AMHERST — A pair of conservation groups are jointly proposing a vision to preserve the rural landscape of the Hampshire College campus, while leaving the core academic portion of the South Amherst site intact.
The Trustees of Reservations and Kestrel Land Trust Friday issued a proposal to college trustees to permanently protect intact forests, fields and wildlife habitats, to protect farmland as the foundation of the Hampshire College Farm agricultural operation, and to support environmental education and the Red Barn as a community gathering space.
Their proposals come as two other groups have been public about their interest in acquiring the college. The trustees for the college were on campus for commencement over the weekend.
One proposal is from Hampshire Next, “a coalition of alumni, students, parents and educators dedicated to the preservation of Hampshire’s mission and vision, and to ensuring that vision can survive,” while the other is from an organization headed by Jerome Segal of Maryland that would recharter the campus as the Woolman University for Peace, Plain Living, and Conflict Resolution Training.
The Trustees and Kestrel proposal references the “vital and irreplaceable” rural landscape surrounding the college’s core campus in Amherst and Hadley, with its support of biodiversity and local agriculture, strengthening of climate resilience, and providing meaningful access to nature for surrounding communities.
“The Trustees, as the commonwealth’s oldest conservation and preservation organization, bring statewide reach, long‑term stewardship capacity, management of active farmland, infrastructure and buildings, public engagement and a deep commitment to creating community through conservation and place-making,” Katie Theoharides, president and CEO of The Trustees, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Kestrel to explore with Hampshire College the potential for conservation, agriculture and engagement to be part of the future of this landscape alongside other important community uses.”
This shared conservation vision would not impact the future development of the college campus core, which the land trusts estimate that these areas cover only about 25% of the college’s 810 acres.
They would hope to have engagement with the town, interested developers, and others.
“Kestrel Land Trust is committed to developing partnerships with communities throughout the Valley to conserve forests, farms, parks and trails,” Executive Director Kristin DeBoer said. “Given Kestrel’s long history in Amherst since 1970, our shared connections with Hampshire College going back to its founding, and deep partnership with The Trustees, we are hopeful that the college board, alumni community and townspeople will embrace this community-centered conservation vision, as complementary to a carefully planned redevelopment/reuse of the campus core area.”
Town Manager Paul Bockelman said the future of Hampshire College and its land is of “utmost importance” to the town, and that Amherst will work with the college and whatever partners it chooses to steward the land.
Bockelman added that the town’s values include ensuring that buildable land can be developed, especially for housing, that prime farmland and wetlands are protected and that property tax revenue can be generated to reduce the residential tax burden.
“The town expects to have a significant role, through its zoning responsibilities, in how the land is developed,” Bockelman said. “We will be conducting a thoughtful, community-engaged planning process to ensure the community’s values are represented in whatever happens next.”
Hampshire Next organizers say their proposal goes beyond the four-year liberal arts model, existing to expand the reach and impact of a Hampshire education while stewarding the campus and community.
At the center of the concept is what it calls a “hub-and-spoke model” in which an umbrella organization would provide shared services to multiple mission-aligned programs and campus tenants, with money coming from housing and venue rentals, program operations and partner leases. This plan also includes selective land transactions with conservation, affordable housing, and senior-living partners to generate capital, reduce deferred maintenance liabilities and reinvest in retained campus assets.
Anchor program Hampshire Next is developing include a Five College Center for
the Future of Higher Education, an Applied Liberal Arts and Trade work-college paired with a Cooperative Business Accelerator, a Socially Responsible Business Incubator and a Center for the Study of Science in the Public Interest.
Hampshire Next’s proposal also emphasizes preserving important programs, partnerships, and places associated with Hampshire, including the Hampshire College Farm, the college’s relationship with the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band, the James Baldwin program, the Early
Learning Center, the Robert Crown Center, the Multisport Center, the Hitchcock Center, the Kern Center and the cultural village partners.
The Segal proposal would establish a Quaker-style university and eliminate the $3.7 million operating deficit using four mechanisms.
These are the Swarthmore Track, a dual-track academic system partnering with Swarthmore College; the Plain Living Labor Ethos, where there would be five to 10 hours of weekly student-faculty volunteer operational labor; the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Visa Card, where 50,000 global peace donors generate revenue to clear the operational deficit; and Camp David North, a premier, self-sustaining international diplomatic hub and an engaged conflict resolution facility which will be the locus for dialogue between combatants.
If the trustees pass over the proposal, Segal said he intends to file a temporary restraining order against the college to contest the property title and an emergency special municipal zoning overlay district to freeze out developers who might try to use the land for future housing projects.
Attempts to reach Hampshire College’s trustees through a public relations firm in Boston on Monday were unsuccessful. However, on May 7, Terence Burke of the firm Denterlein, issued the following statement:
“Hampshire College is working with a broker to evaluate potential offers for our land. To preserve the integrity of that process, we are not commenting on specific proposals, but all offers will be evaluated for financial soundness and their impact on Hampshire’s teach out and fulfillment of our fiduciary obligations.”
