[President’s message]
"Dear Hampshire College Community,
In this challenging time, I am especially grateful for the caring support of the Hampshire community. Over the past three weeks, we have weathered extraordinary changes in our world, our lives, and here at Hampshire. Indeed, colleges and universities, private and public institutions, small and large schools are all being stretched by this unprecedented crisis. We cannot yet know the impacts of the pandemic in terms of admissions, enrollment, operations, fundraising, and more.
In spite of the many unknowns, we are adapting our financial plans to address the problems presented by Covid-19, responding to fast-changing circumstances with imperfect information. In the short term, we’re prioritizing what’s in the best interest of our employees and students. Long term, our priority is to preserve Hampshire as an autonomous, experimenting institution that continuously pursues our mission to transform higher education. While it may not be easy, and difficult decisions will be required, I am confident we’ll be successful.
Hampshire has distinct advantages—we are creative, innovative, and experimenting, and not burdened by rigid requirements. We’re partners in a major, distinguished consortium. I believe these better position us to survive this trying period.
Obviously, the timing is difficult. We endured a major disruption a year ago, and are now in year one of a five-year plan to achieve a balanced budget and long-term sustainability. Fortunately, we based our plan on conservative projections across several key elements:" …
https://www.hampshire.edu/health-services/2020/02/04/updates-on-covid-19-novel-coronavirus