The closure of Anna Maria College, announced on April 23, 2026, profoundly affects students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the broader Worcester County community. For faculty and staff, the announcement also carries immediate financial and professional consequences, including the loss of employment, health insurance, retirement stability, and long-term professional communities built over years and, in many cases, decades of service.

For faculty in particular, the timing of the announcement is especially devastating. In higher education, the primary academic hiring cycle largely concludes by early spring, with most full-time positions posted in the fall, interviews conducted during the winter, and hiring decisions finalized by spring. Many Anna Maria faculty members, therefore, learned they would be unemployed only after the traditional hiring season for the upcoming academic year had effectively passed.

At the same time, faculty members were informed they would receive salary and health insurance only through June 2026, despite provisions in the Anna Maria College Faculty Handbook providing many faculty members with a full additional year of salary following termination or non-renewal in certain circumstances. The Faculty Handbook is not simply an internal guide or statement of values; it is a binding contractual document approved by the College administration and Board of Trustees and incorporated into faculty employment agreements.

The handbook further states that tenured faculty appointments may be terminated only for cause, bona fide financial exigency, or program discontinuance, and that the College should make every effort to reassign affected tenured faculty within the institution. These protections reflect longstanding academic standards intended to provide faculty with professional and economic security, particularly during periods of institutional instability.

The vast majority of the Anna Maria community also received limited public explanation regarding the institution's financial circumstances, the timeline of closure-related decision-making, or what alternatives may have been considered prior to the announcement.

Because institutions of higher education serve a public mission and operate through the trust and labor of students, employees, alumni, donors, and taxpayers, closure decisions of this magnitude must be handled openly, ethically, and with meaningful accountability to the communities most affected.

We therefore call upon the Anna Maria College Board of Trustees and administration, the Higher Education Consortium of Central Massachusetts member institutions, the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, Governor Maura Healey, and relevant Massachusetts legislators to ensure a just and transparent closure process.

We Call For:

1. Fulfillment of the contractual protections outlined in the Anna Maria College Faculty Handbook, including the additional year of salary promised to many affected faculty members, continued health insurance, and emergency support from the Commonwealth if institutional resources prove insufficient.
2. A fully independent financial audit and transparent accounting of the decisions that led to the closure.
3. Honest and timely communication regarding institutional finances, institutional assets, and closure-related planning.
4. A closure process that prioritizes fairness, public accountability, and the well-being of the Anna Maria community.

The Anna Maria College community deserves clarity, honesty, and accountability during a moment of profound disruption and uncertainty. Transparency is essential not only for those directly affected but also for maintaining public trust in higher education institutions and the responsibilities they hold to the communities they serve.

We urge institutional and state leaders to commit to a closure process grounded in openness, fairness, and meaningful public accountability.