Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 12/10/09 Section: Opinion
Letters to the editor appear exactly as they were sent to us. No changes were made to the text, except for the name of the paper, which, as is written in the masthead, is The MH?News, not the MHC News. Letters cannot exceed 450 words. All letters must include the writer’s name and telephone number for verification purposes. Unsigned letters will not be printed. Names may be held upon request and with the approval of the Editor-in-Chief. The News reserves the right to decide which materials will be printed. Email submissions to mhnews-oped by Sunday at 5 p.m.
To the Editor:
In reference to the MHN story of December 3 regarding Hampshire College, the article conflates three separate issues: governance review, budget cuts, and the start of the strategic planning process. While Hampshire has, along with many other colleges and universities across the country, made some budget cuts to respond to the current challenging economy, the governance review and the president’s thoughts about the strategic planning process are completely unrelated to those budget cuts. The Board of Trustees decided last year that in fall 2009 Hampshire College would begin a governance review process. The Governance Task Force will not be making any recommendations to the community until the end of this academic year, so the article is incorrect when it states that the board is “currently evaluating reports from the task force.”
With regard to President Hexter’s comments on his blog, these were not proposals. They were thoughts about how the College might begin the process of strategic planning, that is, to allow into our conversations new ways of thinking about what a Hampshire education might involve in the future. Narrative evaluations and project-based learning are hallmarks of a Hampshire education, and the president has confirmed on his blog and elsewhere the centrality of these pedagogical values to Hampshire. Most importantly, it should be noted that the strategic planning process will be led by a campus steering committee and will involve the entire Hampshire College community. No single person, including the president, will drive this process. The strategic planning process is designed to be collaborative and to reflect the best thinking of the College community.
(Please note President Hexter’s strong support for narrative evaluations in his first blog post. As a classicist and a student of the liberal arts, he has addressed the “liberal arts” as a structuring principle in education in a series of thought papers, the “Making of the College 2.0” series, and addresses on campus.)
By Elaine Thomas
Director of Communications, Hampshire College
To the Editor:
In reference to the MHN story of December 3 regarding Hampshire College, the article conflates three separate issues: governance review, budget cuts, and the start of the strategic planning process. While Hampshire has, along with many other colleges and universities across the country, made some budget cuts to respond to the current challenging economy, the governance review and the president’s thoughts about the strategic planning process are completely unrelated to those budget cuts. The Board of Trustees decided last year that in fall 2009 Hampshire College would begin a governance review process. The Governance Task Force will not be making any recommendations to the community until the end of this academic year, so the article is incorrect when it states that the board is “currently evaluating reports from the task force.”
With regard to President Hexter’s comments on his blog, these were not proposals. They were thoughts about how the College might begin the process of strategic planning, that is, to allow into our conversations new ways of thinking about what a Hampshire education might involve in the future. Narrative evaluations and project-based learning are hallmarks of a Hampshire education, and the president has confirmed on his blog and elsewhere the centrality of these pedagogical values to Hampshire. Most importantly, it should be noted that the strategic planning process will be led by a campus steering committee and will involve the entire Hampshire College community. No single person, including the president, will drive this process. The strategic planning process is designed to be collaborative and to reflect the best thinking of the College community.
(Please note President Hexter’s strong support for narrative evaluations in his first blog post. As a classicist and a student of the liberal arts, he has addressed the “liberal arts” as a structuring principle in education in a series of thought papers, the “Making of the College 2.0” series, and addresses on campus.)
By Elaine Thomas
Director of Communications, Hampshire College