The Hampshire College faculty voted Wednesday on a resolution expressing no confidence in the financially troubled institution’s president, the leaders of its Board of Trustees, and its chief financial officer. But due to technical and procedural problems, the vote was invalidated at the last minute by the faculty’s executive committee.
The vote was meant to repudiate the college leaders’ recent decisions on how to deal with the Massachusetts institution’s longstanding and worsening financial problems. On January 15, Miriam E. Nelson, the president, announced that Hampshire was seeking a strategic partner to help it create an economically sustainable future. On February 1 the college said it would not enroll a full fall class in 2019. On Tuesday it laid off nine employees in the admissions and advancement offices.
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The Hampshire College faculty voted Wednesday on a resolution expressing no confidence in the financially troubled institution’s president, the leaders of its Board of Trustees, and its chief financial officer. But due to technical and procedural problems, the vote was invalidated at the last minute by the faculty’s executive committee.
The vote was meant to repudiate the college leaders’ recent decisions on how to deal with the Massachusetts institution’s longstanding and worsening financial problems. On January 15, Miriam E. Nelson, the president, announced that Hampshire was seeking a strategic partner to help it create an economically sustainable future. On February 1 the college said it would not enroll a full fall class in 2019. On Tuesday it laid off nine employees in the admissions and advancement offices.
That evening the executive committee of the faculty called for a vote of no confidence in Nelson; the leadership of the board, including A. Kim Saal, the incoming chair and current vice chair; and Mary McEneany, vice president for finance and administration.
After the voting was supposed to end, on Wednesday, the executive committee wrote in a statement that the company that facilitated the vote had experienced “glitches and irregularities.” The committee also wrote that a procedural question had been raised by Eva Rueschmann, the dean of the faculty, so the vote had been declared invalid. A representative for the faculty declined to comment further.
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Like many small, private liberal-arts colleges, Hampshire depends heavily on tuition revenue — tuition and fees account for nearly 90 percent of its annual operating budget — and it has struggled financially for years. The college’s fall enrollment fell from 1,410 in 2015 to 1,191 in 2018, a drop of more 15 percent. After an especially disappointing enrollment yield sparked concerns about the college’s long-term fiscal stability, Nelson and the board last fall began discussing the possibility of looking for a partner.
Before the vote was invalidated, Nelson said she expected that the balloting would go against her and the other leaders. The prospect of a no-confidence vote was concerning, she said, “given the fragile place that we are in, and the momentum that we have built in terms of finding a new partner and moving forward.”
Nelson said she is in talks with potential partners and hopes to announce a partnership this spring, but if uncertainty over changing leadership were to scuttle or delay a deal, “it could be very catastrophic for us.”
By threatening to vote no confidence in both the president and the board leadership, the faculty may also precipitate “almost a constitutional crisis,” said Sascha Freudenheim, an alumnus and a board member not subject to the vote. In the event of a vote of no confidence, the remaining board members would need to consider whether to oust the board and college leaders or support them. On Monday the board released a statement affirming its full support for Nelson.
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A no-confidence vote could lead to more financial troubles for Hampshire, according to Freudenheim. A sweeping change in leadership might trigger clauses in the covenants of the college’s nearly $27 million in long-term debt, causing lenders to call in loans. “Suddenly we move from faculty brinksmanship of we’re saying we don’t have any confidence in you to potentially precipitating closure,” he said.
It was unclear whether the vote would be rescheduled.
Lee Gardner writes about the management of colleges and universities, higher-education marketing, and other topics. Follow him on Twitter @_lee_g, or email him at lee.gardner@chronicle.com.