For western Massachusetts, Hampshire College isn’t just an academic institution. So many Hampshire alumni have settled down here and made the Pioneer Valley our home, taking the lessons of hard work, creativity and social responsibility that we learned at Hampshire and applying them in the real world. We serve in local government, run businesses, are active in the arts, in the labor movement and local journalism, and for decades have
strengthened the civic fabric of this place we call home. Which is why now, in the wake of the announcement of Hampshire’s planned closure after the fall semester, it is vital that we come together to make sure the Hampshire mission continues as a community-led vision: A Hampshire for All.
Since the closure announcement, one thing has become clear: Absent tremendous outside
investment, Hampshire cannot continue in its current form as a four-year liberal arts college. But that doesn’t mean that it has to die.
Members of the Hampshire community have come together to launch Hampshire Next, an effort to clear the school’s debt so that the campus can be reinvented and the Hampshire community can collectively determine the path forward for the institution and its future.
In the space around this effort, I’ve heard many exciting ideas, from partnering with labor
unions to create trade school programs, to renting lab space to scientists, to hosting
conferences and partnering with the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band on land rematriation.
All of these proposals and more will get a fair hearing in the upcoming Hampshire community process. But one central thing that we can say is that, to the greatest extent possible, we will seek to retain and rehire Hampshire employees. We want to take care of the people who made Hampshire possible, and a central part of the sustainability plan that has been sketched out is to continue the programs on-campus that already turn a profit.
None of this can happen, however, if we don’t clear the debt Hampshire currently owes to its creditors. That’s why Hampshire Next has launched a pledge campaign to collect $10 million by May 16, when the board meets next. It’s our belief that by showing our effort’s viability, we can head off the sale of the campus to entities outside of the Hampshire family. Ultimately, we are going to need to raise around $25 million if we are going to return the future of Hampshire to its community. We welcome all good-faith partners, be they from area schools, government, business, labor or the arts. Reach out, we want to hear from you. It should also go without saying that we stand in solidarity with the efforts of the faculty and staff to get severance, and employment at other area colleges, and with the Hampshire students seeking new academic homes in the Valley and beyond.
One might ask, why do all of this? Speaking personally, I can say that Hampshire College
changed my life. Without Hampshire I wouldn’t have learned the research and writing skills I needed to have an 11-year career as a community journalist, including five at the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and I certainly wouldn’t have my current position as a national union organizer. Hampshire education is self-directed, rigorous and requires an immense amount of independent work. Hampshire may not have grades, but a Hampshire class typically requires that you write multiple detailed papers. If it does not, you’re probably doing a lot of scientific lab work, or making art in the studio, or filming your own movie.
That’s a bold proposition, and one that will require immense solidarity. But no one knows the value of Hampshire College better than the Pioneer Valley. I ask that you join with us to keep the dream alive, as together we build what comes next.
I also take pride in the moral lessons taught at Hampshire. During my time we were the first college to divest from companies involved in the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, just as we were the first college to divest from companies involved in apartheid South Africa. This is precisely the kind of education that the world needs now, especially as tech companies try to convince us to outsource our very thinking to their AI products. And, personally, what I see in most everything that has been discussed at Hampshire Next is the promise of opening up Hampshire education to everybody: A Hampshire for All.
Bera Dunau is a union organizer, former Gazette reporter and Hampshire College graduate.