20 Facts About Hampshire College

1.

Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts.

FactSnippet No. 426,838
2.

Hampshire College is known for its alternative curriculum, self-directed academic concentrations, progressive politics, focus on portfolios rather than distribution requirements, and its reliance on narrative evaluations instead of grades and GPAs.

FactSnippet No. 426,839
3.

Idea for Hampshire College originated in 1958 when the presidents of Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst appointed a committee to examine the assumptions and practices of liberal arts education.

FactSnippet No. 426,840
4.

For several years immediately after its founding in the early 1970s, the large number of applications for matriculation caused Hampshire College to be among the most selective undergraduate programs in the United States.

FactSnippet No. 426,841
5.

Hampshire College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.

FactSnippet No. 426,842
6.

Hampshire College describes itself as "experimenting" rather than "experimental", to emphasize the changing nature of its curriculum.

FactSnippet No. 426,843
7.

Hampshire College faculty are organized broadly in defined Schools of thought:.

FactSnippet No. 426,844
8.

In 2014 Hampshire College announced the formation of a new concentration, in Psychoanalytic Studies.

FactSnippet No. 426,845
9.

Hampshire College is the youngest of the schools in the Five-College Consortium.

FactSnippet No. 426,846
10.

Hampshire College stopped accepting SAT and ACT scores of applicants in 2014 both to eliminate income and ethnicity biases in standardized testing and focus assessment on data better correlated with college success and on a longer period of time rather than a single high-pressure test.

FactSnippet No. 426,847
11.

Hampshire College will save up to $8 million in electricity cost in 20 years and $400, 000 yearly.

FactSnippet No. 426,848
12.

Since 2011, Hampshire College has been involved in various projects to "transform its food systems, campus operations, curriculum and campus culture to embrace sustainability.

FactSnippet No. 426,849
13.

Hampshire College Farm expanded their education and operation, establishing the Center for New England and Agriculture.

FactSnippet No. 426,850
14.

In 2017, Hampshire College pledged to continue to support climate action and reduce carbon emissions in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement.

FactSnippet No. 426,851
15.

Re-Radicalization of Hampshire College assisted the administration in launching a pilot program known as mentored independent study.

FactSnippet No. 426,852
16.

In May 1977, Hampshire was the first college in the nation to divest from apartheid South Africa.

FactSnippet No. 426,853
17.

In February 2009 it was reported that Hampshire College had divested from Israel because of its violation of human rights.

FactSnippet No. 426,854
18.

Hampshire College continues to display a statement from Dershowitz on its website, in which the lawyer withdraws his criticism and pledges his support, stating, "Hampshire College has now done the right thing.

FactSnippet No. 426,855
19.

In November 2001, a controversial All-Community Vote at Hampshire declared the school opposed to the recently launched War on Terrorism, another national first that drew national media attention, including scathing reports from Fox News Channel and the New York Post.

FactSnippet No. 426,856
20.

Hampshire College alumni have received the Pulitzer and Hillman Prizes; the National Humanities Medal; Emmy, Academy, Peabody, Tony, Golden Globe and Grammy Awards; MacArthur, Fulbright, and Guggenheim Fellowships; the National Book Award; the American Book Award; the National Book Critics Circle Award; and the National Endowment for the Arts.

FactSnippet No. 426,857