Southern Vermont College was a private liberal arts college located on the former Edward Everett Estate near Bennington, Vermont. The college closed on May 31, 2019.
History
Southern Vermont College was founded in 1926 as St. Joseph Business School, an institution offering certificates of proficiency in secretarial accounting, finance, shorthand and typewriting. Eleven students were in the first graduating class. In 1962, it became an accredited junior college, St. Joseph College, awarding associate degrees in business and secretarial science. Twelve years later, in 1974, the school moved to its current location on the Edward Hamlin Everett Estate and became Southern Vermont College, a nonsectarian liberal arts college offering a career-directed curriculum. In the years immediately following this change of location, the college earned bachelor's degree authority from the Vermont Department of Education and full accreditation with the New England Commission of Higher Education. In 2019, NECHE placed the college on "show-cause" status and asked the college to provide additional information about its financial stability to retain its accreditation. Immediately after a hearing with SVC, the accreditor voted to withdraw the college's accreditation beginning in September. The following day, SVC trustees announced that the college would close at the end of the spring 2019 semester.
Campus
The 27-room Everett Mansion, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, served as the college's primary administrative and academic building. It was built 1911–14 for Edward H. Everett, a successful businessman from Cleveland, Ohio, and is architecturally a distinctive combination of Beaux Arts and Norman Revival styles. The architect, George Oakley Totten Jr., also designed Everett's Washington, DC residence,. It hosts the library, theatre, Center for Teaching and Learning, Burgdorff Gallery, eight classrooms, plus administrative offices. From 1977 to 1994, the theatre served as the residence for the regionally acclaimed Oldcastle Theatre Company. The college had five residence halls, as well as a residence hall complex, Hunter Hall, that was completed in 2009 and accommodates 110 residential students. This residence hall, situated on the slopes of Mt. Anthony with views of the Green Mountains, is both a living and learning facility, with science and computer labs, study rooms, and an atrium overlooking a pond. Other buildings include the Dining Hall, Mountaineer Athletic Center with Fitness Center, and a 24-hour computer lab.
Academics
Southern Vermont College offered 16 academic degree programs in five academic divisions: The McCormick Division of Business, The Hunter Division of Humanities, The Division of Nursing, The John Merck Division of Science and Technology, and The Donald Everett Axinn Division of Social Sciences. It was a member of the Association of Vermont Independent Colleges and the Vermont Campus Compact, affiliated with the national association of colleges that include community service, hands-on learning and civic engagement as part of their academic requirements. All first-year students at Southern Vermont College took "Quest for Success," a course that combines classroom instruction with off-campus community projects in such fields as environmental restoration, research on historic objects in the local museum work with a local theater company, and media studies with Community Access Television. In the fall of 2013, Southern Vermont College partnered with the College Steps Program, joining two other Vermont colleges engaged in this program aimed at supporting students with cognitive impairments. It provided them with an opportunity to participate in a modified two-year college experience. In January 2014, Southern Vermont College established the Veterans' Scholar Program. The program worked with veterans and military-connected family members.
Athletics
Southern Vermont College offered NCAA Division III athletics, and competed in the New England Collegiate Conference. The Mountaineers competed in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, softball, women's lacrosse, and men's and women's volleyball. In the fall of 2012, the women's volleyball team won the NECC Championship for the third consecutive year.
