Why did Hampshire College close?

When Hampshire College announced that it had secured a large loan that would allow it to complete its final semester, one detail caught my attention.

Nobody initially said who had provided the money.

Hampshire described the lender as a "philanthropic partner." The loan would allow the college to continue its summer and fall 2026 teach-out, wind down operations and give the trustees more time to deal with the college's land and other financial obligations.

That seemed worth following.

I had attended Hampshire years ago, so I already had a personal interest in what was happening to the college. But this became something different.

I wanted to know who had lent Hampshire the money.

$29.5 million

The answer eventually appeared in documents filed with the Hampshire County Registry of Deeds.

The lender was Artocarpus Partners LLC.

The amount was $29.5 million.

Artocarpus was a newly created Massachusetts limited liability company with a Boston address. The mortgage covered Hampshire College property, and additional filings showed Artocarpus as a secured party.

That answered the first question.

It also created several new ones.

Who was behind Artocarpus?

Where had $29.5 million come from?

Why had someone been willing to lend that much money to a college that had already announced it was closing?

What exactly secured the loan?

And what would happen if Hampshire's eventual property sales didn't produce enough money to repay it?

Jesse Johnson

Eventually Hampshire identified Jesse Johnson as the person behind Artocarpus Partners.

That should have made things simpler.

It didn't.

There wasn't a convenient biography explaining why Johnson had suddenly appeared in the final chapter of Hampshire College.

So I started looking.

One source led to another: corporate records, addresses, educational connections, business relationships, property

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