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Open Letter from Amherst Faculty to the Hamphire College President


Dear President Nelson,

In 1965, an editorial in The Amherst Student stated that the Amherst College community “can justly be proud of the disproportionate contributions of their own college to the initial phases of Hampshire’s development.” Since then, five decades of close partnership with our colleagues at Hampshire College have joined our two faculties in strong bonds of shared professional interest, personal trust, mutual respect, and common educational pursuit. These bonds are a daily reality, a living tissue, and a continuing point of pride. They give us, members of the faculty of Amherst College, a direct interest in the future of Hampshire College, and they make us a stakeholder in the conversation about that future.

We write to you today to express our concern over recent decisions made by you and the Board of Trustees. We fear that a number of these decisions are inconsistent with well-established norms of shared governance. As you know, no leader in any field can violate long-standing professional norms for long without compromising his or her credibility and losing the confidence of core constituencies. We therefore believe that it is in the best interest of all parties that, especially during this time of crisis, you and your colleagues redouble your efforts to adhere to the conventions that structure our shared profession. These have been articulated by the American Association of University Professors, in authoritative policies that we believe are worth recalling here.

• “The variety and complexity of the tasks performed by institutions of higher education produce an inescapable interdependence among governing board, administration, faculty, students, and others…. Effective planning demands that the broadest possible exchange of information and opinion should be the rule for communication among the components of a college or university.” (AAUP, “Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities,” 119.)

We call on you to avoid secrecy (such as non-disclosure agreements) and to embrace transparency in your planning efforts.

• “Such matters as major changes in the size or composition of the student body and the relative emphasis to be given to the various elements of the educational and research program should involve participation of governing board, administration, and faculty prior to final decision.” (“Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities,” 118.)

We call on you to recognize the necessity of meaningful consultation with the Hampshire Faculty in decisions over the size or composition of the student body.

• “Before any proposals for program discontinuance on grounds of financial exigency are made, the faculty or an appropriate faculty body will have opportunity to render an assessment in writing of the institution’s financial condition… [T]here should be an elected faculty governance body, or a body designated by a collective bargaining agreement, that participates in the decision that a condition of financial exigency exists or is imminent and that all feasible alternatives to termination of appointments have been pursued.” (“Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure,” 15.)

We call on you to share information about Hampshire’s financial condition with the Hampshire faculty, to recognize its need to participate in the decision over the existence of a condition of financial exigency, and to develop proposals for program discontinuance on the basis of the faculty’s assessments.

• “Judgments determining where within the overall academic program termination of appointments may occur involve considerations of educational policy and hence are the primary responsibility of the faculty or an appropriate faculty body.” (“Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure,” 15-6.)

We call on you to recognize the Hampshire faculty’s primary responsibility to determine where termination of academic appointments may occur.

• Governing Boards are under “a special obligation to ensure that the history of the college or university shall serve as a prelude and inspiration to the future.” (AAUP, “Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities,” 119.)

As you know, Hampshire College originated from a 1958 report called The New College Plan: A Proposal for a Major Departure in Higher Education, which was prepared by a joint committee of professors from Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and the University of Massachusetts at the request of the presidents of those institutions. Section III.3 of that report argues that in the New College financial and educational policy will be intertwined to an unusual degree, and that faculty consequently should have an unusually large responsibility for the financial administration of the New College.

We call on you to treat this foundational component of Hampshire College’s history as a prelude and inspiration to the future.

We trust that you will heed these calls and take them in the right spirit. They come from our understanding of the shared framework within which collegial administration must take place and also from a deep respect we have for our Hampshire colleagues and a keen sense of the value they have added to our entire academic community over many generations.

Signed,

 

Kiara M. Vigil

American Studies

Robert T. Hayashi

American Studies

Solsiree del Moral

American Studies / Black Studies

Chris Dole

Anthropology and Sociology

Deborah Gewertz

Anthropology and Sociology

Hannah Holleman

Anthropology and Sociology

Ron Lembo

Anthropology and Sociology

Nusrat S. Chowdhury

Anthropology and Sociology

Vanessa Fong

Anthropology and Sociology

Jerome Himmelstein

Anthropology and Sociology

Jan E. Dizard

Anthropology and Sociology / Environmental Studies

Adam Levine

Art & The History of Art / Film and Media Studies

Douglas Culhane

Art and the History of Art

Sonya Clark

Art and the History of Art

Carol Keller

Art and the History of Art

Betsey Garand

Art and the History of Art

Niko Vicario

Art and the History of Art

Gabriel Arboleda

Art and the History of Art

Samuel C. Morse

Art and the History of Art

Justin Kimball

Art and the History of Art

Lorne Falk

Art and the History of Art

Nicola Courtright

Art and the History of Art

Yael Rice

Art and the History of Art / Asian Languages and Civilizations

Rowland Abiodun

Art and the History of Art / Black Studies

Mohamed Hassan

Asian Languages and Civilizations

Timothy J. Van Compernolle

Asian Languages and Civilizations

George Greenstein

Astronomy

Josef Trapani

Biology

Dominic Poccia

Biology

John E. Drabinski

Black Studies

Olufemi Vaughan

Black Studies

Khary O. Polk

Black Studies / Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies

Anthony Bishop

Chemistry

Patricia O’Hara

Chemistry

Christopher Durr

Chemistry / Program in Biochemistry & Biophysics

David E. Hansen

Chemistry / Program in Biochemistry & Biophysics

Rebecca H. Sinos

Classics

Christopher S. van den Berg

Classics

Frederick Griffiths

Classics

Adam Honig

Economics

Jessica W. Reyes

Economics

Geoffrey Woglom

Economics

Kate Sims

Economics / Environmental Studies

Judith Frank

English

Josh Guilford

English

Christopher Grobe

English

Pooja Rangan

English

Barry O'Connell

English

Anston Bosman

English

Geoffrey Sanborn

English

Alicia Mireles Christoff

English

Marisa Parham

English

Peter Berek

English

Amelia Worsley

English

Benigno Sanchez-Eppler

English

Karen  Sanchez-Eppler

English / American Studies

Lisa Brooks

English / American Studies

Dale E Peterson

English / Russian

Ashwin Ravikumar

Environmental Studies

Paul Rockwell

French

Laure Katsaros

French

Raina Uhden

French

Leah Hewitt

French

Rosalina de la Carrera

French

Raphael Sigal

French

Ronald C. Rosbottom

French / European Studies / Architectural Studies

David Jones

Geology

Christian Rogowski

German

Heidi Gilpin

German

Ute Brandes

German

Anna Schrade

German

Jen Manion

History

Vanessa Walker

History

Ellen Boucher

History

Jun Cho

History

Frank Couvares

History / American Studies

Monica Ringer

History / Asian Langs & Civilizations

Jerry Dennerline

History / Asian Languages & Civilizations

Trent E. Maxey

History / Asian Languages & Civilizations

Hilary Moss

History / Black Studies

Edward Melillo

History / Environmental Studies

Martha Saxton

History / Sexuality, Women’s and Gender Studies

Adam Sitze

Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought

Martha Umphrey

Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought

Michaela Brangan

Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought

Lawrence Douglas

Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought

Tanya Leise

Mathematics & Statistics

Norton Starr

Mathematics and Statistics

David A. Cox

Mathematics and Statistics

Gregory Call

Mathematics and Statistics

Amanda Folsom

Mathematics and Statistics

Jeffers Engelhardt

Music

David E Schneider

Music

Jason Robinson

Music

Eric Sawyer

Music

Amy Coddington

Music

Jenny Kallick

Music

Klara Moricz

Music

Alexander George

Philosophy

Joseph G. Moore

Philosophy / Environmental Studies

David S. Hall

Physics and Astronomy

Kannan  (Jagu) Jagannathan

Physics and Astronomy

Ashley Carter

Physics and Astronomy

Arthur Zajonc

Physics and Astronomy

Jonathan R. Friedman

Physics and Astronomy

Thomas Dumm

Political Science

Javier Corrales

Political Science

Kristin Bumiller

Political Science

Thomas Dumm

Political Science

Ronald Tiersky

Political Science

Jonathan Obert

Political Science

Pavel Machala

Political Science

Amrita Basu

Political Science / Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies

Allen Hart

Psychology

Matthew Schulkind

Psychology

Elizabeth Aries

Psychology

Julia McQuade

Psychology

Tariq Jaffer

Religion

Susan Niditch

Religion

Robert Doran

Religion

Andrew Dole

Religion

David Wills

Religion

Andrew Dole

Religion

Boris Wolfson

Russian

Stanley Rabinowitz

Russian

Michael Kunichika

Russian

Catherine Ciepiela

Russian

Sahar Sadjadi

Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies

Krupa Shandilya

Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies

Ilan Stavans

Spanish

Sara Brenneis

Spanish

Sony Coráñez Bolton

Spanish

Catherine Infante

Spanish

James Maraniss

Spanish

Paul A. Schroeder Rodríguez

Spanish

Ron Bashford

Theater and Dance

Wendy Woodson

Theater and Dance

First published on February 4, 2019, on the blog page of the Chronicle of Higher Education


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