Sweet Briar reunion brings some 1,800 people to campus

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Many of the alumnae had pointed questions about the school's planned closing and how to keep it going.
 
 
    Pausing in the back of Babcock auditorium with her Sweet Briar reunion tour group, Gigi Mossburg looked out on empty seats and remembered them filled.
 
   "You should have seen it when Jane Goodall was here," the alumna said. "And do you remember Sally Ride?"
 
   Up at the front of the theater, someone had show tunes playing including "Seasons of Love" from "Rent."
 
   "In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife... Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes, how do you measure a year in the life?"
 
   This weekend's reunion, attend by about 1,800 people, caps a tumultuous school year for the 114- year-old college.
 
   Board members announced in March their plans to close the women's college in August, citing financial difficulties.
 
  Where leaders first discussed the possible closing of the college in secret, the now defend the decision in newspaper op0ed columns and in court. The college faced three lawsuits related to the closing; the state's highest court will hear oral arguments Thursday in a Supreme Court appeal filed by Amherst County Attorney Ellen Bower. And on Wednesday, a legal challenge from a group of faculty is set for a hearing in Bedford County.
 
  Among the alumnae at the reunion Saturday, friendly banter about past times on campus mixed with pointed question for staff and open plotted about how to keep the college open.
 
 Tour guide Abigail Hall, and assistant director of admissions for the school and a 201 graduate, spoke in present-not past-tense about the school's programs as she led alumnae and spouses around campus.
 
 At the end of the tour, Mossburg made her way to the chapel, where she's attended Sunday services, surrounded by the faces of faculty and students.

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