From Portside Culture <[email protected]>
Subject How to Save Your Liberal Arts College from Greedy Suits 101
Date January 26, 2022 1:00 AM
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[A new documentary film recounts how Hampshire College students
and alumni rallied to save their renowned 60’s-era experimental
college from its own scheming administration.] [[link removed]]


PORTSIDE CULTURE

HOW TO SAVE YOUR LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE FROM GREEDY SUITS 101  
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Elinor J. Bader
January 21, 2022
Indypendent

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_ A new documentary film recounts how Hampshire College students and
alumni rallied to save their renowned 60’s-era experimental college
from its own scheming administration. _

This is our home. These are our lives," students protested during the
64-day sit in at Hampshire College in 2019. , Photo: Hampshire College
Rise Up 2019.

 

For 52 years, since its founding in 1970, students at Amherst,
Massachusetts’ Hampshire College have taken the school’s motto,
“To Know is Not Enough,” as a directive to act. Indeed, activism
has been baked into the DNA of most Hampshire students and the
promotion of self-directed learning has inspired independent research,
writing, filmmaking and other artistic endeavors for many graduates.
Well-known alumni members include documentary filmmaker Ken Burns,
musician Elliott Smith, writer Jeff Sharlet, economist Heather Boushey
and actors Lupita Nyong’o and Liev Schrieber.

More recently, however, the school has garnered attention for a
different reason. As the site of the longest student sit-in in United
States history — 74 days in 2019 — it became ground zero for the
preservation of liberal arts programs and the defense of faculty
governance.

_The Unmaking of a College_, a documentary directed and co-produced by
Hampshire graduate Amy Goldstein, traces the struggle to save the
college and provides a cogent and inspiring look at the successful
organizing that was done by students, faculty, whistle-blowing board
members and concerned parents and community residents hellbent on
keeping Hampshire open.

It was a whirlwind effort, precipitated by newly-installed college
president Miriam “Mim” Nelson’s out-of-nowhere assertion: While
the college was closed for its 2019 winter break–that she was
“searching for a strategic partner” to run the school because of
an enormous budget shortfall. A 15% drop in student enrollment during
2018, she said, was catastrophic and meant that the school would not
accept an incoming class for the fall of 2019 since the college could
not guarantee that it would exist four years hence.  

“We were stunned,” cognitive science professor Salman Hameed told
the filmmakers. Likewise, students, academic deans and the majority of
trustees felt blindsided. 

“It was a devastating moment,” sociology and women’s studies
professor Margaret Cerullo recalled. “To have the rug pulled out
from you totally unexpectedly felt brutal and corporate.”

Students were similarly aghast — and angry — and quickly
formed Hamp Rise Up
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Petitions and statements attesting to a lack of faith in Nelson’s
leadership circulated. Meetings were held with parents and Amherst
residents joining the students in speaking out. Finally, a
lackadaisical response from Nelson morphed into a sit-in in her office
that spilled into nearby corridors. Well-organized and militant,
participants rotated but maintained a constant presence. Their 24/7
action quickly captured media attention, with the_ New York Times,
Washington Post_ and _Boston Globe_ sending reporters to campus. 

HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE’S STUDENTS WERE ENCOURAGED TO BE CRITICAL
THINKERS. WHEN TOP ADMINISTRATORS ANNOUNCED THE SCHOOL WAS BEING
CLOSED, THEY SPRANG INTO ACTION.

The biggest boost, however, came from local journalist Dusty
Christensen of the _Daily Hampshire Gazette._ His investigation
revealed that the college not only had a $50 million endowment, but
that Nelson had been operating in extremely bad faith. Among
Christensen’s revelations were several stunners. For example, Nelson
had been in merger talks with the University of
Massachusetts–Amherst for months and was not, as claimed, “
searching for a strategic partner.” That partner had already been
found and the deal had already been tentatively sealed. 

But like many well-laid plans, the arrangement began to fray thanks to
student and faculty pressure and the growing recognition of U-Mass’
predatory intentions. To wit: When Mount Ida College in Newton,
Massachusetts, abruptly closed in May 2018, it was quickly purchased
by the state university. Opposition to the plan was immediate  and
criticism fierce since the state Legislature had not been consulted
about this use of tax dollars. As a result, U-Mass needed reputation
damage control.

Enter Hampshire. 

According to Hampshire board member John Buckley, between Christmas
2018 and New Year’s Day 2019, the masterminds of the U-Mass takeover
had several conversations with Nelson that he was privy to. In the
film, he reports that U-Mass spokespeople demanded that Nelson present
the university as “the rescuer, coming in to save the day.”
Buckley calls the conversations “disturbing and thuggish.”

Meanwhile, additional Nelson critics, including former Hampshire
president Adele Simmons, also weighed in and pointed out that Nelson
had not consulted either her predecessors or any expert fundraisers.
As Simmons saw it, the college’s upcoming 50th anniversary, in 2020,
was a golden opportunity to reach out to alumni for major gifts,
something that Nelson had apparently never considered. 

The critiques piled on. Then, unexpectedly, on April 5th, 2020 after
less than two years as president, Nelson resigned, leaving the board
to determine the fate of the college. They quickly hired Ed
Wingenbach, a man committed to working collaboratively; launched a $60
million capital campaign and, in the fall of 2020,  despite COVID,
admitted a full class of first-year students. For its part, U-Mass
issued a statement that it was “pausing” the merger.

This turnaround, of course, was well-received by the protesting
students. As Rise Up participant Cheyenne Palacios-McCarthy says in
the film, Nelson badly underestimated the savvy of the student
activists. “You can’t encourage us to ask questions and then not
expect us to act,” she told the filmmakers. “We learned to be
present and work in community.”

Yes, it’s activism 101 — but in these dire times this alone is
reason to cheer the victory depicted in _The Unmaking of a
College._ At the same time, like most private colleges, Hampshire
remains out of reach to many would-be students. Although
the school’s website 
[[link removed]]boasts that 95% of
enrolled students receive some financial aid, tuition for the 2022-23
academic year will be $52,714. Even with need-based grants averaging
$37,000, this leaves an impossible balance for many creative kids from
low and middle-income households. That, sadly, may be Hampshire
College’s eventual unmaking.

_The Unmaking of a College debuts at the IFC Center
[[link removed]] on February 11._

_THE UNMAKING OF A COLLEGE, _
Zeitgeist Films in Association with Kino Lorber
Amy Goldstein; 2022; 84 minutes

 

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