Bard College

"The Council for Inclusive Excellence has recently commissioned an Admission Working Group to develop and refine strategies for enhancing the diversity of the student body."

Beginning in 2019, Bard requires a "Welcoming Diversity Workshop" for all first-year students.

Bard's "Coalition to Support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" is "charged with reviewing Bard's Office of Athletics and Recreation in areas of accessibility as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion, taking into account existing policies, facilities, and student and staff experiences. As the coalition’s work progresses, the administration of the Department of Athletics and Recreation has undertaken the important work of creating a diversity strategic plan that includes goals for mandatory training for all student-athletes, increasing diversity in the coaching staff, increasing community engagement, and more diversity among student-athletes."

Due to "equity concerns" raised by student-athletes, "A Coalition to Support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Bard College Athletics" imposed "mandatory antiracism training for athletic staff" and a "facilitated reading of "How to Be An Antiracist."

Bard is undergoing a "decolonization of the curriculum" effort, run by the Dean of Inclusive Excellence. The College also established a new "position of Director of Inclusive Pedagogy and Curriculum."

Bard overviews every course that "deals explicitly with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion." 24 courses fit this description.

Bard's "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" website says the College "aims to work at the systemic as well as the interpersonal level to address the implicit and explicit ways racism, sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and religious discrimination impact the learning process."

In the Fall of 2021, the Dean of the College "convened a faculty forum where every academic program was asked to communicate current and future DEI plans." Additionally, departments were also "asked to refine or create DEI division and program statements to guide their work." Bard also created the "Director of Inclusive Pedagogy and Curriculum" position to help facilitate DEI academic initiatives across the college.

The Bard Literature Program DEI Statement reads in part as follows: "[We] affirm these commitments to our students: to foster open dialogue about the history of literary studies at the College, in the U.S., and throughout the world; to aid and encourage all efforts to redress systemic injustices and to effect meaningful change...In addition to our ongoing work to enhance the diversity and accessibility of our classes, our pedagogy, and our curriculum, the Literature Program is spearheading several targeted initiatives to which all members of the community are invited to contribute."

The Philosophy Program DEI Statement reads in part as follows: "The Philosophy Program is dedicated to fostering the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our curriculum, our classrooms, and our community... We also recognize that philosophy as a discipline has historically promoted and reinforced injustice and exclusion. We commit ourselves to resisting this history and to building a community that is equitable and inclusive for all."

Bard College's Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Culture promotes the writings of critical race theory writer Tommy Curry. The author of this Bard article writes that Curry's definition of critical race theory is "a movement that refuses to engage with white people because racism is normal and irremediable." Curry adds, "CRT maintains that race and racism are inextricable manifestations of the American ethos, and as such, cannot be cured by a constructive engagement with whites." Tommy Curry spoke for the Hannah Arendt Center in 2018.

Bard's Office of Equity and Inclusion offers a variety of programs that "support scholars from a variety of backgrounds who seek to attain a rigorous liberal arts education."

Bard's "Council for Inclusive Excellence" is the "central hub for Bard College's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion agenda." It hosts an "Antiracist Reading and Policy Group."

Bard College Library offers an extensive list of books, conferences, podcasts, and films to understand "antiracism." Books include "How to Be An Antiracist" and "white Fragility."

Bard created the "Gilson Place" which is a "space created and run by students of color." It "will serve to provide students from marginalized racial backgrounds a safe space to program, congregate, learn, and simply be." Gilson Place will also "support the ongoing work of institutional reforms around equity and policy issues that impact the experiences of students of color..."

On December 6, 2022, the Sociology Program at Bard held an event titled "Reckoning with Race: Concepts of Difference and Racial Inequality in Organizations."

The Professionals of Color Affinity Group at Bard "works to bring institutional equity and inclusion to the forefront, particularly in regards to departmental transparency on evaluation and promotion criteria."

The mission of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Bard is "to work at the systemic as well as the interpersonal level to address the implicit and explicit ways racism, sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and religious discrimination impact the learning process."

The Council for Inclusive Excellence at Bard "serves as a central hub for Bard College’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda."

The Faculty Diversity Committee at Bard "provides resources and support to underrepresented faculty as well as provides resources to faculty regarding best practices to promote inclusive pedagogy."

Bard Athletics have instituted several Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (JDEI) initiatives including "meetings and conversations around dealing with bias incidents during competition, as well as training and information from the Office of Title IX and Nondiscrimination."

The Bard "Early College Model" is "centered on college instructors dedicated to teaching adolescents... a robust, inclusive support system to help address the unequal educational onramp experienced by many students, particularly those from low-income, traditionally underrepresented, and first-generation college backgrounds."