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Leon Botstein Quoted in MassLive Article About Governmental Crackdowns on Education

Bard College President Leon Botstein was featured in an article by MassLive examining the similarities between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s crackdown on higher education in Hungary and the actions of the Trump administration in the United States. The article looks at the example of the Central European University (CEU), an institution in the Bard Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network, being forced to relocate from Budapest to Vienna and the ensuing resistance movement amongst Hungarian academics as a blueprint for actions to protect academia elsewhere. Botstein told MassLive that Orbán and Trump have been going after higher education in order to consolidate power and exert control over the process of developing and disseminating knowledge. “Viktor Orbán is an authoritarian and an opponent of democracy, and Donald Trump is an authoritarian who doesn’t respect either the Constitution or the rule of law and sees no boundary to prevent him from pursuing his own financial self-interest as well,” Botstein said.

Bard College’s Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network (EHCN) is a global network rethinking the humanities in the light of changing technologies, an increasingly connected planet, the ongoing ecological crisis, and the need to create more inclusive institutions. EHCN’s partner institutions include Universidad de los Andes, Birkbeck College at the University of London, Bard College Annandale, American University of Central Asia, Central European University, Bard College Berlin, Recovering Voices, Hampton University, Arizona State University, Al-Quds Bard College for Arts & Sciences, University of Thessaly, and European Humanities University. 

Post Date: 01-06-2026

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Livestreamed Conversation with Journalists in Exile Launches New Project Kronika

A livestreamed discussion marks the public launch of Kronika, a joint civic tech project of Bard College and PEN America that builds tools to protect endangered media against state censorship. Kronika’s purpose is to expand the Russian Independent Media Archive’s mission on a global scale by digitally preserving decades of independent journalism that is otherwise at risk of erasure. Funded by the Edwin Barbey Charitable Trust, Kronica will utilize AI-assisted bilingual archiving, practical tools for newsrooms in exile, and partnerships that keep the public record accessible to safeguard journalism and public memory wherever they are at risk. 

The talk, “We’ve Seen This Before: Lessons from Exile on Recognizing Authoritarianism,” takes place on Wednesday, December 10, at 6 pm, and centers around a conversation with a founder of the project M. Gessen, András Pethő (Direkt36, Hungary), Ramón Zamora (El Periódico/Central America Independent Media Archive, Guatemala), and Sevgi Akarçeşme (Türkiye, in exile in New York)—journalists and thinkers who witnessed the rise of authoritarian regimes firsthand. 

Moderated by PEN America’s Liesl Gerntholtz, managing director of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center, the conversation will explore the panelists’ experiences as journalists and Kronika as a tool to protect public memory. The event is also a call to connection—inviting journalists in exile and American journalists to work together to track and document the warning signs of autocracy.

Watch the Livestream on Wednesday, December 10 at 6 pm EST: journalism.cuny.edu/live/ 
 

Post Date: 12-09-2025