Hampshire College Hosts Mount Holyoke Students Displaced by Storm Damage
Hampshire College is hosting Mount Holyoke College students who had intended to stay in Mead Hall, a residence hall on Mount Holyoke’s campus that suffered substantial water damage during a lightning storm.
This fall, Hampshire College is hosting approximately 144 Mount Holyoke College students who had intended to stay in Mead Hall, a residence hall on Mount Holyoke’s campus that suffered substantial water damage during a lightning storm on July 17. Mead Hall was unoccupied at the time, and there were no injuries reported.
This is not the first example of mutual aid between Mount Holyoke and Hampshire College, or between Hampshire and the nearby community. In August of 2020, Hampshire announced that in partnership with the town of Amherst, the College would offer an isolation shelter for any homeless individuals unable to stay at the town’s overnight shelter in case of a positive COVID-19 diagnosis.
In 2011, when a historic October snowstorm caused power outages at Hampshire College and throughout much of western Massachusetts, it was Mount Holyoke College that temporarily took in displaced Hampshire students in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
Hampshire and Mount Holyoke College are both members of the Five College Consortium, along with neighboring Amherst College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.