Bard College
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

"Bard College is committed to ensuring equal access to its educational programs and equal employment without regard to an individual's sex, gender, race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, predisposing genetic characteristics, marital status, veteran status, military status, domestic violence victim status, ex-offender status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Students, employees, applicants, and other members of Bard College community (including, but not limited to, vendors, visitors, and guests) shall not be subject to discrimination or harassment prohibited by law or otherwise treated adversely based upon a protected characteristic. Similarly, the College will not tolerate harassing, violent, intimidating, or discriminatory conduct by its students, employees, or any other member of, or visitor to, the College community. This includes, without limitation, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual violence, dating violence, and domestic violence." http://www.bard.edu/dosa/handbook/index.php?aid=1258
Harassment, Discrimination and Stalking Policy*

*Concerns of gender-based harassment, discrimination or stalking should refer to the Gender Based Misconduct policy and procedures at http://www.bard.edu/titleix/policies/.

Discrimination and harassment of any kind, will not be tolerated. Those believing that they have been unlawfully harassed or discriminated against on the basis of their sex, gender, race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, predisposing genetic characteristics, marital status, veteran status, military status, domestic violence victim status, ex-offender status, should contact the Dean of Student Affairs Office, Human Resources, or Office of Safety and Security.
https://www.bard.edu/dosa/handbook/index.php?aid=1254&sid=718

Campus Climate Team / BICRT
The Campus Climate Team serves as a group of faculty, staff and students who proactively address climate issues on Bard’s campus. It meets on a regular basis to review campus climate issues and to advise the Council on Inclusive Excellence and relevant College offices on educational activities and programming to address issues of bias, hate crimes, hate groups, discrimination, and behaviors that undermine an inclusive campus environment. In addition, the group serves as the Bias Incident Community Response Team.

The Bias Incident Community Response Team (BICRT) helps to assess, communicate about, and create institutional responses to bias incidents and hate crimes; serves as a resource to community members who have, directly or indirectly, been affected by bias incidents; and serves as a resource to community members who identify instances of bias that do not necessarily violate laws or formal College regulations, but may create an environment that is not inclusive or welcoming to individuals or groups based on their race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity/expression, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, physical or mental disability, age, or military veteran status. This includes actions, statements, and behaviors among students, staff, faculty or non–community members that, intentionally or unintentionally, may convey hostility or be perceived as slights towards people who belong to the various classes of groups as listed above.

The BICRT acts independently of, and in some cases parallel to, formal legal and internal College disciplinary processes. This allows it to take a holistic approach in supporting, advising, and advocating for community members and, where appropriate, to help develop nonpunitive, educational approaches to behaviors that have a chilling effect on the campus environment.

The BICRT supports community members by:

Making appropriate referrals to on- and off-campus resources
Communicating information to affected person(s) and the larger campus community, as appropriate
Coordinating community responses, as appropriate, in consultation with the affected person(s) and necessary College officials and/or departments.
Campus Climate Team
https://www.bard.edu/dosa/handbook/index.php?aid=1254&sid=718

Diverse students are recruited by the college in multiple ways through the Equity and Inclusion Programs that work closely with HEOP, BOP, ECO, and Posse Scholars (from Atlanta); offering significant recruitment and persistent support to students. Bard High School Early Colleges (BHSECs) also provide diverse students with collegiate access to a Bard education at partnering high schools (New York, NY; Queens, NY; Great Barrington, MA; Newark, NJ; Cleveland, OH; Baltimore, MD; and Washington, DC), and early college centers (Great Barrington, MA; and Hudson, NY). Since 2016, Bard has been a member of American Talent Initiative (ATI) - a consortium of over 100 higher education institutions, public and private, that consistently graduate at least 70 percent of their students in six years, and which are committed to increasing recruitment and retention of the number of low-income students nationally by 50,000 by 2025. As an ATI member, Bard participates in an annual conference at which best practices among these institutions are shared. The Office of the Vice President for Institutional Planning and Research (Mark Halsey) collects data related to Bard's ATI concerns. The Committee on Strategies and Tactics for Recruiting to Improve Diversity and Excellence (STRIDE) is based at the University of Michigan, and in partnership with participating institutions such as Bard, offers Faculty Recruitment Workshops. The College is working to develop a cadre of STRIDE Fellows at Bard. In addition, recruitment programs for faculty are specific to the underrepresented group in the specific discipline. Partnerships with discipline-specific professional organizations for underrepresented groups in the professoriate include organizations like SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science).

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, a freed African American slave who became the head gardener at Montgomery Place, now part of the Bard College campus, and eventually opened up his own nursery business.
The College has been an institutional member of the National Council for Faculty Development and Diversity since the Fall 2018, through which individual Bard faculty can claim individual membership. The NCDFF offers practical writing support to faculty needing to meet requirements for scholarly publications, thereby advancing the research agendas and rectifying the evaluation inequities experienced by faculty of color and women faculty who often disproportionately shoulder committee work and provide special advising support to underrepresented students. NCFDD membership places participating faculty in writing accountability and support groups.
Since the Fall of 2018, and Underrepresented Staff of Color (URS) group has been organized to provide mutual social and professional development support to staff of color. In Fall of 2019, URS developed a series of working groups--subcommittees devoted to specific concerns. In Spring of 2020, the group renamed itself Professionals of Color

Academic Support Programs
Bard Academic Resource Center provides tutoring and other forms of academic assistance to all Bard students in all subject areas taught at the college. The faculty and staff associated with the Center provide assistance to students who need help with writing and mathematics; students who possess basic academic skills, but experience difficulties with the demands of college level work, including such issues as time management, study skills, and the writing of research papers; and students who need subject-specific tutoring in any of the many disciplines offered at Bard. Additional support can be found in a variety of modalities, including professional tutorials and credit-bearing courses in writing; regular seminars and workshops (particularly on grammar, time management, academic paper writing, and research papers), workshops especially targeted for students working on moderation papers and senior projects; and peer tutoring in writing, mathematics, and specific subjects taught at the College. Peer tutors are students who have been recommended by faculty and trained in the principles of tutoring pedagogy by the Director of College Writing or the Director of Quantitative Support.

BARD OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM (BOP) The office fulfills its commitment through sustained academic support in the form of a pre-college summer program, workshops, and tutoring, as well as through career development, internships, and alumni/ae networks.

Peer Mentor program. Ten students from the BOP scholarship program are trained to support their peers with academic, social and personal issues. The peer mentors hold office hours and plan events held in the office to connect with BEOP scholars and support them during their transition to and time in college.

Affinity Clubs
Clubs at Bard College are student run and student initiated. The following are a list of the currently existing clubs that provide support for under represented groups:
o Anti-Racist Discourse
o Asian Student Organization
o Black Student Organization
o Caribbean Student Organization
o Gender Queer Discussion Group
o Hindu Student Organization
o Jewish Student Organization
o Latin American Student Organization
o Multiracial Student Colloquium
o Muslim Student Organization
o Queer Straight Alliance
o Racial Identity Politics Initiative
o Trans-Action Initiative
o West Indian Club

For descriptions of these clubs and their particular mission statements please see: http://student.bard.edu/clubs/

The following programs are offered under the umbrella of the Student Affairs Office; Kosher/Halal Neighborhood, Social Justice Neighborhood, TransAction, Muslim Student Organization, Black Student Organization, Hindu Student Organization, Latin American Student Organization, ISO, ASO, Queer Student Alliance, Anti-Racist Discourse, Active Minds (Mental Health), Bard International Solidarity Movement, Bard Palestinian Connection, Bard Spoken Word (Urban Poetry), Ballywood Dance Organization, China Experience Club, Christian Student Fellowship, Jewish Student Organization, Identity Politics Organization, Students for a Free Tibet, Students for Just Peace in Israel and Palestine, Students for Women's Education, Awareness and Rights; International Student Services, Chaplaincy

Academic supports includes: Institute for Media and Difference; Bard Educational Opportunity & Higher Educational Opportunities Office; POSSE

Programs that Assist with Access run by the Office of Equity & Inclusion Programs
Passion to Persist (STEM student support)
Book Fund (Book support for students)
Senior Forward Initiative (financial support for seniors)
Lending Library