Student Handbook - Sweet Briar College

Sweet Briar’s MissionSweet Briar is a four-year, independent college whose aim is to prepare womento be active, responsible members of a world community. Its curriculum isorganized on the premise that a foundation in the liberal arts and sciences is anessential means to this end. Study of the liberal arts and sciences enhances thedevelopment of critical and creative abilities, develops the ability to synthesizedisparate information, equips the student for graduate and professionaleducation, and encourages the individual to continue to learn long after leavingSweet Briar. A broadly based academic program teaches her to view herexperience within wider contexts, to appreciate the achievements of the past, tounderstand the methods and major theories of science, to gain an appreciation ofthe arts, and to communicate with precision and cogency. At Sweet Briar thisstudy takes place within a residential environment that encourages physicalwell-being, ethical awareness, sensitivity to others, responsibility for one’sactions, personal initiative, and the assumption of leadership.Sweet Briar continues its commitment as a women’s college in order to devoteall of its resources to the education of women in the full range of the liberal artsand sciences, including those subjects that have been traditionally considered asmale domains. The faculty teaches individuals on a human scale. In smallclasses, students receive the attention that encourages self-confidence and theimprovement of skills for life and livelihood. A highly qualified faculty,committed to undergraduate teaching of the highest standards, contributes tofulfilling these goals. The College continues to seek a diverse student bodywhich is drawn from a national and international pool of applicants. As anindependent college, Sweet Briar possesses the flexibility to respond to themany challenges that face higher education in a rapidly changing world.Historical SketchSweet Briar was founded in 1901 by Indiana Fletcher Williams in memory ofher only daughter, Daisy, who died in 1884 at the age of sixteen. Mrs. Williamswas a daughter of Elijah Fletcher, who came to Virginia from Ludlow, Vermont,in the early nineteenth century and taught school in Amherst County. Later hemoved to Lynchburg where he owned and published a newspaper, became acivic leader, and amassed large holdings of land as well as a considerablefortune.At the time of Mrs. Williams’ death in 1900, her estate consisted of more thaneight thousand acres of land, including the Sweet Briar plantation and half ofone million dollars. Under the terms of her will, the Trustees were directed toincorporate an educational foundation in the state of Virginia, to establish it as a________________________________________________________________5