Real Lesson For VI, Bristol

Two years after a financial crisis threatened to close its doors, Virginia Intermont College has raised nearly $12 million and won back unqualified accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

On Thursday, Michael J. Puglisi, president of the private, liberal arts college, proudly announced that the college met all the challenges established by SACS by a June 2009 deadline.

Virginia Intermont raised nearly $12 million, including a $1.5 million gift from Bristol businessman and philanthropist Bill Gatton, who met with college officials after the school was first put on probation. Gatton began a support drive and personally donated $1.5 million to VI because of his belief that the college was worth saving. It was fantastic news for the college and for Bristol.

At last week’s announcement, Gatton expressed a desire to “move on from the last two years.”

No doubt this period has been painful and embarrassing for this school, which expects to enroll 600 students next fall. Financial hurdles can be especially difficult to overcome for small, private colleges that do not receive state funding.

For VI to gain traction and move forward, it must incorporate the academic SACS recommendations into its standard operations. And it must overhaul how it seeks donors to the college. Small, private schools need crackerjack development officers who know how to get alumni, friends and others to reinvest and give back.

Gatton’s faith in the college and his huge gift likely prompted others to give deeply, but he cannot be counted on to make similar gifts repeatedly. We hope the college uses this whole situation as a lesson for growth – both academic and financial.

We also noticed that college leaders seemed nearly surprised that the college made the deadline and often credited God with the success. “Our prayers have been answered,” Puglisi told about 100 supporters, in making the announcement.

David Stancil, a members of VI’s Board of Trustees and pastor at First Baptist Church in Bristol, said: “I don’t know that I would have put up a whole lot of money on us [getting off probation], but I do know I put a whole lot of prayer on it.”

Certainly people of faith are going to seek support through prayer. But it was people who worked tirelessly to answer SACS’ questions and those who wrote checks who ultimately put VI back in good standing as a college. Now, for the future of the college, VI must institutionalize those practices so it never finds itself so cash-strapped and wanting again.