Jonathon Podolsky

[Editor/Blogger’s introduction: As Guilford College approaches decisions that are reliably reported to be “do or die” for the school, we were approached by Jonathon Podolsky, a self-described “save college” consultant. He has been following Guilford’s recent difficulties. His personal assessment here is long, likely controversial, and has been doggedly pursued in the face of Guilford officialdom’s chronic policy of avoidance, stonewalling, and feckless message and damage control. Maybe, if Guilf...

Published initially via newsletter and at www.theassemblync.com/newsletter/the-quad-montreat-cyber-era

Jonathon Podolsky, an activist who consults with struggling schools, was involved in Guilford College’s last survival campaign, and he submitted this letter to The Quad with his thoughts on how the school should move forward. We are running it in full.

Guilford College declined to comment.

Guilford College’s acting leadership is working hard to cut expenses and increase revenue, but time is tight. To maximize results, they need to rebuild trust with their stakeholders, even those who have given up on the college.

Matt Hartman’s recent piece in The Assembly, “Guilford College Debates How Quakerly it Should Be,” was an excellent deep dive that surfaced important issues. It observes a dichotomy between forming Quaker councils, or making business decisions first. But we need a different lens to better see the college’s main impediments and way forward. Saving a college is like playing 3D chess while riding a bicycle. It requires an immaculate strategy while sustaining movement and balance.

Various strategies have different time cycles, but both sides of this seeming dichotomy agree the college needs to be saved now. Guilford’s strengths in terms of its offerings to students are not business or religion in isolation, but a blend of helping students find meaning, gain professional skills, learn critical thinking, group dynamics, and ethics.

Faculty groups have plans to reduce silos and expenses. One would flatten the administrative hierarchy, another organizes the academics into four clusters: Understanding the Human and Natural World, Human Studies & Cultural Understanding, Management & Systems, Justice, Society & Global Engagement (this proposal has been accepted).

Adding majors, and other changes that Mark Cubberley suggests in The Assembly’s Guilford article, should also be considered. What’s actually needed is a better container where students, staff, faculty, alumni, and a variety of marginalized groups can discuss these issues while keeping in mind timelines, financial goals, and successive stages. I was part of the re-envisioning coalition at Hampshire College that did just that.

Guilford overspent its approved budget to the tune of $10 million, and broke stipulations from its lenders, leaving some to wonder why the board didn’t notice this and take action sooner. Guilford can act expeditiously to rebuild trust by holding a community meeting with an impartial auditor to discuss new financial controls that would prevent these problems from recurring, while the board could reform its oversight policies, reporting transparently and often.

The college also needs an ace negotiator who can level with any vendors for which it may be overpaying. It’s time to renegotiate, or there won’t be a college. I’ve heard the college has experienced delays in selling a valuable parcel of land. It’s worth asking the bondholders if they would accept the parcel in exchange for eliminating debt payments for an appropriate period.

The college must also excite its constituents with a go-forward plan and better messaging. I like these thoughts from Prof. Dixon, quoted on Guilford’s website: “When you see the lights turning on, when you see (students) waking up to their intelligence and gifts? That’s why I get out of bed in the morning. The world needs people who are occupying their intelligence and their gifts and figuring out how those gifts connect with the world’s needs. That’s what a Guilford education does for you.” Let’s make it so.

— Jonathon Podolsky

Initially published at https://thereminder.com/opinion/letter-to-the-editor/hampshire-college-faces-another-crossroads-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

On Jan. 6 of this year, President Ed Wingenbach announced his resignation as leader of Hampshire College, having led the institution through a seemingly miraculous rebound since 2019. Behind the handshakes and smiles, a complex reality exists, and the community must rally once again to save the college. High-stakes questions about a potentially important bond issue loom large.

Under Wingenbach’s tenure, progress was made in fundraising, rebuilding enrollment, and implementing curricular chang...

Hampshire College. Photo: hampshire.edu

On January 6 of this year, President Ed Wingenbach announced his resignation as leader of Hampshire College. He had led the institution through a seemingly miraculous rebound since 2019. Behind the handshakes and smiles, a complex reality exists, and the community must rally once again to save the college. High-stakes questions about a potentially important bond issue loom large.

Flashback
Rewind to January of 2019: President Mim Nelson made the bombshell announcement that Hampshire was seekin...

A proposed apartment complex is planned for the area behind Atkins Market, which would involve the sale of land by Hampshire College. According to President Wingenbach’s comments at the Amherst Planning Commission meeting on March 19, the sale is the final part of Hampshire's financial stabilization plan, and any delays would cause significant hardship.

I have been unafraid to criticize Hampshire College, as shown by articles I have written in the past, but sensational accounts I have read in other publications lack grounding in Hampshire’s history, financial recovery path, and today’s higher education landscape. Recent reports have mentioned that enrollment came in under projections, and one story speculates on increased staff turnover. In actuality, it was Hampshire leadership’s decision to reduce non-faculty staffing levels and their own pay...

Why did Hampshire College, an iconic progressive institution saved from closure in 2019, outsource information technology (IT) service to a national for-profit and lay off dedicated employees, some of whom had been there for decades? Back in 2019, the former administration declined to accept that year’s incoming class of new students to make Hampshire easier to acquire by another college. The community revolted, top leaders resigned and the board committed to fundraising to keep Hampshire indepe...

On Nov. 5, I attended an informational meeting at the Marlboro Community Center run by Brian Mooney, director of Potash Hill, the subsidiary of Marlboro Music Festival in charge of renting out the campus.
I was very impressed by his understanding of the values held by various stakeholder groups that have overlapping histories and are affected by what will happen there: alumni and others who cared about the college, the music festival, and the town, region, staff, etc.
I see in him strengths that...

Hampshire College, which nearly closed in 2019, just welcomed its largest entering class since 2018. The film “Unmaking of a College,” which documented the crisis, recently became widely available on streaming platforms and DVD.

The film provides a launching point for understanding the factors that affect Hampshire and other small liberal arts colleges around the nation. However, there is a context beyond the film we need to understand better.

Colleges that don’t deal robustly with core issues arrive at existential crises that can quickly become insurmountable. For over two years, I have been an activist, writer and researcher in save-college movements for schools listed in the book “Colleges that Change Lives.” I also worked early on as an adviser to Save Guilford, a group formed to fight the cuts and restore Quaker processes that had been integral at Guilford. Through a deep dive into various schools and stakeholder groups in crisis...

Jonathon Podolsky is the moderator of Hampshire College Alumni of Western MA, Director of the non-profit Re-envisioning Marlboro College Corporation, and runs a Hampshire College/Sweet Briar Facebook group. He has been involved in save college movements for two years. Podolsky advised Save Guilford leadership during the group’s formation. He can be reached at www.Podolsky.cc

The light at the end of the tunnel could be an oncoming train.

Save Guilford is a group mainly of alumni that has emerge...

Seth Andrew is adept at using words that evoke the democratic ideals of our country. However, it is by no means clear that he delivers on these lofty ideals. As reported in the article, there have been questions raised about Seth Andrew's organization. The email quoted in the article appears to dodge the question asked, instead asserting that the community is “confused.” According to a letter to the Vermont Attorney General, Democracy Builders Fund, Inc. is seeking to buy the campus. According...

Marlboro College held its annual meeting May 16 in which they overrode term limits and ignored a petition with more than 800 signatures calling on leadership in favor of closure, to resign. Their plan to give away millions of dollars to Emerson College, while taking on new debt, $1M in Paycheck Protection Program funds from the federal government and $1.5M to build a new dorm this year, lacks judgement. The trustees voted to give another term to Chairman Richard Saudek, who has been on the board...

Marlboro College held its annual meeting May 16 in which they overrode term limits and ignored a petition with more than 800 signatures calling on leadership in favor of closure, to resign. Their plan to give away millions of dollars to Emerson College, while taking on new debt, $1M in Paycheck Protection Program funds from the federal government and $1.5M to build a new dorm this year, lacks judgement. The trustees voted to give another term to Chairman Richard Saudek, who has been on the board...

by Jonathon Podolsky For months now, I have watched and worked with others to engage like-minded individuals in support of the continued operation of Marlboro College with some success. Much to my amazement, many think that saving Marlboro is a lost cause--I know it is not. I was deeply involved with the Save Hampshire College movement. Why? Because I understood the importance of offering alternative educational opportunities to students interested in a smaller, more flexible learning environmen...

For months now, I have watched and worked with others to engage like-minded individuals in support of the continued operation of Marlboro College with some success. Much to my amazement, many think that saving Marlboro is a lost cause — I know it is not. I was deeply involved with the Save Hampshire College movement. Why? Because I understood the importance of offering alternative educational opportunities to students interested in a smaller, more flexible learning environment.After having been...

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Jonathon Podolsky, of Northampton, Massachusetts, who is an active participant of I Believe in Marlboro College and in Mobilize Marlboro. He is an alumus of Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He was active with organizations that worked to save Hampshire College.For months now, I have watched and worked with others to engage like-minded individuals in support of the continued operation of Marlboro College with some success. Much to...

The leadership of Marlboro College claims their proposed "merger" (which would actually close Marlboro) will preserve the college's ethos. However, during recent Marlboro events, the administration has damaged their credibility by violating the core tenets of their own institution, even before the finalized agreement has been signed.Marlboro's DNA centers around the small town democratic ideals students can learn (and practice) in Town Meetings, created by the college even before it had a facult...