Realizing Bard’s mission as a private college operating in the public interest. The Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College coordinates a broad range of initiatives that connect students to internships, volunteer opportunities, community engagement, and activism. Bard students tap into their own idealism and vision, developing civic skills that are fundamental for active citizenship.
Upcoming Events
5/03
Friday
11:00 am – 12:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Online Event
"The Bridge" Screening and Discussion
Friday, May 3, 2024 | 11:00 am – 12:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 | Online Event
Please join an online screening and discussion about "The Bridge," a fictional film about the daily life of humanitarian interpreters, who are also refugees, in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. It aims to advocate for changes in their working conditions.
The film is based on research that Bard College Professor of Anthropology Laura Kunreuther did with interpreters at the camp. The interpreters, who are also the filmmakers who made the piece--Mulki Mohamed Ali, Adam Mohamed Bashar, and Kamoso Jean Bertrand, will be on hand for a Q&A after the screening.
This rare screening is presented by the Center for Human Rights and the Arts, the Center for Experimental Humanities, Bard Human Rights, and Bard's Center for Civic Engagement.
Wednesday, May 8, 2024 | 9:00 am – 10:30 am EDT/GMT-4 | Online Event
9 AM New York l 3 PM Vienna
In higher education, experiencing failure is often observed as an unavoidable event when mastering new concepts; yet failure is an element of learning that many students dread and that many faculty may overlook. While educators might communicate messages about their acceptance of failure, all too often in practice there is a disconnect between such messaging and the actual design of courses and assignments to allow for failure in constructive ways.
This interactive 90-minute event aims to guide educators in practices to support students in taking risks and learning from their mistakes, without jeopardizing their grades. Led by Lydia Eckstein, Amelia Finaret, and Lisa Whitenack of Allegheny College, and inspired by their 2023 piece "Teaching the Inevitable: Embracing a Pedagogy of Failure," attendees will explore a range of strategies for incorporating a pedagogy of failure in ways to acknowledge and constructively address students' potential fear of failure and related concerns about academic aptitude.
Lydia Eckstein is an Associate Professor of Psychology, Amelia Finaret is an Associate Professor of Global Health, and Lisa Whitenack is an Associate professor of Biology.
ONLINE Summer Workshop in Public Finance and Economic Policy
Monday, June 17, 2024 – Friday, June 21, 2024 | 8:00 am – 4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 | Online Event
OSUN-EDI Summer Workshop Public Finance and Economic Policy ONLINE
This event is fully remote and free of charge; registration required and spots are limited. We are accepting applications from undergraduate students until April 30, 2024. Learn more and apply here. Website: https://edi.bard.edu/programs/osun-summer-workshop/
10/17
Thursday
Olin Hall
Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism: How Can We Imagine a Pluralist Politics?
Thursday, October 17, 2024 – Friday, October 18, 2024 | | Olin Hall
Hannah Arendt was suspicious of cosmopolitanism, world government, and the loss of the common sense connections that are part of living with and amidst one's tribe. Wary of assimilation and universalism, Arendt understood the need for a tribe, whether that tribe be her “tribe” of good friends or living amongst people with whom one shares cultural and social prejudices. At the same time, Arendt was also deeply suspicious of tribalism in politics. Politics always involves a plurality of peoples. Thus tribal nationalism—what she called the pseudo-mystical consciousness—is anti-political and leads to political programs aimed at ethnic homogeneity.
Arendt believed that the aspiration of politics is to bind together a plurality of persons in ways that do justice to their uniqueness and yet find what is common to them as members of a defined political community. Wary of the nation-state that would privilege the national community of the state over "foreigners" and "minorities," Arendt nevertheless opposed assimilation into a cosmopolitan sameness. Instead, she held onto a vision of politics centered around plurality and federalism, one in which homelands and regions of like-minded peoples would also live together in federalist republics that both respected the particularity of local identities and sought to build meaningful political bonds that transcend tribal sensibilities. Her plan for a federation in Israel and Palestine imagined Jewish and Palestinian homelands as part of a larger federal structure.
The rise of tribalist and populist political movements today is in part a response to the failure of cosmopolitan rule by elites around the world. As understandable as tribalism may be, the challenge today is to think of new political possibilities that allow for the meaningful commitments of tribal identities while also respecting the fact of human plurality. The Hannah Arendt Center Conference Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism responds to the undeniable fact that tribalism is real, appealing, and dangerous. We ask:
• If humans are tribal beings, how can they live in multicultural liberal societies? • Are experts and elites themselves simply one tribe defending their self-interests? • Must social media contribute to the fracturing of society into raging tribes? • Is there a common interest in society knowable through reason? •What is a tribe and is it a useful word in our political vocabulary? •Is there an alternative to the cosmopolitan tribalism of global elites? Above all, we ask, how can make a space for tribal loyalty and tribal meaning while at the same time maintain our commitment to pluralist politics?
Bard College Student Sierra Ford ’26 Recognized on 2024 ALL IN Student Voting Honor Roll
Bard College sophomore Sierra Ford has been named to the 2024 ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge Student Voting Honor Roll. Ford, leader of the College’s student voting initiative Election@Bard, joins a group of 137 students recognized for their nonpartisan voter registration, education, and turnout efforts during the 2023 elections, which featured critical ballot measures and local and state races.
How Can Colleges Protect Student Voting Rights and Support Experiential Learning?
Center for Civic Engagement Staff Present at Annual Campus Compact Conference Staff members of Bard’s Center for Civic Engagement represented the College at the annual Campus Compact conference in Denver, April 7–10. They presented on the role of colleges in protecting student voting rights and the impact of experiential learning strategies in both domestic and international settings.
Bard was named one of the top 10 colleges for student voting in the United States, with a voter registration rate topping 85%.*
The Election@Bard team works tirelessly to ensure your right to vote. Bard students, staff, and faculty have been fighting voter suppression in Dutchess County for decades, and recently won a legal battle to secure an on-campus polling place. Are you registered to vote yet? Registration is easy, and we’ll help you with the process. Register Now *Washington Monthly, October 2020
Voices of Action
Voices of Action celebrates the diversity of students, staff, and faculty at Bard College and across Bard's international partnerships and the greater Open Society University Network. We hope this community-centered project sparks conversation and highlights how we are connected by common interests, especially around civic and community engagement. Voices of Action showcases two platforms: Being(s) at Bard on Instagram (@beingsatbard) and the What Is Your Why? podcast series.
Leadership isn’t handed to you. It’s learned, and it’s earned. Bard provides many opportunities to drive positive change in the College community and beyond. Have an Idea? Get Started.