AMHERST — Before trustees for Hampshire College next meet on May 16, a group made up of alumni, students, faculty and others is aiming to be on the way to collecting $10 million in pledges to identify a “community-directed path forward” for the institution.
Organizers for Hampshire Next recently launched a website, hampshirenext.org, that describes the solicitations being made as “a way to keep the mission alive, preserve the land and chart a sustainable path worthy of our history of radical reinvention and innovative education.”
“The Hampshire College community has always embraced a fundamentally transformative approach to solving problems and addressing systemic challenges we face,” said Dani Slabaugh, a Hampshire College graduate who studied there from 2005 to 2009. “This is an opportunity to retain and forward that mission.”
Slabaugh adds that the mission may evolve and shift, but the campaign is about retaining the community and place that has transformed so many lives.
Hampshire Next began just hours after President Jennifer Chrisler’s letter to the college community Wednesday, April 29, stating that trustees intend to expedite the sale of the nearly 900 acres it owns between Amherst and Hadley to pay back what is owed to financial institutions and other lenders.
The college on April 14 first announced it would be closing at the end of 2026, following a so-called teach-out that would extend through the fall with minimal staffing.
So far, the Hampshire Next campaign has cleared almost $800,000 in pledges from 582 individuals. Slabaugh, who lives in Denver, observes that those involved make their homes across the United States and even in Australia.
According to its website, the strategy is to offer the pledged funds to Hampshire College as a conditional, restricted gift, accepted only if the board triggers governance changes, agrees to a planning period and uses the funds to pay off the debt.
“If that path is blocked, the same pledged capital positions a successor entity to take over the 800 acres on mission-aligned terms,” the organizers wrote.
Another organizer is Rachel Creemers, who points to the United States being at an inflection point when determining the value of higher education.
“Liberal arts colleges around the U.S. are closing down at an alarming rate, students are faced with sky-high tuition payments, and the job market for what was once considered safe majors is facing an astronomical wave of layoffs,” Creemers said. “So instead of listening to and helplessly watching another doom and gloom story unfold, a story about something that was genuinely good for the world, a place that excels at teaching critical thinking and thoughtful disruption, get sold off and stripped for parts to the highest bidder, we want folks to join us in changing the narrative.”
Creemers sees the possibility for creating a new educational model, one that meets the moment and the needs of the next generation.
“So let’s do something a little fun, a little outrageous, a little crazy,” Creemers said. “Let’s do something a little Hampshire. Let’s buy the school.”
Bera Dunau, who is also a Hampshire graduate, said the coalition is focused on moving forward with Hampshire’s mission of education, social justice and self direction, with a focus on sustainability.
“The big vision is we really want the future of Hampshire’s mission to be guided by the Hampshire community, in line with its values and vision and the great things the college has given to the Pioneer Valley and beyond,” Dunau said.
Hampshire Next is trying to address the debt so there can be a community process to move forward and identify what can happen on the campus, such as possibly being laboratory space for research, a trade school in partnership with labor unions or providing opportunities for an Indigenous tribe. But none of this is possible without first clearing the debt, Dunau said.
Slabaugh highlighted two additional objectives. First, addressing the massive, unexpected layoffs of faculty and staff who lack severance packages, by creating a path to rehire them through a reimagined Hampshire. Second, to steward the endowment and fundraising efforts, and to maintain the existing antiracism culture. This stewardship aims to ensure resources continue supporting the students most impacted by the closure, particularly those whose financial aid tied up, such as those in the James Baldwin Scholar Program.
Hampshire Next can bring in cash for operations and reimbursements to meet the moment and financial stability. “Our goal is to be able to show this is a viable option, to encourage trustees to pause before selling the campus,” Slabaugh said.
While those working on Hampshire Next acknowledge the challenges of fewer college-age students, federal student loan caps and demographic shifts,”the harsh political, social, technological and environmental realities today require more places like Hampshire, not fewer.”
Hampshire Next describes itself as an independent volunteer coalition organized by alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents, Amherst neighbors and community members.
