WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to support efforts to reverse the Russian government’s designation of Bard College as an “undesirable” organization.
The Dutchess County college has a 25-year affiliation and degree partnership with St. Petersburg State University. The recent designation by Russia effectively ended the program and makes any student or worker associated with Bard’s program a potential criminal subject to fines or imprisonment.
Gillibrand called the Russian designation “highly disappointing to the Bard College community, but it also politicizes and undermines the important work that exchange programs achieve building human-to-human relationships between partner countries and students.”
The “unwarranted designation (of Bard) is a tragedy not just for the students and our colleagues at Smolny College but also for the future of higher education and cultural partnerships in Russia,” said Bard President Leon Botstein.
