by Liz Flyntz | Jun 27, 2026 | Op-Eds & Analysis, Pedagogical Reckoning
By Liz Flyntz · Pedagogical Reckoning · May 16, 2026
On April 14, 2026, Hampshire College’s board of trusteesvoted to close the college at the end of the fall 2026 semester. The announcement was not (or at least, should not have been) a surprise. In March 2026 its accreditor, the New England Commission of Higher Education,placed Hampshire on notice and warned it could withdraw accreditation over the college’s enrollment and finances. The Massachusetts Department of Higher Educationcould not confirm Hampshire held sufficient resources to operate th…
by Liz Flyntz | Jun 27, 2026 | Op-Eds & Analysis, Pedagogical Reckoning
By Liz Flyntz · Pedagogical Reckoning · Jun 1, 2026
Antioch enrolled 115 degree-seeking students in 2025–26, down from 121 the prior year. (Yellow Springs News, September 2025)
The six-year graduation rate is 26 percent. (College Scorecard / U.S. Dept. of Education)
U.S. News ranking has fallen from #100 among national liberal arts colleges (fall 2023) to #183–201 (2026 edition). (Wikipedia, Antioch College)
The college recently withdrew from the Great Lakes Colleges Association — a consortium it helped found (GLCA)
by Liz Flyntz | Jun 27, 2026 | Casselli, Pedagogical Reckoning
By Liz Flyntz · Pedagogical Reckoning · Jun 5, 2026
In February 2026, Antioch College terminated the appointment of tenured professor michael casselli without convening the Faculty Promotion and Review Committee or the Board of Trustees, the bodies its own Faculty Personnel Handbook designates for termination for cause. The Board rescinded the termination in March and ordered an FPRC review. The review did not materialize. The American Association of University Professors has since written twice to President Jane Fernandes urging the hearing the…
by Liz Flyntz | Jun 27, 2026 | Op-Eds & Analysis, Pedagogical Reckoning
By Liz Flyntz · Pedagogical Reckoning · Jun 24, 2026
Goddard: ~220 students — down 88% from ~1,900 (early 1970s)
Hampshire: ~747 students — down 94% from ~1,200 (mid-1990s peak)
Antioch: ~115 students — down 96% from ~2,700 (1973); down 57% from post-reopening high of 266 (2015)
by Liz Flyntz | Jun 27, 2026 | Op-Eds & Analysis, Pedagogical Reckoning
By Liz Flyntz · Pedagogical Reckoning · Jun 11, 2026
The goal of this article is to look closely at Dr. Jane Fernandes’s record across multiple institutions and ask whether she is the right person to lead a college like Antioch, with all its particularities and its current dire financial state. To be fair, Fernandes took a job offered to her, after a search firm that Antioch’s own board and hiring committee selected recruited her. Very few people with higher-education executive experience would have taken it: turning around a financially distresse…
