AMHERST — Faculty and staff at Hampshire College are extending their days and adding to their workloads as the last regular semester on campus winds down, offering students more office hours and assistance in the face of significant uncertainty.
As most of the 250 employees have learned they will be let go on June 16 — with a limited staff expected to stay on to assist some students in completing their studies during a fall semester — Nathalie Arnold Koenings, professor of anthropology, literary arts, and African studies, said many are offering more time and that there has been “no slacking off” as they continue the transdisciplinary, radical ways of providing education.
“We continue because this is a precious institution,” Koenings said.
“Students, staff and faculty have been remarkably well organized and nimble,” added rl Goldberg, assistant professor of queer studies. “Even with the threat of closure, it has been remarkable to see how pedagogical Hampshire is.”
Both Koenings and Goldberg are part of the Hampshire Workers For Just Closure, and working with colleagues, they are setting up an emergency relief fund for Hampshire College employees who are unlikely to receive any severance pay.
The initiative, known as the Help Hampshire Workers Emergency Relief Fund, will provide direct financial support to colleagues through its website, helphampshireworkers.com.
Koenings said the unusual aspect of the situation is the speed with which the college will be closing, as so-called teach-outs customarily last 18 months. A teach-out is a plan a college puts in place when it’s closing to help students and faculty with minimal disruption. The Hampshire teach-out is abrupt compared to standard practices.
“It’s a shock and we don’t know at all what the fall semester will look like,” Koenings said.
By all indications, most faculty will leave by mid-June, based on notices they received from Tracy Wehr, director of human resources, two days after College President Jennifer Chrisler and the board of trustees announced the closing on April 14.
“Hampshire College will be permanently ceasing its academic operations and all employees at the college will be impacted,” Wehr wrote. “The expected date of the first separation will be June 16, 2026. We regret to inform you that your position will be eliminated effective June 16, 2026. As Hampshire College does not maintain a job bumping policy, there are no bumping rights associated with this decision.”
A job-bumping policy is a rule that allows more senior employees to “bump” less senior employees out of their positions during layoffs or restructuring.
The college orally conveyed the lack of severance pay, leading to employee speculation that it is prioritizing paying back its creditors despite a $55 million capital campaign.
“The majority of us will cease to work at Hampshire in June,” Koenings said. “The administration envisages that only a slender crew will stay on through December 2026 to support senior students completing thesis projects.”
The fund is a community-led effort to address immediate needs for workers, including housing, food, health care and other essential expenses. Funds raised will be distributed directly to affected staff and faculty based on need.
For many staff and faculty, the impact is immediate and personal.
“This effort came together quickly because it had to,” said Lorenzo Conte, the college’s gallery director. “People are losing their jobs with very little notice and no safety net. Our goal is to get support to colleagues as quickly as possible.”
Many employees say that Hampshire has long been more than a workplace, which is why they remain committed.
“Like many students who found themselves at Hampshire, staff and faculty are here because we believe in fighting for the ideals of what Hampshire has always strived for,” said Griffin Leistinger, assistant director of Accessibility Resources and Services. “For many of us, much as for the students, Hampshire was also a refuge, a room the world had little room for.”
Koenings said there is a lack of a safety net due to the rapid closure process.
“The faculty job market is closed for the year, and faculty are now facing an interruption to their careers,” Koenings said.
Donations are being received through a fiscal sponsor, Sundial Initiative Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit organization, allowing contributions to be tax-deductible. Sundial’s president is Joey Carey, a Hampshire alum.
“As a Hampshire College alum, I know firsthand the importance of Hampshire’s
approach to higher education and how the wider community supports one another in times of crisis,” Carey said. “Now it’s our turn to support the staff and faculty who made Hampshire College so unique.”
Organizers are working with community partners to finalize a distribution process to place
funds in workers’ hands before their June 16 termination date. In addition to fundraising, the initiative is gathering employment leads, professional services and other forms of support to assist those affected.
The clearinghouse of information will provide employment leads, as well as offer professional services, housing or local resources. Legal support, financial advising, health care navigation, career counseling, temporary housing, child care and access to local services are in high demand.
Koenings also submitted a letter to the editor signed by 62 other colleagues: “Our hearts break for our students, who, in the best Hampshire tradition, have continued to do original, courageous work even as our resources have steadily dwindled,” the letter reads. “We are also deeply grateful for the staff, all of whom have brought unmatched expertise and care to their critical support of the college’s academic mission.
Students, including Feidhlim Ceabhleachain, who comes from Washington, D.C., and Veren Keller, from San Francisco — both Division 1 (first-year) students — expressed uncertainty about where they will continue their studies. However, they noted the strength of the community.
“Everyone’s been eager to support faculty, and they’ve done a lot for us,” Ceabhleachain said.
“A lot of people, a lot of faculty, have been really good about providing information and giving us any wisdom,” Keller said.
There is a sentiment, too, that other members of Five Colleges, the University of Massachusetts and Mount Holyoke, Smith and Amherst colleges, should be able to absorb Hampshire College’s people in some fashion.
“Those institutions created us, and I feel they have a moral responsibility to acknowledge our vital contributions and to help us,” Koenings said.
That is echoed by Goldberg. “The four other colleges have a responsibility to make sure (Hampshire) students, staff and faculty have some reaffirmation through this uncertainty,” Goldberg said.
Statements have been released by leaders at the other institutions indicating that this will be the case because of existing collaborations, and being partners in the development of the Five Colleges, Inc.
At Amherst College, President Michael A. Elliott referenced how Amherst and Hampshire have a deep relationship, with a gift from an Amherst College alumnus being critical to Hampshire’s founding in 1965, and the college’s first vice president and second president being former Amherst staff member Chuck Longsworth.
“In the coming weeks and months, Amherst will be working to assist our colleagues at Hampshire as they begin the difficult process of winding down operations,” Elliott wrote. “This closure will affect many of you directly, I know, and we will need time to work through the details and questions that will arise.”
“Inspired by the innovations of Hampshire, UMass Amherst remains committed to navigating these challenges with the same spirit of creativity and collaboration that brought the Five College Consortium together,” wrote UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes.
“We are deeply moved by how people are standing together,” Koenings said. “It’s typically Hampshire collective action and thinking.”
