South Hadley is a historic New England town with a long and supportive partnership with Mount Holyoke College. We are fortunate to share our community with a proud member of the Seven Sisters colleges whose reputation for success reaches around the world. That success did not arise in isolation. It rests on generations of local investment in public safety, infrastructure, schools, the natural environment, and civic stability all of which helped the college grow and which continue to sustain it.
Today the town faces difficult fiscal choices. Proposed cuts to schools, libraries, town services, and the Council on Aging come alongside a Proposition 2½ override that would shift additional costs onto residents. For many households already managing rising housing, energy, and tax expenses, even small increases carry real consequences. Those impacts fall hardest on low-income residents, seniors on fixed incomes, families educating their children, and teachers supporting families of their own. Every line item in a proposed budget represents our neighbors who struggle to balance essential needs.
Before placing a greater burden on the less fortunate, we should examine alternatives that reflect our shared history. A voluntary contribution equal to 2.5% of annual tuition would create a predictable, recurring revenue stream for the town — revenue that rises with institutional success rather than with residential hardship. For a community of roughly 18,000 residents, even modest institutional participation can materially stabilize local services.
This proposal is not without due consideration for the many benefits Mount Holyoke College already provides South Hadley. It reflects reciprocity between a successful institution and the historic town that helped make that success possible.
A fair 2.5% reflects an established truth: institutions thrive when the towns that support them thrive.
Rudy Ternbach
South Hadley