Bard College Athletics Joins the Liberty League

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Bard College will join the Liberty League as a full member beginning in the 2011–12 academic year. The news was announced by Jim McLaughlin, Liberty League president and director of intercollegiate athletics at Union College in Schenectady, New York.
 
“We’re delighted to welcome Bard into the Liberty League,” said McLaughlin. “This outstanding institution shares the ideals of the Liberty League in terms of student-first philosophy and approaching intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the overall educational experience. We look forward to the contributions that Bard will make to the league, both academically and athletically.”
 
Bard College, located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, is a highly selective liberal arts and science institution of 1,800 undergraduates, including representatives from all 50 states as well as an international student population of 12 percent. Bard sponsors 15 intercollegiate athletic programs and is a current member of the Skyline Conference, the College Squash Association, and the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association.
 
“Bard College enthusiastically accepts the invitation to join the Liberty League. We believe that the Liberty League schools mix academic and athletics excellence in the right proportions,” said James Brudvig, Bard’s vice president for administration. “We look forward to our full participation in 2011.”     
 
“Bard is very pleased to accept membership into the Liberty League, a long and well respected conference with a clear focus on the balance of the student-athlete experience,” added Kristen Hall, director of athletics at Bard. “Our academic profile blends nicely with that of the league’s membership and we look forward to the future experiences that our student-athletes will have with our peer institutions.”  
 
A member conference of the NCAA’s Division III, the Liberty League has nine full members and sponsors championships in 24 sports. The member institutions of the league place the highest priority on the overall quality of the educational experience and on the successful completion of its student-athletes’ academic programs. The member institutions seek to establish and maintain an environment in which a student-athlete’s athletic activities are conducted as an integral part of the educational experience.

Originally founded as the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association in 1995, the conference was renamed the Liberty League during the summer of 2004. The league includes founding members Clarkson University, Hamilton College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the University of Rochester, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, St. Lawrence University, Skidmore College, and Union College. Vassar College became a full member of the league during the 2000–01 academic year. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is an associate member in the sports of football and men’s golf, while Susquehanna University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute are associate members in football only. Hamilton College will depart the league in 2011–12 in order to fully integrate its athletic programs within the New England Small College Athletic Conference.
 
For more information about Bard’s athletics program, please contact Kristen Hall, director of athletics at Bard College, at (845) 758-7528 or hall@bard.edu.

For more information on the Liberty League, visit http://www.libertyleaguesports.org. Or contact Timothy J. Danehy, Commissioner, Liberty League, at (315) 714-2021 or tdanehy@libertyleaguesports.org.
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This event was last updated on 06-22-2009

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