Posted on 07/24/2019 9:26:44 AM PDT by robowombat
It took down the flag after Trump’s election. It opposes ‘intense debate.’ Its freshman class is 15 students. It Could lose its accreditation in November
GREG PIPER - ASSOCIATE EDITOR •JULY 2, 2019
If you need an object lesson in the financial perils of wokeness for colleges, look no further than Hampshire College in Massachusetts.
It got on the national radar after Donald Trump’s election, when the private liberal arts school responded to campus unrest by removing the American flag (among others) from campus. Then-President Jonathan Lash said it was an impediment to “addressing racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and behaviors.”
He doubled down when criticized, saying the American flag’s presence interfered with the ability of students to express themselves. Everyone who is not delusional correctly recognizes that the flag symbolizes our constitutional right to express ourselves – even when we burn it. (The flag was flown again after two weeks.)
A year later, Lash’s administration canceled a speech by a gun-rights activist – two hours before its scheduled start – because the sponsor hadn’t disclosed it might provoke “intense debate.”
Lash didn’t last, and Hampshire might not, either.
We told you in February that the unconventional college – which has no grades, no majors and no test scores it will consider in applications – was on the brink of financial collapse and might lose its accreditation. One statistic illustrates just how much trouble it’s in:
Fifteen.
That’s the number of incoming students who have enrolled in the fall term, according to an eye-opening profile in The Boston Globe. Last year’s class was 290 students. Hampshire has lost more than half its usual enrollment for all classes, leaving around 600 students on campus.
MORE: Hampshire is on the brink of collapse
It would be a mistake to blame Hampshire’s problems solely on its performative wokeness, since many of its nearby peers are doing fine and they’re just as woke.
But Hampshire never bothered to cultivate the habits of a successful college, particularly a healthy endowment fed by alumni fundraising.
It has periodically lowered its academic standards to draw a larger enrolling class – with 1,500 students as recently as the early 2010s – but the increased tuition, room and board payments have been offset by extra costs from financially and academically needy students.
As a result, the college has regularly laid off faculty and staff, including earlier this year. It has until Nov. 1 to overhaul its governance and financial resources, under orders from the New England Commission of Higher Education, according to the Globe.
It commissioned mega-alumnus Ken Burns to lead a multimillion-dollar fundraising campaign, in the hopes that a quick cash infusion will save this institution that has gambled wrong for nearly 50 years.
But like an addict who can’t leave the table, Hampshire’s new interim president, Ken Rosenthal, is placing an all-or-nothing bet on the college’s turnaround. He announced last month it will enroll a full class for fall 2020, as if this fall’s tiny enrollment was a fluke.
MORE: Hampshire bans American flag to combat ‘hate-based violence’
In reality, those 15 incoming students were the product of decisions that limited enrollment to students “who had applied early decision or taken a gap year,” given the precarious financial situation.
While incoming students can still avail themselves of resources at the other four members of the Five College Consortium – Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke and the public UMass-Amherst -it wasn’t worth it for one student for whom Hampshire had been her “dream”:
In February, [Natalie Barry] received a letter detailing what to expect her first semester: limited extracurricular activities and reduced housing, dining hall, and work-study options.
Barry, 18, instantly recognized it was time to move on. Now she’s bound for Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., to pursue a double major in psychology and political science.
Never heard of Juniata? Unfortunately, it sounds a lot like Hampshire, except that students such as Barry won’t feel the worthlessness of their degrees as soon as Hampshire’s students will.
The degree seems to be useful for a career in documentary filmmaking.
You’re right. It’s just a matter of time.
Liberalism destroys everything it touches.
For generations, this was where the daughters of VERY wealthy Southerners went to "finish" their education as marriageable Southern Belles. I graduated high school in the 70s, and for serious students the college was pretty much the punch line of a joke . . . the name said with an exaggerated upper-class Southern accent and batting of eyelashes.
Much of the fame of the school has to do with its highly impressive equestrian program. It was never about getting a "marketable" bachelor's degree, unless you're thinking about the marriage mart.
Maybe they have gone in a different direction since the 70s, but I would think that sort of reputation would make it very difficult for parents to consider it a serious school.
Obviously they have some very engaged and supportive alumnae, but I don't think "real jobs or real income" was ever the issue there.
I'm guessing that about the time you graduated most of these lady's finishing colleges had to at least start transforming in order to survive.
Rural Virginia was once full of these colleges. Some of them went the full feminazi route. I think Mary Baldwin College in Staunton was one of those. Others chose the co-ed route, including Sweet Briar.
BTW, my brother position there was as an economics professor and he uses a lot of equations and fairly advanced math. So I am guessing the rich southern Belles in the marriage market model has changed a lot in the last four decades.
As a “little l” libertarian (hat tip to AnnaZ), a few years ago I overcame my mental block and connected the dots between historical growth of every government (not just ours) and the direction ours was going.
I nearly wept as I contemplated the historical reality of a government NEVER voluntarily growing smaller or relinquishing power it has been given. Absent a coup, revolution, or other national catastrophe, we can expect a people’s republic once the AOC people get enough votes. That may take a few decades more, but the trend line and historical uniformity of outcome spells inevitable to me.
We are reaching the anarchy stage mentioned here.
Types of Government, Explained
My old boss graduated from there (also known as Hempshire College). He was even a prof for a while there, and met his now wife there.
It doesn’t sound like it’s changed much over the last 20 years.
Well deserved not so distant closure.
But I imagine the *parents* - who after all are footing the bills for a $40,000 education - probably think the same thing we were thinking when we heard "Sweet Briar".
Relic of the Sixties, and well-known bastion of Leftie politics and permissive “scholarship” can’t find enough suckers to join the other Marxist cadres.
And those 15 student and the perfect embodiment of the useful idiot concept.
JoMa
Oh noze! The speech might foster “intense debate”...can’t have any intense debate on a college campus - the students might start to think and actually learn something of the real world...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.