fields where significant queer representation exists, as well as other fields with few to no visible queer leaders. Other college programs are identity-based, says Weinstein, such as women’ s colleges, HBCUs, Jewish-serving institutions, and Hispanic-serving institutions. Having an established Queer Leadership Project is something that fits in with the larger Bard tradition of educating in new ways.
And Weinstein has been part of that larger Bard tradition. He has been with the college in various capacities since 2001. He was a founding faculty member of the first Bard High School Early College in New York City, then came to Simon’ s Rock in Great Barrington for nine years, teaching Mandarin and Asian Studies, theater classes, women’ s studies, gender studies, and queer studies. He was on the founding team and principal of Bard High School Early College in Newark, New Jersey, then led the academics at Bard’ s early college partnerships with public schools before returning to Simon’ s Rock as provost in July 2020 with his husband, Brian Mikesell, who is director of the Alumni Library.
Bard Queer Leadership Project will be a third program on Simon’ s Rock’ s campus, which includes the Early College and the Academy. All three programs use the same faculty and staff. The Queer Leadership Project will fit right into the college’ s dual concentration approach; students will focus on queer leadership in connection with another discipline, with the idea of growing their leadership skills in that field.
“ It doesn’ t structurally look that different from the school’ s existing academic program,” says Weinstein.“ It has the faculty and curriculum, although there is some new curriculum to create.”
At its core, the new program is about queer leaders. There are classes that look at career and work pathways, as well as courses around civic engagement and nonprofit work. An internship program has been in place for many years. And Simon’ s Rock already offers classes that highlight LGBTQ + individuals in history and literature. The Queer Leadership Project will build upon those courses. One example is an anthropology course on life histories. In the past, that course has partnered with Construct in the Berkshires, where students interview people about their life histories. They could partner with a queer organization and have histories of queer elders.“ We really do have a lot of the pieces already in place,” says Weinstein.
Most of the students drawn to the Queer Leadership Project will identify as LGBTQ +. If somebody is interested in going into social justice work, for example, with a queer gender focus and are not themselves queer, they may find this a very useful way to get a credential that supports them in that work, says Weinstein.
Weinstein has found examples of trying to queer an institution in spite of the leadership of an institution. There are many examples of employees at schools, for instance, who identify the needs of LGBTQ + students and decide to work on implementing policies to support them. It’ s usually a grassroots approach. How can the initiative happen from the top? That is what Bard Queer Leadership Project also will explore.
“ There are now a lot of political officials who are‘ out’ elected officials in whatever their particular category of identity is. For those who elected Governor Healey and wanted to have an‘ out’ lesbian governor, what does that mean? It could mean there’ s more access to positions of power for everyone. But my hope would be that there is something different she would bring that’ s informed by her experience and point of view.”( See page 48 for more on Governor Healey.)
Simon’ s Rock does not have any LGBTQ + community-wide student organizations. Weinstein explains:“ While we have some very active affinity groups on campus, such as our Black Student Union, we don’ t have any queer student organizations. We did years ago. The affinity groups seem to align with minoritized identities. Even if it’ s not quite the majority on campus, being queer doesn’ t feel like a minoritized identity on this campus.”
Here is a rundown of other colleges in the Berkshires and their LGBTQ + offerings:
Berkshire Community College( BCC)
BCC offers an LGBTQ + Literature course, which examines lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer literature, including fiction, poetry, memoir, and multimedia. The course explores LGBTQ + themes, concerns, and perspectives within local and global cultural, political, and historical contexts from the nineteenth century to today.
The Queer Student Association( QSA) at BCC ran a forum last semester, Queering the Monster: LGBTQ + Representation in Monster Media, and has collaborated with MCLA and Berkshire Pride with the Live Out Loud Conference. The QSA meets weekly on Thursdays, typically in the Susan B. Anthony( SBA) Lounge. The QSA and Student Engagement sponsored drag show on April 14, Dragged Through the School Year. There is additional info on the QSA page that is found on BCC’ s website, which includes the largest collection of LGBTQ + medical and support resources for Berkshire County. They are planning nature hikes on the BCC campus and beyond as weather warms up, with more forums and sponsored events this fall.
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts( MCLA)
MCLA offers a Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Minor that explores how gender and sexuality are socially, culturally, and historically constructed, negotiated, and contested; considers the feminist perspective in a variety of contexts; and approaches women, gender, and sexuality studies from an interdisciplinary perspective.
This year, MCLA combined what used to be the Identity and Gender Equity Center and the Women’ s Center into one larger Gender and Sexuality Center. This has allowed MCLA to highlight the interconnectivity of these movements, as well as to dedicate a large and beautiful space to our students for a variety of purposes. The Gender and Sexuality Center is open daily, 7 a. m. to midnight, and serves as a safe space for students to rest, socialize, study, and find resources on a variety of topics, as well as a library of gender- and sexuality-related books. The Center runs regular events for students to explore identities, gain resources, and socialize.
The Queer Student Union meets weekly and hosts a variety of student-centered safe space events, including Queer Jeopardy, Queer Monster Mash( a Halloween event), and the Drag Dance. The student-led Affirmation Closet, a space in which the MCLA community can donate unloved
68 // BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE May / June 2023