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Smolny College’s Closing Covered by the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Latitudes Newsletter

After the shuttering of Smolny College, Bard College and the Open Society University Network have promised to offer online courses to Smolny students hoping to complete their liberal arts education. The move, writes Karin Fischer for the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Latitudes newsletter, is emblematic of Bard’s “focus on bringing the liberal arts to regions of the world dealing with authoritarianism and political strife.” In the wake of Bard being named “undesirable” by the Russian government in June 2021, the closing of Smolny, which had been created in close collaboration with Bard, was not unexpected. “The real question is how did it last so long?” said Jonathan Becker, executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs. Now, Bard’s focus turns toward supporting those students who are left behind. “We’re keeping more than embers alive of the dream,” Becker said.

Post Date: 09-26-2023

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The World’s UnFair: Public Exhibition by New Red Order, Cofounded by Alumni Adam Khalil ’11 and Zack Khalil ’14, Profiled in the New York Times

“Give it back.” These are the first words seen by visitors to The World’s UnFair, the newest multimedia work by New Red Order (NRO), a “public secret society” cofounded by brothers and Bard alumni Adam Khalil ’11 and Zack Khalil ’14. World’s Fairs “have historically presented a theory of progress, technological advancement, imperial advancement,” Jackson Polys, who cocreated NRO with the Khalil brothers, told the New York Times. The World’s UnFair, by contrast, subverts expectations with an animatronic beaver who speaks about private land ownership and satirical real estate ads featuring “comically small” portions of land given back to Native groups. The exhibition, curated by Bard alumna Diya Vij ’08, is meant to be provocative, asking questions about not only Native sovereignty, but also performances of Indigeneity and art’s place (or lack thereof) in the pursuit of decolonization. The World’s UnFair is on view now through October 15 in Long Island City, Queens.

Read More in the New York Times

Further Reading:

• Smithosian magazine: "‘The World’s UnFair,’ a New Exhibition Calling for the Return of Indigenous Land, Comes to Queens."
• Artnet: “A New Kind of World’s Fair Is Coming to Queens. Its Message? Give Back All Indigenous Land”
• Hyperallergic: “The World’s UnFair in Queens Echoes Calls to Give Native Land Back”

Post Date: 09-26-2023

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Insight into Diversity Highlights Innovative LGBTQ+ Studies Program at Bard College at Simon’s Rock

“As legislative attacks continue to threaten the rights and protections of LGBTQ+ students, an innovative new program at Bard College at Simon’s Rock aims to empower them with the professional and social capital to lead the charge for a more inclusive future,” writes Lisa O’Malley for Insight into Diversity. The Bard Queer Leadership Project (BQLP) is a bachelor of arts degree program designed to promote Queer leadership in many fields of inquiry. BQLP offers LGBTQ+ individuals and allies the opportunity to complete a dual-concentration in one of more than 40 liberal arts areas of study offered at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in tandem with the Queer Leadership concentration, which includes BQLP colloquiums in Queer culture, Queer leadership seminars, internships, and advisory programs.  

Originally slated to launch in 2024, BQLP accelerated its timeline to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ high school and college students in an increasingly restrictive political climate. “We decided that we would push ahead a little faster. If there were students ready to go this fall, we would be ready for them,” says John Weinstein, who became the eighth provost and vice president of Bard College at Simon’s Rock in July 2023. “If you’re working in a field where you’re likely to be the only out person in your workplace, you’re not going to get so much community-based support. Having had your formative college experience be with a cohort of people who are really your chosen professional family to help you through that, I think that’s the [key] piece we offer,” says Weinstein.

BQLP officially launched with a cohort of 15 students this year with plans to increase to 40 by next year. The college also provides a $20,000 annual Queer Leadership scholarship to qualifying students. BQLP is envisioned to expand over the next few years into a complete college on the campus of Bard College at Simon’s Rock, together with Bard College at Simon’s Rock: The Early College, and Bard Academy. BQLP would become the first intentionally Queer-serving college in the world.

Post Date: 09-26-2023