PEN America, in conjunction with AltLiberalArts, is proud to host this Freedom to Learn in Florida Advocacy Workshop for Florida students, educators and activists. Through this workshop, students will receive an overview of what are known as educational gag orders and how they are shaping the political and legal environment in Florida, and engage in a discussion on how they can mobilize and organize around these issues on their own campuses.

Part three of Free Expression and Education: A Three-Part Series takes place on Nov 21, 2023. Across the United States, state legislators are increasingly making clear their intentions to pass laws to tighten control over—or outright censor—instruction in schools, colleges and universities, particularly when it comes to race, gender, sexuality and American history. This three-part course will provide an introduction to these topics, outlining conceptual foundations related to the freedom to learn, and then summarizing these new trends and recent threats concerning public schools, and colleges and universities.

Critical race theory, or CRT, is an approach to understanding, analyzing and discussing what systemic racism is, how it works and what we can do about it that scholars have been utilizing in graduate-level courses for decades. It also enables educators, researchers and students to consider how that affects people across race, gender, and gender-identity as intersectional, and even helps consider solutions to poverty across all peoples. So why is it under attack and why do we have to challenge the concerted and intentional strategy from an ideological right wing of conservatism and what can we do about it? 

With an introduction by Marvin Dunn, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Florida International University. Co-Sponsored by the Miami Center for Racial Justice.

Part two of Free Expression and Education: A Three-Part Series takes place on Nov 14, 2023. Across the United States, state legislators are increasingly making clear their intentions to pass laws to tighten control over—or outright censor—instruction in schools, colleges and universities, particularly when it comes to race, gender, sexuality and American history. This three-part course will provide an introduction to these topics, outlining conceptual foundations related to the freedom to learn, and then summarizing these new trends and recent threats concerning public schools, and colleges and universities.

Part of the two-part series, Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth in the ‘Don't Say Gay or Trans’ Era. The second session, Ideas From and For Educators, will explore how educators, families, and communities can help LGBTQ+ youth thrive even amid this wave of legislation that threatens their education, their well-being, and their very identities. With panelists, Simone Chriss, Clark Wolff Hamel and Elisa Waters. Moderated by Michael Sadowski and Carla Stephens. Co-Sponsored by the Bard Queer Leadership Project at Simon's Rock.

Part one of Free Expression and Education: A Three-Part Series takes place on Nov 7, 2023. Across the United States, state legislators are increasingly making clear their intentions to pass laws to tighten control over—or outright censor—instruction in schools, colleges and universities, particularly when it comes to race, gender, sexuality and American history. This three-part course will provide an introduction to these topics, outlining conceptual foundations related to the freedom to learn, and then summarizing these new trends and recent threats concerning public schools, and colleges and universities.

In The Research and Legal Landscape, part one of this two-part series, Michael Sadowski will draw from his recent TEDx talk, “Safe Is Still Not Enough” and share recent research about the risks facing LGBTQ+ students in K-12 schools in the U.S. in the context of recently passed laws that ban the inclusion of LGBTQ+ issues in school curriculum and bar transgender students from school activities and facilities. Co-Sponsored by the Bard Queer Leadership Project at Simon's Rock.

This panel aims to explore the civic role of academic institutions: How do we define civic engagement? What are the responsibilities of these institutions to foster civic engagement in students? In what ways can colleges and universities serve as civic actors to address challenges locally, nationally and globally? And what role does civic engagement play in the current landscape of censorious legislation in college studies in the United States?

This panel aims to explore the civic role of academic institutions: How do we define civic engagement? What are the responsibilities of these institutions to foster civic engagement in students? In what ways can colleges and universities serve as civic actors to address challenges locally, nationally and globally? And what role does civic engagement play in the current landscape of censorious legislation in college studies in the United States?

Over four nights this fall, Neil Gaiman gives a series of lectures on writing in which he explores his creative strategies, sharing stories and offering advice. These will be live-streamed from Fisher Center on the Bard campus. On Endings, Epilogues, and Afters takes place on Oct 14, 2023 and is the third of a four-part lecture series on Story

Over four nights this fall, Neil Gaiman gives a series of lectures on writing in which he explores his creative strategies, sharing stories and offering advice. These will be live-streamed from Fisher Center on the Bard campus. To Pay the Pied Piper: The Cost of Stories takes place on Oct 13, 2023 and is part two a four-part lecture series on Story:

Over four nights this fall, Neil Gaiman gives a series of lectures on writing in which he explores his creative strategies, sharing stories and offering advice. These will be live-streamed from Fisher Center on the Bard campus. Pulling Back the Curtain: How Fiction Works and Why It Still Matters takes place on Oct 12, 2023 and is the first of a four-part lecture series on Story.

This talk is a part of Student Voting: Power, Politics and Race in the Fight for American Democracy, a collaborative course which was co-developed and is being taught jointly by faculty at Bard College, Tuskegee University, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and Prairie View A&M University.

A conversation between Judith Butler and Masha Gessen. Introduced by former New College Student Senate President and current Hampshire College third-year student Libby Harrity.