Sep. 18 — The group of students who wrote the letter of demands to the college administration, now calling themselves the Adhoc Transparency Organizing Committee, sent the letter to President Wingenbach on September 3rd, signed by 186 students at the time, and now signed by 205 students, comprising nearly a quarter of all students.
The committee published a press release on the 13th announcing that President Wingenbach had responded on the 10th, requesting a continuing series of meetings between himself, the letter writers, and specific students who were involved in budget development.
The committee’s press release noted that a meeting with only the letter writers representing the committee would not meet the student letter’s demand for a student negotiation team, and would exclude marginalized students most affected by the changes.
Wingenbach welcomed the attitude of the student letter, writing “I appreciate your confidence that the interests and values of students and the administration are aligned; we all hope to ensure a healthy and thriving Hampshire.”
He acknowledged the continuing confusion resulting from the lack of communication about the changes to student employment, but took issue with some specific points in the student letter, writing that the 7 hour per week limit is not a hard limit, but rather intended as an average, and students may work any number of hours in a week as long as it averages to 7 per week over the entire year.
The committee’s press release argues that “while this may be the intended policy, it is not being consistently communicated or applied,” and goes on to note that the 24-25 On Campus Work Authorization form requires students to acknowledge that they may “work up to 7 hours per week, rather than an average of 7 hours per week.
In response to the student letter’s claim that tuition has increased and financial aid decreased, Wingenbach says “The current average award is $44,059 this year. Last year the average award was $42,073.” The committee’s press release notes that while financial aid awards may have gone up, they have not increased enough to compensate for the increase in tuition.
Wingenbach also notes that the college completed the fiscal year only $700,000 dollars over budget, rather than $1.4 million, a figure the student letter borrowed from Jennifer Bajorek’s column in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. In response, the committee suggests that the over-expenditure was only curtailed by the cutting of faculty retirement benefits in mid June.
When reached for comment, Bajorek declined to comment due to the fact that the column was collaboratively written by faculty, and she cannot comment on their behalf.
Wingenbach has provided some financial documents and has promised the FY24 budget breakdown to be released soon, as demanded by the student letter.
The committee’s press release notes that 4 of the student letter’s 7 demands have not been addressed by Wingenbach’s response.
The committee says that, going forward, they will “continue to fight for the demands in the circulated work hours letter: financial transparency and student work hour concerns, while centering the voices of BIPOC, international, low-income and disabled students.”
Ed’s letter can be read in whole here, and the Committee’s press release can be read in whole here.
DISCLOSURE: The author of this article is part of the Adhoc Transparency Organizing Committee, and wrote the press release.
