- Mailing Address
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30 Campus Rd
Annandale-On-Hudson, New York 12504 - Phone
- (845) 758-6822
- Email address
- admission@bard.edu
- Website
- https://www.bard.edu/
- School Information
- Bard College is a four-year residential college of the liberal arts and sciences with a 150-year history of academic excellence. From a 540-acre parklike campus in the Hudson River Valley, the College offers the bachelor of arts degree with concentrations in nearly 50 academic programs in four divisions: Arts; Languages and Literature; Science, Mathematics, and Computing; and Social Studies. Bard also offers dual-degree options, including a five-year B.A./B.S. degree in economics and finance and the undergraduate program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, in which students earn both a bachelor’s degree in music and a B.A. in another field in the liberal arts or sciences. Over the past 30 years, Bard has broadened its scope beyond undergraduate academics. The College now operates high school programs and graduate programs, and has expanded to encompass a network of regional, national, and global satellites. Bard has built such programs as the Bard Prison Initiative, which grants college degrees to New York State inmates, and the Bard High School Early Colleges, where students earn a high school diploma and an A.A. in four years. Bard’s philosophy sets a standard for both scholarly achievement and engagement in civic and global affairs on campus, while also taking the College's mission to the wider world.
- General Information
- Bard College has undertaken a comprehensive policy of infusing diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into every corner of the college’s functions. Its Council for Inclusive Excellence has reformed the College’s admissions system to increase student body diversity. In 2019, the College mandated diversity training for all first-year students. It is in the process of introducing similar training for faculty and staff. In the Athletics departments, Bard has imposed mandatory diversity and equity training for athletes as well as aimed for a more diverse composition of student-athletes and coaches. Athletic staff are required to undergo mandatory “antiracism” training and a facilitated reading of “How to Be an Antiracist.” Bard has started a “decolonization” of its curriculum and appointed a Director of Inclusive Pedagogy and Curriculum to carry this out. Already, 24 courses explicitly teach to the concepts of DEI and one mentions “critical race theory” in its course description. The Bard College Library offers a long list of resources to learn about antiracism and critical race theory. The Bard College Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities promotes controversial CRT writer and philosophy professor Tommy Curry. The College hosted Curry for a talk in 2018. More developments can be found below:
Actions Taken
- Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
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Beginning in 2019, Bard requires a "Welcoming Diversity Workshop" for all first-year students.
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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."
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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."
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- Curriculum Changes and Requirements
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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."
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Bard overviews every course that "deals explicitly with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion." 24 courses fit this description.
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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."
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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.
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- Political Actions and Support for Anti-Racism
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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.
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- Resources
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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."
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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."
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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..."
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On December 6, 2022, the Sociology Program at Bard held an event titled "Reckoning with Race: Concepts of Difference and Racial Inequality in Organizations."
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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."
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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."
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The Council for Inclusive Excellence at Bard "serves as a central hub for Bard College’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda."
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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."
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