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. “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.
Leon Botstein Quoted in MassLive Article About Governmental Crackdowns on Education
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
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 safeguarding journalism and public memory wherever they are at risk. Watch the Livestream on Wednesday, December 10 at 6 pm EST.Livestreamed Conversation with Journalists in Exile Launches New Project Kronika
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
Francine Prose for the Guardian: “Ali Faqirzada is an Afghan refugee. He deserves to stay in America”
Francine Prose, distinguished writer in residence at Bard College, has published an article in the Guardian in defense of Bard Baccalaureate student and Afghan asylum seeker Ali Faqirzada ’28, who was detained by ICE on October 14 just after he had been found to have a viable claim for asylum.Francine Prose for the Guardian: “Ali Faqirzada is an Afghan refugee. He deserves to stay in America”
Efforts by Bard College to free Faqirzada—led by president Leon Botstein, himself a refugee from the Nazis—along with federal and state elected officials and the Episcopal Diocese of New York, have been complicated by a November 29 government ruling that has paused the final approval of asylum applications. The ruling, which comes in the aftermath of a Washington DC shooting of two national guard soldiers by an Afghan national who had worked with the CIA, includes a pause on the issuing of green cards to Afghans already residing in the US. “A genial, kind-hearted, highly motivated computer science student and hospital security guard should not be held accountable for someone else’s crime,” Prose writes. “Nor should the entire Afghan community.”
Post Date: 12-04-2025
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