Ken Burns Names the 'Greatest Danger' Facing Higher Ed

College Matters from The Chronicle · May 6, 2026 · 31m

Ken Burns, who has helped to tell the story of the nation's history through celebrated documentaries, attributes much of his success to the education he received at Hampshire College. Faced with the recent news that his financially struggling alma mater will soon close its doors, Burns is reflecting on the larger forces that helped to seal the college’s fate. Hampshire bills itself as a learning laboratory in which students are encouraged to follow their passions, driving toward a goal of personal transformation rather than the pursuit of any single vocation. If that’s not a marketable idea…