Opinion: Develop Hampshire Campus as a Technology Incubator

What will become of the soon-to-be shuttered Hampshire College campus?

Amherst needs more affordable housing. Some people call for the Hampshire Campus to be converted into housing, but this is not the answer. What Amherst needs is revenue to repair its notoriously broken streets. It needs to replace an antiquated central fire station. It needs a new Department of Public Works building and it needs to figure out how to pay for expensive marquee projects like the library and new schools. Above all, it needs revenue to build affordable housing.

I believe that the Hampshire College campus should be transformed into a sustainable and profit-making technology incubator. As such, the campus would focus on the development and commercialization of technologies for sustainable energy, manufacturing, agriculture, health care, etc. The campus would provide training and apprenticeship opportunities for young people who come to learn real-world skills. Trainees and apprentices would be paid as they acquire the complex skills needed to build and implement the technologies needed to replace our fossil fuel-dependent, extractive, and environmentally destructive economy. 

The Hampshire campus should retain its association with the Five College Consortium. Existing companies and new startups on the campus would benefit from the abundance of eager and well-educated students and researchers at the four other area campuses. Note that I am speaking of paid internships. Moreover, as for-profit enterprises, those companies that choose to site their operations on the Hampshire campus would contribute to a stronger tax base for Amherst. 

The products, services, and technologies developed, commercialized, and shipped out from the Hampshire campus would go out to the world while the Town of Amherst would enjoy the benefits of the tax revenues thus generated. These revenues would be used to subsidize the construction of housing for those who need it most and to support the services on which all townspeople depend. A virtuous cycle would be established that would serve as a model for other towns that have access to the kind of rich educational resources available in the Amherst area.

See related: Opinion: Hampshire Closing Opens Door To Regional Innovation Hub (Amherst Indy)

Alex Kent is a resident of Amherst