> Skip to content
FEATURED:
  • The Evolution of Race in Admissions
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
ADVERTISEMENT
Global Politics
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Show more sharing options
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print

Bard President Is ‘Heartbroken’ About Russian Blacklisting

By  Karin Fischer
June 22, 2021
D89M8P The Saint Petersburg State University. St. Petersburg, Russia.
Alamy
St. Petersburg State University and Bard College have had a joint-degree program since 1999.

Bard College, which has worked to spread liberal-arts education around the globe, has been designated as an “undesirable” organization by the Russian government, prevented from all activity and operations in the country.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office announced the blacklisting on Monday, saying that Bard’s work “threatens the constitutional order and security of Russia.” Anyone in the country who is affiliated with the college could face fines or imprisonment.

Bard collaborated with St. Petersburg State University to create Smolny College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which began admitting students in 1999. Graduates receive two degrees, one from Bard and the other from its Russian partner. The college, which typically enrolls 600 to 650 students at the bachelor’s and master’s level, has served as a template for other Bard joint programs worldwide, in places like Kyrgyzstan and the Palestinian territories.

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

Bard College, which has worked to spread liberal-arts education around the globe, has been designated as an “undesirable” organization by the Russian government, prevented from all activity and operations in the country.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office announced the blacklisting on Monday, saying that Bard’s work “threatens the constitutional order and security of Russia.” Anyone in the country who is affiliated with the college could face fines or imprisonment.

Bard collaborated with St. Petersburg State University to create Smolny College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which began admitting students in 1999. Graduates receive two degrees, one from Bard and the other from its Russian partner. The college, which typically enrolls 600 to 650 students at the bachelor’s and master’s level, has served as a template for other Bard joint programs worldwide, in places like Kyrgyzstan and the Palestinian territories.

In Russia, Bard also runs student exchanges and Russian-language training.

ADVERTISEMENT

Bard’s model, of working closely with an overseas partner to craft a curriculum and offer degrees, is distinct, but its experience in Russia underscores how geopolitical tensions can complicate colleges’ international engagement. Bard may also have been a target because of its ties to George Soros, the progressive philanthropist, and his Open Society Foundations.

The Chronicle spoke on Tuesday with Bard’s longtime president, Leon Botstein, about the designation. “I’m heartbroken,” he said. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

What’s your response to the Russian government’s action barring Bard from working there?

It’s shocking, and it’s wildly wrongheaded. We’re been there for 25 years. The program has been appraised by Russian and American observers. We hope the Russian government will reconsider. It’s a terrible blow against cultural and human exchange between our two peoples.

What happens next?

ADVERTISEMENT

I don’t know. We’re cut off in communications from our colleagues in Russia. This law puts individuals at risk of being jailed for just having contact with us. We have alerted the secretary of state in hopes of including this in dialogue with Russia, to help put this flagship program of Russian-American cooperation back on the table.

Just to clarify: You are not in touch with your colleagues in Russia?

We’re not communicating. We’ve got nothing to hide, but we don’t want to put anyone at risk. We’re a dual-degree program, and I just signed diplomas and we shipped them in Russia in time for graduation, in late June, early July. I don’t know if the students will get their diplomas.

Why do you think Bard was singled out?

Why now? The program hasn’t changed. We just got good news about expansion of our programs in February. We have students in the middle of academic programs, and we hope it can continue.

ADVERTISEMENT

It seems that we are collateral damage of international politics. It’s reminiscent of the Cold War — and at least then, there were efforts to keep cultural and educational exchange going. The idea that we’re subversive or anticonstitutional, it’s just wrong. There is obviously in the Anglo-American tradition a connection between what academic freedom in the university is about and the political system. When we go to different cultures and societies, we have to be flexible and adaptive without sacrificing our principles.

Bard is one of hundreds of institutions that benefit from the Open Society Foundations, and there’s a conspiracy about George Soros. Of the top-ranked universities in the U.S., 33 of them received support from the Open Society Foundations. That itself cannot be enough [to explain the Russian action], and I don’t know what the cause is. I sat, and I sit, on the board of the Open Society Foundations, but they knew that 20 years ago. It’s not like I took on a new identity. And Open Society Foundations money has not gone to Smolny since 2015 [when the foundation was classified as “undesirable” under the same Russian law]. Smolny is self-sustaining.

Why do you think it has become more difficult for colleges to engage internationally?

The last bastion of universal cooperation is learning, but there’s been a rise of a kind of exclusionary nationalism, and not just here in America. There are great concerns about “foreign influence.” There’s a sort of an anticosmopolitan sensibility.

You have articulated a particular vision for international engagement, of using the liberal arts to go to difficult places to be a force for free expression and democracy. Does what’s happened in Russia lead you to reassess that approach?

ADVERTISEMENT

It doesn’t shake my faith. It does make it all that more important. The whole purpose of university education is to let people speak, to think, for themselves. And that’s true of the impressive intellectual tradition of Russia; we saw ourselves continuing that tradition.

It’s like having a death in the family. No, I don’t think of it as a death. It’s more like a coma, and we hope the patient wakes up.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
InternationalPolitical Influence & Activism
Karin Fischer
Karin Fischer writes about international education, colleges and the economy, and other issues. She’s on Twitter @karinfischer, and her email address is karin.fischer@chronicle.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Blogs
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
    Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Blogs
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
  • The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
    The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
    Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
    Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2023 The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin