SARAH KENYON
Tomorrow’ s Leaders
A NEW COLLEGE PROGRAM WILL CULTIVATE LEADERSHIP THROUGH A QUEER LENS
B y A n a s t a s i a S t a n m e y e r
John Weinstein has a lot of history with Bard College— as an instructor, an administrator, and now provost of Simon’ s Rock. He is poised to make history as the school initiates a new fouryear degree this fall, the Bard Queer Leadership Project.
As far as Weinstein knows, this is the first college program in which students can receive a bachelor of arts degree in Queer Leadership. It’ s no secret that Bard College at Simon’ s Rock is known for its nurturing LGBTQ + environment. Establishing the Bard Queer Leadership Project alongside the college’ s associates and bachelor’ s degree programs is another step towards queer centeredness.
“ We’ ve talked to alumni from many decades ago, who, in their quieter way, found this as a welcoming community,” says Weinstein.“ It’ s been the best-kept secret at Simon’ s Rock for a long time. What would it look like to lean into that and have that be a signature element of our work? We’ re trying to be less of a secret, and that includes being marketed with this new degree program.”
The idea was conceived in August 2022, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive from people who work in admissions, student recruitment, and student placement. They have students who would enroll right away if such a program existed. Just think about some of the reasons why a student might want to leave high school early: They might not feel safe, they might not feel connected, and they might want to be in a different educational environment. While there’ s no precise data on just how many LGBTQ + students drop out of high school, the American Psychological Association reports that nearly one-third of these pupils do not earn a high school diploma. That’ s more than three times the regular dropout rate. Simon’ s Rock is an“ early college” designed for students to enroll after completing tenth or eleventh grade, rather than after graduating from high school. It anticipates a wide range of individuals who would want to enter the Bard Queer Leadership Project— from traditional high school graduating seniors, to those leaving high school early, to those who left high school several years ago and have decided that now’ s the time to go to college.
The percentage of adolescents who identify as queer is a lot higher than it once was because there’ s a wider range of individuals who fall under the umbrella, says Weinstein. At least a third of the 300 students who attend the private residential liberal arts college identify themselves
as LGBTQ +. Students feel comfortable expressing who they are at Simon’ s Rock, Weinstein adds. Gender and sexuality identity are widely accepted there; one way that is reflected is through names and pronouns.“ We have a lot of institutional policies around name and pronouns,” he says.“ It’ s easy for a student to have the name and the pronouns they use here be whatever they want them to be, and that can change frequently. Both the environment as well as specific policies have made this possible.”
What does queer leadership mean? Are those who are in queer leadership roles no different than anyone else in those positions? Or is there something different in the way that LGBTQ + people lead? A lot of attention has been given to courses related to women in leadership at colleges like Simon’ s Rock, MCLA, and Williams College. How is women’ s leadership different? Are there things from your positionality that make you see the world in a different way, helping you to come up with solutions that are good not just for your own community, but innovative for the world? What would it mean if leaders of major corporations were transgender individuals? How would that shift our sense of leadership?
Those are the questions that the Bard Queer Leadership Project will explore in
May / June 2023 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 67