Why hampshire college

The Hampshire campus is about three miles from the nearest town, Amherst; grocery shopping requires driving or taking the bus. The letter circulated on campus, adding to the mounting sense of precariousness. Naia Tenerowicz, a sophomore at the college and a press spokesperson for the student protesters, told me that the cuts in services may make the campus uninhabitable for disabled students.

Students said that, once the letter hit campus, it precipitated a wave of dropouts and transfers, although no one is quite sure how many students will leave. Two weeks after sending the letter, the college started layoffs, beginning with nine employees: seven members of the admissions office and two of the senior staff members in the development office. Students have marched and organized. So have faculty, staff, and alumni.

The alumni-driven effort is called Save Hampshire. The students, who have dubbed themselves Hamp Rise Up, have set a goal even loftier than saving the college: they intend to reinvent it in accordance with the ideals and principles on which it was founded, fifty years ago. Hampshire College is a child of the sixties.

The group produced a proposal for an experiment in self-directed learning, one conceived as an answer to the crises both in faith and in financing for the liberal arts.

In the original vision, students would take fewer courses to allow for greater concentration, faculty would teach only one lecture course per term and concentrate on seminars, and the ratio of faculty to students was going to be one to twenty. Hampshire College opened in , and some of the ideas in the original proposal—such as an emphasis on seminars and a winter month of intensive study—have become common features of liberal-arts colleges.

But the relationship between students and faculty at Hampshire remains relatively unusual, because much of what Hampshire students do is best described as independent study. The college has no grades, only narrative evaluations. The decision to reject standardized test results caused U. The institution proclaims democratic governance and transparency among its ideals. In recent years, the language that Hampshire uses to describe itself has changed.

I noticed this in September, on a campus visit with my daughter, whom I was trying to convince to apply. On its Web site, the college listed entrepreneurship as one of five key characteristics of the community envisioned by Hampshire—along with inquiry, creativity, social justice, and sustainability.

It hired an entrepreneurship professor. To prospective students, the college boasted of the number of entrepreneurs among its graduates—more, it seemed to me, than of the number of activists, artists, and academics. Hampshire grads have gone on to win numerous prestigious academic fellowships including 13 Princess Grace awards in the past 11 years, Mellon and Javits fellowships, and a Guggenheim fellowship, among others. Customize Your Major This list represents the breadth of courses and faculty scholarship at Hampshire that you may draw from to build your concentration.

In addition, students have access to courses and programming among our Five College Consortium. Five College Programs Beyond offering Hampshire students thousands of courses and sponsoring field research trips, student symposia, and shared lecture funding, the Five College Consortium offers a range of cooperative academic departments and programs combining the strengths of the five institutions. Campus Life Being part of Hampshire is a whole new way of life, centered on community. Current intercollegiate sports offerings are basketball, soccer, cross country, and track and trail.

Club sports include Ultimate Frisbee and the Equestrian team. Recreational Athletics Recreational athletics offers a range of activities for beginners as well as more , including classes, weekend seminars, and semester long co-curricular courses.

Current activities include a wide range of choices:. Employers love Hampshire graduates because they know how to work well with others, take initiative, self-direct, solve problems, communicate effectively, and take risks.

The idea for Hampshire originated in when the presidents of Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, appointed a committee to reexamine the assumptions and practices of a liberal arts education.

Worth Noting. View a Sampling of Notable Alumni. Visit Hampshire A visit to Hampshire is the single most important way to get to know what the College has to offer. Schedule a Visit. Request Information. You have questions. We have answers. Request a viewbook and see for yourself. Stay In Touch. With The Communications Office.

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