was forced to continue after trustees voted to close because of a successful lawsuit in 1979.
Sweet Briar alumnae have retained their own attorney to explore legal options, but some see Herring’s statements as a death blow to their movement.