The College Fix

Unconventional college funds LGBTQ and DEI programs amid budget cuts, layoffs

A private Massachusetts liberal arts college which openly touts its embrace of progressive concepts continues to grapple with big budget deficits.

The budget woes have not stopped campus leaders from funding programs advancing LGBTQ and DEI concepts amid laying off employees and slashing departments.

Hampshire College, which made headlines years ago when it took down the U.S. flag to promote multiculturalism and more recently offered Florida students wanting to flee from Gov. Ron DeSantis streamlined enrollment, is currently laying off 9 percent of its staff to close a budget shortfall.

The college was founded in the 1970s as an alternative to traditional higher education models with a focus on student-driven learning as well as social justice and inclusion.

But in the last decade or so, it’s struggled to make ends meet.

The recent decision eliminated 29 staff positions and will save $2.7 million annually, while senior leaders took a 13 percent pay cut, and a few departments are being consolidated, MassLive reported.

The move follows ongoing enrollment struggles, employee benefits reductions, and five years of budget deficits since not accepting an incoming class in 2019.

The university did not accept an incoming class that year because it was unable to prove it could afford to graduate a new class of students to its accreditors, the university states on its website.

In particular, administrators could not, “through verifiable internal and external evidence,” prove “its financial capacity to graduate its entering class,” its president stated at the time.

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.

In a statement to Higher Ed Dive, Hampshire’s President Edward Wingenbach acknowledged that “we need to be realistic about our budget,” while also expressing his desire to be an innovative, “progressive university.”

“If you’re not ambitious as a small college, then you’re not going to be successful.”

Hampshire College staff did not respond to multiple interview requests from The College Fix over the last month, including to its admissions officials, several academic departments, and the president’s office.

The college’s commitment to progressive ideology despite continuing budget woes flies in the face of a more current trend by companies to scale back DEI efforts.

Jonathan Butcher, a research fellow in education policy for the Heritage Foundation, told The College Fix that DEI programs such as Hampshire’s are “certainly not essential for business,” and that large corporations such as Microsoft have dissolved their DEI offices because they “were not critical to their business.”

He added via email that “DEI is, by design, racially discriminatory,” and that “colleges should focus on teaching students, not following woke racist trends.”

But a Hampshire College spokesperson told MassLive in July that the latest cuts will actually bolster DEI.

They will reduce “administrative layers and complexity, consolidate college functions where duplication exists, bolster the effectiveness of antiracist initiatives, reduce barriers to collaboration across divisions, support improvements we have seen in student retention, and prioritize our core academic program,” according to the unnamed spokesperson.

MORE: College bans American flag to combat ‘hate-based violence’

IMAGE: Hampshire College photos, Facebook

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