BUZZ
One of the most progressive colleges in the nation, Hampshire College, announced Tuesday it will shut down permanently, as it is out of cash and out of options.
“The College no longer has the resources to sustain full operations and meet our regulatory responsibilities,” President Jenn Chrisler stated in an announcement, adding the Board of Trustees voted to permanently close the college following the fall 2026 semester.
“We want to assure you that Hampshire’s board made its decision only after exploring every possible alternative,” Chrisler wrote.
The private Massachusetts liberal arts college — which openly touts its embrace of progressive concepts — had grappled with low enrollment and big budget deficits for several years.
But the budget woes never stopped campus leaders from funding programs advancing LGBTQ and DEI concepts amid laying off employees and slashing departments, as The College Fix previously reported.
Hampshire College made headlines years ago when it took down the U.S. flag to promote multiculturalism. More recently it offered Florida students wanting to flee the state’s conservatism a streamlined enrollment process.
As The College Fix previously reported:
Despite the longterm budget woes, campus leaders have continued to emphasize left-leaning programs and curricula over more traditional studies.
“Since the rocky year of 2019, Hampshire has undergone a major curriculum transformation, replacing traditional majors and departments with curricula focused on addressing pressing global issues such as climate change and racism,” Higher Ed Dive reported in July.
In recent months, Hampshire College has also touted its efforts to study and promote topics such as Drag and Environmental Justice, Disrupting and Dismantling White Supremacy, and Inclusive Weightlifting.
“Hampshire College made a big deal about offering spots to all of the left-wing New College of Florida students who wanted to leave after we eliminated their DEI and gender studies programs. Now Hampshire College is shutting down—go woke, go broke,” conservative activist Christopher Rufo posted on X in response to the news.
But a New York Times article on Hampshire’s closure did not mention its progressive bent, and reported it’s just the latest closure among a spate of such shut downs: “Hampshire, in Amherst, Mass., joins an epidemic of college closures over the past two decades. More than 300 U.S. colleges and universities closed from 2008 to 2024, according to an analysis by The Hechinger Report.”
MORE: No students showed up to ‘disability sex’ talk at Hampshire College
