John Marcus

I'm John Marcus, the senior higher education reporter at the Hechinger Report.

We're a nonprofit that covers education.

Yeah.

So like a lot of small colleges, Hampshire had a lot of problems hidden just below the surface.

Well, actually, in Hampshire's case, they weren't that well hidden.

It had been having problems for more than six years since before the pandemic, but was kind of being kept afloat by its very loyal alumni, who include some people that have been extremely successful largely in the arts.

Who are we talking about?

Should we drop some names?

We're talking about the documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.

Predominantly, he's probably the most famous alumnus of Hampshire.

Barry Sonnenfeld, the director, he directed the Men in Black movies.

Who are you?

Really?

Lupiti Nyong'o, the actress.

Lief Schreiber, the actor.

John Krakauer, the author.

All of them went to Hampshire.

And so I think a lot of people were legitimately pulling for Hampshire.

It's a school that enrolls people that are very interested in the creative arts.

It was started in 1970.