The announcement of the closure of Hampshire College, just like the closure of Springfield’s Eastfield Mall in July 2023 is nothing short of a horrific loss for the Pioneer Valley and, in particular, the social fabric of the Northampton, Easthampton, and Amherst area.
For over 55 years, Hampshire has defined the Northampton area’s progressive, open, and liberal values in ways that none of the other colleges have done. While Amherst College with the caliber of a “Little Ivy like Havard or Yale,” Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges are women-centered, and UMass Amherst is the mainstream powerhouse bringing in the racial diversity, money and funding of the commonwealth, Hampshire was different. It was a place where traditional educational standards were thrown out the window in favor of alternative forms of learning, thinking and living, which gave rise to many voices in media, film, the arts, and entertainment today.
The announcement of its death, which also coincided with the anniversary of the day of Titanic’s accident which occurred on Sunday April 14, 1912, at 11:39 p.m. and her subsequent horrific loss at 2:20 a.m. on Monday April 15, 1912, 114 years ago, is not lost on me.
This college has been a part of my life; many of my close friends who are now integrated in the fabric of the valley for over 16 years and the hangout spots (19 Maple Ave., Dance Nights at the Fitzwilly’s building) I inhabited in my younger days were connected to former alumni of this college. Without Hampshire, my close friendships with many of these people would not exist today.
The fact that the valley, as a collective, did not value this is beyond devastating to me and proves once again that the progressive structure of Northampton and Amherst is a veil that always reveals itself to lack any sort of backbone to really advocate for the things that are truly wondrous and important. Hampshire was worth advocating for despite its many flaws and we as a society, especially a progressive and academic area of the valley fundamentally failed Hampshire and its historical legacy to the valley!
Hampshire wasn’t just some do-nothing special education college as has been portrayed; it was an institution and an integral part of the creation of the Five College Consortium in the 1970s. This closure has many implications for the valley, not least of which is the loss of the 39 PVTA bus route connecting Northampton, Hadley, the Hampshire Mall, and, inevitably, Hampshire College.
The profound sadness I feel for its closure is heavy, but the deeper sadness is that the valley itself, not the institution or the students themselves who tried to save Hampshire, did not advocate tooth and nail to maintain its historical legacy. The valley is dying and it’s time for people of it to wake up to this reality!
Douglas Ross lives in Boston.