The
Five Colleges comprises four
liberal arts collegeLiberal arts colleges in the United States are undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise offers the following definition of the liberal arts as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing...
s and one
universityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in the
Connecticut RiverThe Connecticut River is the largest river in New England, flowing south from the Connecticut Lakes in northern New Hampshire, along the border between New Hampshire and Vermont, through western Massachusetts and central Connecticut into Long Island Sound at Old Saybrook, Connecticut. It has a...
Pioneer ValleyThe Pioneer Valley is a region consisting of the three counties in Western Massachusetts through which the Connecticut River passes, and especially those towns that are in the lowlands of the Connecticut River Valley...
of
Western MassachusettsWestern Massachusetts is a loosely defined geographical region of the U.S. state of Massachusetts which contains the Berkshires and the Pioneer Valley...
, belonging to a consortium called
Five Colleges, Incorporated, which was established in 1965. They are geographically close to one another and are linked by buses which run between the campuses.
The consortium is composed of
Amherst CollegeAmherst College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA. Founded in 1821, it is the third oldest college in Massachusetts, and has been coeducational since 1975...
,
Hampshire CollegeHampshire College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, to be in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of...
,
Mount Holyoke CollegeMount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is a member of the Seven Sisters and one of the oldest women's colleges in the United States...
,
Smith CollegeSmith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
, and the
University of Massachusetts AmherstThe University of Massachusetts is a selective research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts...
. A similar organization exists directly to the south and is known as the Cooperating Colleges of Greater Springfield (CCGS).
The five colleges operate both as independent entities as well as mutually dependent institutions.
The
Five Colleges comprises four
liberal arts collegeLiberal arts colleges in the United States are undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise offers the following definition of the liberal arts as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing...
s and one
universityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in the
Connecticut RiverThe Connecticut River is the largest river in New England, flowing south from the Connecticut Lakes in northern New Hampshire, along the border between New Hampshire and Vermont, through western Massachusetts and central Connecticut into Long Island Sound at Old Saybrook, Connecticut. It has a...
Pioneer ValleyThe Pioneer Valley is a region consisting of the three counties in Western Massachusetts through which the Connecticut River passes, and especially those towns that are in the lowlands of the Connecticut River Valley...
of
Western MassachusettsWestern Massachusetts is a loosely defined geographical region of the U.S. state of Massachusetts which contains the Berkshires and the Pioneer Valley...
, belonging to a consortium called
Five Colleges, Incorporated, which was established in 1965. They are geographically close to one another and are linked by buses which run between the campuses.
Members
The consortium is composed of
Amherst CollegeAmherst College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA. Founded in 1821, it is the third oldest college in Massachusetts, and has been coeducational since 1975...
,
Hampshire CollegeHampshire College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, to be in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of...
,
Mount Holyoke CollegeMount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is a member of the Seven Sisters and one of the oldest women's colleges in the United States...
,
Smith CollegeSmith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
, and the
University of Massachusetts AmherstThe University of Massachusetts is a selective research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts...
. A similar organization exists directly to the south and is known as the Cooperating Colleges of Greater Springfield (CCGS).
Overview
The five colleges operate both as independent entities as well as mutually dependent institutions. The
Five College Radio Astronomy ObservatoryThe Five College Radio Astronomical Observatory was founded in 1969 by the Five College Astronomy Department . From its inception, the observatory has emphasized research, the development of technology and the training of students—both graduate and undergraduate...
was founded in 1969 by the Five College Astronomy Department. Together, the Five Colleges operate
WFCRWFCR is a U.S. radio station operating at 88.5 MHz in the FM band.It is located at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts and its broadcasting range extends to western and central Massachusetts, northern Connecticut and southern Vermont and New Hampshire...
, "Five College Radio", an
NPRNational Public Radio is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to 797 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, signed into law...
affiliate operating at 88.5 MHz in the
FMIn telecommunications, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its frequency . In analog applications, the instantaneous frequency of the carrier is directly proportional to the instantaneous value of the input signal...
band. They also participate in an interlibrary loan program, allowing students, staff, and faculty to take advantage of all five campuses' collections.
In addition, students at each of these schools often take classes at the other colleges ("cross-registration" is permitted and often encouraged). Student groups and organizations often draw participants from all five campuses and several academic programs (for example,
astronomyAstronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere...
,
danceDance is a sport and art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, some foreign languages, and
women's studiesWomen's studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. It often includes feminist theory, women's history Women's studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. ...
) are run by the Five Colleges.
Five-College folklore
A popular
urban legendAn urban legend, urban myth, or urban tale, more properly a "'contemporary legend'" is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them...
among Five College students holds that the characters on the
Saturday morning cartoonA Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming which was typically scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the 1990s. In the United States, the generally accepted times considered to be Saturday mornings...
Scooby-DooScooby-Doo is a long-running American animated series produced for Saturday morning television in several different versions from 1969 to the present. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, CBS executive Fred...
represent the five colleges. The legend has Velma representing Smith College and Daphne as Mount Holyoke, with Fred representing Amherst College, Shaggy as Hampshire College, and Scooby as UMass Amherst. Hanna-Barbera Productions,
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
executive
Fred SilvermanFred Silverman is an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at the CBS, ABC and NBC networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as the series Scooby-Doo , All in the Family , The Waltons , and Charlie's Angels , as well as the...
, and some of the show's writers have said that this story is false, and that the show was actually based on the radio program
I Love a MysteryI Love a Mystery was a radio drama series about three friends who ran a detective agency and traveled the world in search of adventure. Distinguished by the high octane scripting of Carlton E...
and the TV sitcom
The Many Loves of Dobie GillisThe Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is a situation comedy that ran on CBS in the USA from 1959–1963. The television series and some episode scripts were adapted from a 1951 collection of short stories of the same name, written by Max Shulman, that also inspired the 1953 film The Affairs of Dobie Gillis...
. In fact, Hampshire College did not open until a year after the premiere of
Scooby-Doo. In any event, the characters of
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is the first incarnation of the long-running Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo. It premiered on September 13, 1969 at 10:30 a.m. EST and ran for two seasons on CBS as a half-hour long show...
are high-schoolers, not collegiates.
Bus
The
Pioneer Valley Transit AuthorityThe Pioneer Valley Transit Authority oversees and coordinates public transportation in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. Currently the PVTA offers fixed-route bus service as well as paratransit service for the elderly and disabled. The PVTA was created by Chapter 161B of the...
(PVTA) provides free inter-campus bus service to students. The bus line runs among the Five Colleges on frequent schedule seven days a week, allowing car-free travel to class and social events. Hourly buses run into the early morning on weekends, an alternative to driving after drinking. This service is funded through a contract with the member institutions.
Greyhound Bus Lines and
Peter Pan Bus LinesPeter Pan Bus Lines is a long-distance bus carrier that operates in the northeastern states of the United States. Over four million passengers travel on Peter Pan's bus routes every year....
also offer regional service. National service is offered through the
Springfield, MassachusettsSpringfield is the largest city on the Connecticut River and the county seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States.In the 2000 census, the city population was 154,082. It is the third largest city in Massachusetts and fourth largest in New England...
Bus Terminal.
Rail
Limited
AmtrakThe National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971 to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a blend of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union Station...
service is offered at the Amherst station (AMM). It is contiguous to the Amherst College campus and a PVTA bus stop. Service is North/South, although many more connections are available one stop away at the Springfield station (SPG). Service to
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
,
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
,
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
,
AlbanyAlbany is a city in the United States of America; it is the capital of the state of New York and the county seat of Albany County. Albany is roughly 136 miles north of the city of New York, and slightly south of the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. The city sits on the Hudson River and...
, and distant points are available by connecting to regional service at Springfield.
General Aviation
Northampton Airport (FAA:
7B2) and
Turners Falls AirportTurners Falls Airport is a public airport located three miles north of the central business district of Montague, a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, USA. The airport is owned by the Town of Montague...
(FAA:
OB5) are the closest dedicated general aviation airports. They offer 24 hour access for private aircraft, including corporate jets. 7B2 and 0B5 can only accommodate very small corporate jets.
Airlines
Major domestic scheduled airline service is available at both
Bradley International AirportBradley International Airport is a public airport located in Windsor Locks on the border with East Granby, in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is owned by the State of Connecticut....
(FAA:
BDL) in northern Connecticut (45 minutes) and
Logan International Airport
(FAA:
BOS) in Boston (90 minutes). Logan offers extensive international flights. Regular schedules are available shuttles for a fee.