The school is vital to the educational ecosystem
In light of your recent coverage of Hampshire College’s current challenges (“Hampshire College’s course in survival,” Page A1, Feb. 16), we want to affirm that Hampshire’s enduring academic excellence and leadership in the Five College Consortium, which includes our institutions, are vital to the educational ecosystem of the Commonwealth.
For more than five decades, Hampshire has been a national leader in educational innovation, emphasizing interdisciplinary study and student-driven inquiry long before such approaches became widely adopted and respected. Its students, staff, and graduates make meaningful contributions on our campuses, in the region, and in communities around the world, and its faculty advance scholarship that strengthens our collaborative programs.
Our five institutions share courses, faculty expertise, libraries, and cultural resources. Students across the Five Colleges take more than 3,300 courses on Consortium campuses each year. Cross-registration expands the course catalog for all our institutions to nearly 7,000 courses, collectively, and Hampshire’s distinctive pedagogy and perspective benefit us all. The Consortium’s unique strength lies precisely in the curricular, research, and programmatic diversity of our institutions, and Hampshire is a vital contributor to that collaboration.
Hampshire College’s continued presence enhances educational access, intellectual breadth, and the regional economy we collectively serve.
Michael A. Elliott
President, Amherst College
Danielle R. Holley
President, Mount Holyoke College
Javier A. Reyes
Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Sarah Willie-LeBreton
President, Smith College
It’s not too late
I’ve written numerous articles about Hampshire College, and I believe it’s absolutely not too late to save it. Hampshire was built to change higher education when it was created by the other schools of the Five College Consortium.
Fact: Hampshire College enrollment improved by 79 percent from 2021 to 2024. The streak ended in fall 2024 because the college reduced admissions staff by 31 percent and instituted direct admissions without enough staff to make it work; these are fixable problems.
An integrated stakeholder involvement model worked in 2019 when the fears of Hampshire’s closure emerged, leading to new leadership, a revised curriculum, and more donations.
Hampshire remains impoverished by failing to fully integrate alumni, emeriti, and parents into its strategic planning process, as it did briefly before.
Other schools have come back from the brink. It can be done.
Jonathon Podolsky
Northampton