Bard College Establishes Center for the Study of Hate

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. — Bard College announces the establishment of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate (BCSH), which will work with faculty and students throughout the Bard network to increase the serious study of hatred. BCSH will then further identify ways to combat hate and to stimulate public discussion on this important and insufficiently understood part of the human condition. The initiative will be part of Bard’s Human Rights Project (HRP), and is funded by a generous endowed gift from the Justus and Karin Rosenberg Foundation (JKR), led by longtime Bard professor Justus Rosenberg.
 
BCSH will continue, and build upon, previous JKR and HRP summer internship programs on hate. Students study texts about the human capacity to define and demonize others, work at nongovernmental organizations that have a mission to combat hate or its manifestations, then analyze their NGO’s presumptions and how the group measures success. 

The Center will also bring speakers from different disciplines to Bard and to all of its campuses in order to stimulate discussion on hate. It will also support faculty and students who want to focus more deeply on this vexing topic.

Bard College thanks Justus and Karin Rosenberg and the JKR Foundation for their generous financial support allowing the College to pursue this mission.

About the Justus and Karin Rosenberg Foundation
The Justus & Karin Rosenberg Foundation was founded in 2011 by Justus Rosenberg (the last surviving member of the Varian Fry group, which helped rescue hundreds of artists and intellectuals from the Nazis in World War II) and his wife Karin. The Foundation’s mission is to combat and to increase the serious study of hatred and antisemitism, emphasizing projects that help college students and promote academic freedom. Justus Rosenberg is Professor Emeritus of Languages and Literature and Visiting Professor of Literature at Bard College.

About the Bard Human Rights Project

The Human Rights Project is an exploratory research and action initiative at Bard College. Through teaching, public programs, research, and engagement with communities in the region and globally, the Project aims at once to foster critical discussions of human rights theory and practice, and to engage with practitioners on the leading edges of human rights research. Founded in 1999 and directed by Thomas Keenan, the Project developed the first interdisciplinary undergraduate degree (B.A.) program in Human Rights in the United States in 2003.

About Bard College

Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place estate, Bard’s campus consists of nearly 1,000 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with concentrations in more than 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 11 programs; nine early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 158-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to the liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at our main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.
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This event was last updated on 10-15-2018

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