When I read about Hampshire College closing at the end of the fall 2026 semester, the two words that came to mind were “tragic” and “devastating.” Full disclosure: I have no direct connection to the college. I’m not a current or former faculty member. I do have friends who are alumni and, 13 years ago, I took my son there on our “college tour” — he enjoyed the visit but attended a different small, private liberal arts college. However, as someone who spent 30 years in higher education, I long admired Hampshire being at the forefront of non-traditional collaborative learning for over 50 years. Its faculty/student-designed interdisciplinary programs attracted undergraduates who were inquisitive, inventive, creative, and engaged, many of whom didn’t neatly fit into a proscriptive course of study.
There simply aren’t a lot of colleges like Hampshire and to lose another of these institutions is a clear indication of the current precarious state of higher education in America. Hampshire, as do a number of private liberal arts colleges, faced a number of difficult issues, including escalating tuition, dwindling enrollment, and the potential loss of accreditation, while at the same time fighting the public perception that degrees from these schools make graduates unemployable, or force them to settle for low-paying careers that would require multiple lifetimes to pay off onerous student loan debt.
Increasingly, colleges and universities have become deeply committed to economic neo-liberalism. Faculty are no longer expected to “teach students” but to “train workers,” and in doing so, reformulate curriculum at the behest of administrators who, in consultation with marketing and branding “experts,” and business leaders decide what skills will best equip graduates searching for gainful employment. The result is these institutions are, out of economic necessity, being remade into skills-based, job training centers. This pedagogical model diminishes the role of the humanities and creative arts, and sees a college education as a business investment rather than a place for burgeoning adults to be intellectually challenged and immersed in the joy of learning.
Defining higher education so narrowly and instrumentally widens the divide between what a former colleague of mine referred to as “thinking classes” and “doing classes.” The latter a mainstay of job preparedness, the former mere intellectual frivolity. It has always been a struggle encouraging undergraduates that an important part of their education is the privilege of intellectual exploration, of understanding not simply how to do things, but why they do them, and what impact it will have on the various communities in which they work and live. At their best, institutions of higher learning can support entrepreneurs and technological innovators, but in a manner that doesn’t exclude or denigrate students studying the humanities.
More and more states are wary of free-thinking students who understand that interdisciplinary education speaks to the heart of democratic expression as a way of better understanding the nuances of race, class, ethnicity, and gender irrespective of one’s major. Recently, the state of Ohio passed the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act which calls for the elimination of “underperforming” programs at many of its colleges and universities. Unsurprisingly, the majority of them are in the liberal arts and cultural studies. Say goodbye to African American Studies, Musicology, Art History, Women’s Studies, Disability Studies, Philosophy, or anything with even a hint of Critical Race Theory. Purported to be a cost saving measure it is, in reality, an attack on specific diversity initiatives. As the champions of the new anti-DEI “corporate university” wield more power telling faculty what they can and cannot teach, classrooms will continue turning into what pedagogy theorist Henry Giroux calls “intellectual dead zones.”
As the news of Hampshire’s closing made social media there were far too many snarky comments by those who consider such colleges and their curriculums a waste of time. Such criticisms ridicule students and faculty, as the ill-informed jokingly celebrate the demise of a liberal arts education, calling it “left-wing indoctrination,” which is, and has always been, utter nonsense. As more colleges like Hampshire shutter, we become a poorer, less well-educated society lacking creativity, empathy, and critical thinking skills. My heart goes out to all Hampshire students, faculty, and staff past and present, who try to figure what’s next as they mourn the disappearance of an old friend.
John Dougan received a Ph.D. in American Studies from the College of William & Mary and is a retired professor. He lives in Easthampton.