Literature Program DEI Statement
To study literature is to insist on the value of our differences, and to learn to encounter difference in expansive ways. Yet when it comes to social inequalities and educational access in this country, the humanities have a long and complicated history. In order to address these systemic injustices, the Bard Literature Program is committed to frank self-scrutiny, to transparency, and to ensuring genuine equity for all members of our community. The course of study offered by Bard’s Literature Program provides students with the knowledge, the tools, and the confidence needed to interpret, to question, and ultimately to transform the systems of meaning-making that have constructed the world as we know it. As a faculty, and as a scholarly and creative community, we affirm these commitments to our students: to foster open dialogue about the history of literary studies at the College, in the U.S., and throughout the world; to aid and encourage all efforts to redress systemic injustices and to effect meaningful change; and to model the ethos of mutual trust, care, and respect needed to undertake such risks and to sustain the honest self-scrutiny they demand. In addition to our ongoing work to enhance the diversity and accessibility of our classes, our pedagogy, and our curriculum, the Literature Program is spearheading several targeted initiatives to which all members of the community are invited to contribute. Please contact the Literature Program [email protected] for more information.