'A train wreck': Hampshire faculty, staff left with no jobs, no severance as college prepares for closure

Hampshire College announced it would close less than a month after projecting a “next three to five years” future. Faculty and staff, including a first-time homeowner who relocated for a tenure-free liberal arts position, face unemployment with no paycheck, no severance, and limited job prospects because hiring for the next academic year has already ended. The college had not recruited enough students to stabilize finances and failed to secure debt refinancing and a land sale. Employees say they were told closure was unlikely and that a teach-out plan under the former president would provide 18 months to prepare for job searching. The sudden decision has raised concerns about how the institution shifted from optimism to ending operations quickly.

"Now, less than a month after Hampshire announced it would close, he's staring down unemployment. Like most of the school's roughly 250 employees, he will have no paycheck, no severance, and few job prospects after June, since the hiring cycle for the coming academic year has already closed. "It's been kind of a train wreck," said Jashnani, who teaches psychology, Black studies, and disability studies. For some faculty members, "we just don't know how we're going to pay our bills.""

"Like students, many Hampshire faculty and staff thought the college was on the upswing after nearly closing in 2019. The school, however, was not able to recruit enough students to stabilize its finances, and it failed to secure much-needed debt refinancing and a crucial land sale in recent months. Administrators nevertheless remained optimistic, inviting alumni to brainstorm on Zoom about Hampshire's "next three to five years" as recently as March 25. Less than three weeks later, on April 14, Hampshire announced it would close."

"Several employees hired in recent years said that when they pressed administrators about the possibility of closure under former president Ed Wingenbach, they were told about a teach-out plan that would afford them 18 months to prepare - plenty of time to go on the job market, if it came to that. "I was told that Hampshire was in a sustainable upward trajectory . . . and there was"

Read at Boston.com