We embrace plurality, respect divergent viewpoints, and are committed to understanding the rich spectrum of experiences that comprise our community.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Bard seeks to materialize our commitment to plurality, dialogue, and rigorous study. We strive to create a learning environment that upholds the College’s mission to meaningfully include the voices, works, and ideas of communities and cultures historically marginalized in liberal arts and sciences education. DEI at Bard 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.
Artwork by Rebecca MeekTuesday, September 15, 2020 – Thursday, December 31, 2020
Meshell Ndegeocello Chapter & Verse: The Gospel of James Baldwin
UPSTREAMING Inspired by the writing of James Baldwin Created by Meshell Ndegeocello In collaboration with Charlotte Brathwaite Featuring the contributions of Staceyann Chin, Suné Woods, Nicholas Galanin, Paul Thompson '93, Justin Hicks, and more.A Co-Production of Bismillah, LLC and Fisher Center at Bard Co-Commissioned by Live Arts Bard, UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre, and Festival de Marseille.“No label, no slogan, no party, no skin color, and no religion is more important than the human being.”—James Baldwin
A project inspired by James Baldwin’s truth-telling treatise on justice in the United States, The Fire Next Time, and our endlessly changing world. Chapter & Verse: The Gospel of James Baldwin is a 21st-century ritual tool kit for justice. A call for revolution. A gift during turbulent times.
“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word "love" here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace—not in the infantile American sense of being made happy—but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.” —James Baldwin
Each month, September–December 2020, we offer gifts—music, thoughts, meditations, and visual testimonies of resilience—inspired by James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time.
“This is my offering to you. This is a different experience so I hope you have an open mind or at least an open heart. I see James Baldwin as an Orisha, his writing as the living word. I wanted to pay homage to him and to the time and effort it took to sit, to physically and emotionally fill the page with a truth that made my own sorrow feel less lonely. He put me on a path of empathy and humility towards my parents. It humbled me towards my mother born in 1944 and my father born in 1939—a time I can’t imagine living in while black.” —Meshell
Dial a toll-free telephone number and discover songs, meditations, and chants to ease your mind any time, day or night when you need it most.
SEE
Experience visual testimonies of Baldwin’s text, with original music created by Meshell and artistic collaborators, including Suné Woods, Nicholas Galanin, and Charlotte Brathwaite.
*Sign-up for receiving the physical broadsheet delivered to your mailbox ended on September 21. To get the latest Fisher Center news, sign up for our weekly e-News here.
UPSTREAMING
12/04
Friday
Friday, December 4, 2020
CCS Bard: Conversation with George Stanley Nsamba
Online Event11:00 am – 12:30 pm EST/GMT-5 In conjunction with Day With(out) Art 2020, CCS Bard will host a discussion with artist, filmmaker, and activist George Stanley Nsamba. Day With(out) Art is an international day of action and mourning in response to the AIDS crisis. Register in advance here.
Believing in the power of art to tell people’s stories, Nsamba has directed a number of films throughout his career that touch upon the lives of those living with HIV and AIDS. In his newly commissioned work Finding Purpose (2020) the artist offers reflections on the experience of producing a film about teens born HIV positive in Uganda and the pervasive and discriminatory stigmas that cling to that status. This film builds upon the artist’s distinctive commitment to intergenerational and youth-centered storytelling. Nsamba is also a devoted mentor, and in 2013 he founded The Ghetto Film Project in the slums of Naguru, as a way to train and empower youth in socially engaged film production.
In this student-focused discussion between the filmmaker, members of Bard College, and the wider community, Nsamba will lead a conversation around his practice, the role of the artist in society, and the difficult yet important work of bringing personal narratives of HIV and AIDS to the fore.
This conversation is free and open to the public. Registration is required in advance here. Prior to the event, participants are invited to learn more about Nsamba’s practice through materials made available here. Questions for the artist can be submitted in advance via this Google Form.
George Stanley Nsamba is a filmmaker, spoken word artist, and human rights activist. In 2013, he founded The Ghetto Film Project to mentor and train youth in socially engaged film production. Nsamba's films Time Irreversible (2017), The Dummy Team (2016), Silent Depression (2015), and Crafts: The Value of Life (2015) have screened throughout Africa and the United States.
Learn more about Day With(out) Art 2020 at visualaids.org.
11:00 am – 12:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Online Event
12/05
Saturday
Friday, December 4, 2020
Sky Hopinka: Centers of Somewhere
CCS Galleries12:00 pm – 5:00 pm EST/GMT-5 The Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard), will present Sky Hopinka: Centers of Somewhere, opening October 17, 2020, a focused look at key ideas, preoccupations, and methods in the work of artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka. Hopinka (born 1984 in Ferndale, Washington) is recognized for video work that centers around personal positions of Indigenous homeland and that explores language as a container of culture.
Centers of Somewhere will present a newly commissioned multichannel work, Here you are before the trees (2020), that will explore Indigenous histories of the Hudson Valley as they are connected to other regions in the United States. Centers of Somewhere will also present a selection of recent videos and photography, including a new series of 16 photographs entitled Breathings (2020) that were shot throughout the United States in 2020, and several short video works by Hopinka, including Dislocation Blues (2017), Jáaji Approx (2015), and I’ll Remember You as You Were, not as What You’ll Become (2016).
Visitor information available here: https://ccs.bard.edu/visit/reservations
“I want to express our solidarity with all who grieve for the deaths, with all who live in constant fear of the brutality of racial discrimination, and with all who find themselves without hope in these dark and violent times.” —President Botstein Read the Response
Bard College acknowledges that its origins are intertwined with the systems of racial injustice that have been a part of this nation’s history from its foundations. More on Bard's History
What We Do
DEI collaborates with faculty, staff, and students on learning, teaching, student development, institutional functioning, and engagement in local and global communities. In an increasingly intertwined and rapidly changing world, we are dedicated to a rigorous examination of the institutions and structures that sustain inequality. Above all, we maintain an ongoing commitment to decreasing the distance between these ideals and our everyday realities.
The Council for Inclusive Excellence (CIE) sponsors and cosponsors campus-wide events such as speakers, panels, and movie screenings that relate to social justice, intercultural communication, equity, and inclusion. The council is committed to making Bard an environment that is supportive of communities historically marginalized in liberal arts and sciences education.
Campus Resources
Excellence in Athletics
A Coalition to Support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Bard College Athletics
This coalition—composed of student-athletes, faculty, and staff—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.
Chinese Calligraphy Club at the Bard College Club Fair. Photo by Sarah Wallock '19.
Student Clubs
Student clubs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion at the College include the Bard Christian Fellowship, the Latin American Student Organization, and the Trans Lyfe Collective. For more information about these and other clubs, visit student.bard.edu/clublist.
Student Government provides leadership for students interested in making Bard College a better place, and is always ready to support students working on issues of diversity and inclusion.
Housing the Dean of Student Affairs Office, CSLA provides support to students struggling to figure out what diversity means, what they want it to mean, and how to bridge the gap between the two.
The OSA helps students plan programs, organize events, and lead clubs in an effort to make Bard a more diverse and accepting place, all while keeping students engaged and making sure they have fun.
Ribbon-cutting ceremony at the dedication of Gilson Place. Photo by Najwa Jamal '21
Gilson Place: Dedicated in Support of Students of Color
Gilson Place, formerly Grey Stone Cottage, is a space dedicated to the advancement of students of color. Bard faculty and student leaders collaborated on its recent renovation and redesign. Gilson Place supports the academic, personal, and social success of members of the Bard community historically underrepresented in liberal arts and sciences education and fosters dialogue about race and culture on campus. The space is named for Alexander Gilson (c. 1824–89), an African American who labored for 50 years at Montgomery Place, now part of the Bard College campus. Gilson became head gardener at Montgomery Place and eventually opened up his own nursery business.
Posse graduates. Photo by Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00.
Spotlight on the Posse Program
The Posse Foundation recruits talented public high school students who might have been overlooked by traditional college selection processes, forming them into supportive Posses and connecting them with participating colleges. Every year Bard accepts a Posse of 10 students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential, offering them full-tuition scholarships.
