Bard News

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

Photo courtesy of 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.