In the midst of budget cuts and job losses, innovative college funds LGBTQ and La programs.
Large budget deficits are still a problem for a personal Massachusetts liberal arts college that boldly denies its support of liberal ideas.
Despite laying off employees and cutting costs, campus leaders have not been prevented by the budget problems from funding programs that advance LGBTQ and La concepts.
Hampshire College, which made articles years back when it banned the U.S. flag in favor of diversity and just offered Florida students who wanted to flee from the governor’s office, made headlines. Ron DeSantis streamlined membership, is already laying off 9 percent of its employees to close a budget deficit.
The college was established in the 1970s as a viable alternative to conventional higher learning systems with an emphasis on student-driven teaching as well as social justice and participation.
But in the last century or so, it’s struggled to make ends meet.
The current selection eliminated 29 team opportunities and did conserve$ 2.7 million annually, while senior officials took a 13 percentage pay cut, and a few agencies are being consolidated, MassLive reported.
The decision comes after five years of budget deficits, employee benefits cuts, and membership issues since the school did not accept an approaching course in 2019.
According to the university’s website, the college refused to accept an approaching class that year because it was unable to demonstrate to its accreditors that it could manage to graduate a novel class of students.
In particular, administrators had no,” through credible internal and external evidence”, show “its financial capability to graduate its entering course”, its leader stated at the time.
Campus frontrunners have continued to highlight left-leaning programs and courses over more traditional studies despite the long-term budget problems.
Hampshire has undergone a significant education change, replacing traditional disciplines and ministries with programs focused on addressing pressing global issues like racism and climate change, according to Higher Ed Dive 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.
Despite the college’s ongoing budget problems, its commitment to progressive ideology flies in the face of a more recent trend by businesses to reduce DEI efforts.
According to Jonathan Butcher, a research fellow in education policy at the Heritage Foundation, DEI programs like those in Hampshire are “certainly not essential for business” and that large corporations like Microsoft have dissolved their DEI offices because they “were not critical to their business.”
He added via email that” DE I is, by design, racially discriminatory”, and that” colleges should focus on teaching students, not following woke racist trends”.
However, a spokesperson for Hampshire College claimed in July that DEI will be increased by the most recent cuts.
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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