Malia,
Thanks for your comments on the recent interview with two Bard Students. Thanks for listening!
Would you mind if we read part of your email on the air?
The fact that Al Quds comes up at all seems to be a red herring. The issue is whether students who protest a racist speaker on campus have a right to express themselves during a public presentation.
Reading a short statement from the audience seems more like a courageous thing to do rather than a gross transgression of student regulations. Would such behavior at a KKK event on campus bring out similar official condemnation?
Bard would never invite a member of the KKK to speak on campus? Why then did Bard allow a known racist to be part of a panel on antisemitism?
Bard's connection with Al Quds is an admirable initiative, not a get out of jail card for oppressing students' freedom of expression on campus. Yet every letter about the incident I read from Bard College includes a rather long section on Al Quds. That to me is bizarre, and suggests the use of Al Quds as a public relations strategy.
As "Chief of Staff & VP for Strategy and Policy," isn't that a little too transparent for the educated public you are trying to influence?
Perhaps we can have both: praise for Bard's link with a Palestinian University, and praise for Students For Justice in Palestine reading a statement about racism and Islamophobia at a public event.
Fred Nagel
https://classwars.org
Thanks for your comments on the recent interview with two Bard Students. Thanks for listening!
Would you mind if we read part of your email on the air?
The fact that Al Quds comes up at all seems to be a red herring. The issue is whether students who protest a racist speaker on campus have a right to express themselves during a public presentation.
Reading a short statement from the audience seems more like a courageous thing to do rather than a gross transgression of student regulations. Would such behavior at a KKK event on campus bring out similar official condemnation?
Bard would never invite a member of the KKK to speak on campus? Why then did Bard allow a known racist to be part of a panel on antisemitism?
Bard's connection with Al Quds is an admirable initiative, not a get out of jail card for oppressing students' freedom of expression on campus. Yet every letter about the incident I read from Bard College includes a rather long section on Al Quds. That to me is bizarre, and suggests the use of Al Quds as a public relations strategy.
As "Chief of Staff & VP for Strategy and Policy," isn't that a little too transparent for the educated public you are trying to influence?
Perhaps we can have both: praise for Bard's link with a Palestinian University, and praise for Students For Justice in Palestine reading a statement about racism and Islamophobia at a public event.
Fred Nagel
https://classwars.org
On Jan 29, at 3:38 PM Jan 29, Malia Du Mont <mdumont@bard.edu> wrote:
Dear Fred, Eli, and Raphaelle,
I recently became aware of your program and of an interview you conducted with two Bard students in December.
I was surprised that the subject of Bard's enormous investment in Palestinian education did not come up during the interview, so I wanted to share some information about our work at Al Quds Bard College, the largest American-Palestinian educational collaboration. Our work with the Palestinian Authority, now in its 11th year, includes a BA program and a Master of Arts in Teaching program in the West Bank that we are also working to expand to refugee camps in Jordan. No other American institution of higher education has worked as long or as closely on the ground to advance the cause of liberal arts education for Palestinian students. We have deep and enduring relationships with our colleagues at Al Quds, whose students receive Bard degrees.
I found it bizarre and deeply unfortunate that, during your interview, the students cited Leon Botstein's stint almost a decade ago as an orchestra conductor in Israel as evidence that Bard College has Zionist leanings, but they elected not to mention the fact that Palestine's first and largest liberal arts college is a Bard institution and an integral part of the Bard network, and that no other American institution of higher education has prioritized and invested in the cause of Palestinian education to the extent that Bard has. This omission likely created a significant misapprehension of the nature of Bard's engagement in the Middle East among your listeners. Therefore, I wanted to make sure that you are aware of the scope and impact of Bard's work in Palestine. We are dedicated first and foremost to our mission as an educational institution, expanding access to underserved populations around the world.
I hope you find this information helpful. Thank you for engaging with our students and faculty members on important issues.
Best,
Malia
Malia K. Du Mont '95
Chief of Staff & VP for Strategy and Policy
Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson NY 12504
office: 845-758-7800/ cell: 845-891-3113
mdumont@bard.edu
