Strength or Stupidity?

When does a strength become a weakness? One answer is whenever the strength is overdone; e.g., perseverance is a strength, but when overdone it can become bullheaded and costly. The current situation at Sweetbriar College (yes, that Sweetbriar) may be close to a strength overdone. Sweetbriar is a now-famous case study of a small liberal arts college for women where the trustees opted in 2015 for closure due to declining enrollment and dwindling funds. The alumni network went ballistic and successfully lobbied the trustees for Sweetbriar to remain open.As the Chronicle of Higher Education story reports, enrollment is still meager at just 325 students, and now the college is launching a bet-the-farm sort of enrollment strategy comprised of rebranding around women in leadership and a new tuition plan. Perseverance or stupidity? Time will tell, but we can't help wondering whether the time has come to liquidate and contribute the remaining assets to another like-missioned institution while there are still assets to contribute.We see many markets in the U.S. where demography is in a long, slow decline (overall population may be holding its own, but the number of school-age children drops year after year. This creates a structural enrollment problem that cannot be solved by better marketing, rebranding, new programs or anything similar. We think more boards should consider dissolution as a business strategy--just another way of advancing the mission when the proverbial writing is so clearly on the wall.