I taught at Hampshire College for 28 years and am profoundly saddened by its imminent closure and what it signifies about the precarity of liberal arts education more broadly. But while it is important to view Hampshire’s demise in the context of larger social, economic, and cultural forces, each college closure has its own history from which lessons can be drawn.
In Hampshire’s case, the events of 2018-2019 significantly speeded its downward spiral. In response to yet another financial crisis at the college, a new Hampshire president, bowing to a group of powerful trustees, embarked on secretive negotiations with the UMass leadership to merge with the university. As a precondition of such a merger, UMass insisted that Hampshire not accept a Fall 2019 entering class. Hampshire agreed, disastrously in my view, and then the deal fell through. (See “Emails show UMass set ‘draconian’ conditions for Hampshire College merger,” Gazette, Sept. 2, 2019.)
Without an incoming class, the college was then in even worse financial straits, since 90 percent of its revenue comes from student tuition and fees. Were it not for the longest ever student occupation of a college president’s office, the collective, self-sacrificing efforts of faculty and staff, and a major fundraising drive spearheaded by prominent alum Ken Burns, Hampshire might have died then. It didn’t, but it never fully recovered its student enrollment and its reputation was tarnished by the ordeal.
Now as I mourn the college’s passing, I find myself asking “what if” questions. What if the Hampshire leadership hadn’t tried to merge with UMass and hadn’t canceled the Fall 2019 entering class? What if Hampshire and UMass hadn’t kept their negotiations secret, including from the other members of the Five College Consortium who were blindsided by the news? Maybe Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, and Smith would have stepped in to help with the college’s financial situation.
Maybe none of these ‘what if’ actions would have prevented Hampshire’s current closing, but at least they would have involved all the members of the Five College Consortium in finding better options than the proposed merger with UMass. Today the consortium’s remaining four members are accepting transfer applications from Hampshire students. After the 2019 debacle, consortium members also offered temporary academic positions to Hampshire faculty members who went on leave to help save the school. My hope is that the consortium will come through again, not just for Hampshire’s students, but for its dedicated faculty and staff who face a tight job market and uncertain future.
Betsy Hartmann, Professor Emerita of Development Studies, Hampshire College
Amherst