Struggling Hampshire College Hires New President With a Conservative Background
“contrast between Hampshire’s reputation as a bastion of progressivism and Ripon’s conservative history is stark”
How fascinating. A left wing school facing closure turns to someone with a conservative background. It says a lot, doesn’t it?
Forbes reports:
Struggling Hampshire College Hires A New President From A Conservative Bastion
Hampshire College, founded in 1970 as an experiment in higher education, announced today that it would appoint Edward Wingenbach, 49, as its eighth president. A political science professor-turned-college administrator, he is leaving a six-month post as acting president of Ripon College, a liberal arts school in Wisconsin with fewer than 800 students where he had previously served as a poli sci and government professor. Founded in 1854, Ripon is regarded as one of the most conservative colleges in the Midwest. It is the birthplace of the Republican party. Ripon ranks at No. 536 on Forbes’ list of America’s 650 top colleges. Hampshire ranks at No. 276.
Wingenbach was traveling with his family from Wisconsin to Hampshire’s campus in Massachusetts today and couldn’t be reached for comment. “I actually don’t know” whether Wingenbach is himself a conservative, says Hampshire spokesman John Courtmanche. But the contrast between Hampshire’s reputation as a bastion of progressivism and Ripon’s conservative history is stark.
The appointment of a new president marks a step forward for Hampshire, where enrollment has shrunk from 1,400 to 600. Less than seven months ago it looked like it might go under. The newest of the five colleges in a consortium that includes Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, it has struggled financially. In January, then-president Miriam E. Nelson said the school was seeking a long-term partner. In early April, Nelson quit amid differences with Hampshire’s board, which voted to start a fundraising campaign.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
He won’t last. Just because it has been reported that he ‘might’ be a conservative, someone will take offense. There will be a faux controversy and he will be forced out in less than a year.
In fact, progressive heads are exploding even now before his arrival at the campus.
Maybe he will have the guts to tell the snivelers and whiners to take a hike. “Find another college!” to the whining student.
“Tenure? No one is holding you here; you are free to resign. Maybe Oberlin is hiring!” to the sniveling faculty member.
I live here and never heard of the place.
They will be hone in a few years. A degree from that place will be usefull to line the bottom of a birdcage.
Good career move; learn how to swim uphill