Bard Free Press-March

8/8/2019 Bard Free Press-March

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BARD FREE PRESS ANNANDALE ON HUDSON, NY MARCH 2009 VOLUME 10 ISSUE 5


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Ladies & Gens f he Fee Bad Sden Allied Cmmniy,

While the merger of the FREE PRESS and the Observer has brought a uniedfront and sufcient funding, unfortunately the combined paper still lacks sufcientstafng. That includes writers, layout designers, editors, artists, and people withthe vision necessary to propel student journalism at Bard.

This is an urgent appeal to the Bard community at large students, faculty, andadministration. Not only are our right and left anks weakening, but were losingthe very front month by month! Our lines are thin! Our fuel is low! Gangrenewithers us. We request the following, for our very existence is at stake:

The river is crumbling our already unstable bridge of student communication. Toensure that this bridge remains fortied, incentives must be proffered to studentswho invest the intellectual energy and time to sustaining it.

We propose that FREE PRESS function something like an academic tutorial. Acorps of dedicated students would obtain 1 or 2 credits for at least one semester,and have an adviser to oversee their efforts not a babysitter, but somethinglike a drill sergeant, to ensure that students who request credit are investing

sufcient academic energy to deserve it. Because we do.

You, dear reader, will notice in the letters-to-editors section of this selfissue, that a telegram from Gen. Botstein indicates his respect for our operaand his willingness to offer the administrations resources to help furthecampaign.

This semester, the FREE PRESS staff has consisted of approximatestudents a frighteningly low number for the amount of work involved. Twbe graduating this May; we seek volunteers to take our positions as edlayout designers, managers, and photographers--Emily and Abby simplydo it on their own. In the wider scheme of things, we need people who are wto interface with the administration, and keep an eye and an ear dedicaall times to whats going on around them. Need we remind you that cojournalism is a tremendous opportunity to learn the tools of the trade thtrial and error and not worry about getting red for screwing up?

Our application process is simple: send us an email and well make a timeet in person. Prior experience is NOT necessary.

-Travis and Dan, bardfreepress@gma

bard free pressfreepress.bard.edu

[email protected]

sffTravis WENTWORTHDaniel TERNAEmily DIAMOND

Abby FERLAAlex ERIKSENDonna MCCOLLOCHEnrico PURITA

vslsAnna CARNOCHAN

Sam DOUGLASJosh FADEM

Molly SCHAEFFERWalker TATE

Spcl Sc, p. 11-30:

The Center for Curatorial Studies

cbsAndrew COLETTI

Ken COOPERLaura CRAMERAnna PUTNAM

Rob ROSS

Henry SCHENKERJoey SIMS

Dan WILBUR


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Editors,I want to compliment you all on

having decided to combine the FreePress and the Observer. In an erawhen there is an unfortunate de-cline of print media, the revival of anewspaper at Bard is a welcomeand hopeful sign. I congratulate youall, wish you well, and hope you willshare this message with the contrib-uting writers and artists. The rst is-sue is extremely promising, and ifthere is anything those of us in theadministration can do to help, pleaselet me know.

Leon Botstein

Editors,Re: Market Decline Forces Bud-

get Cuts in the last issue - good ar-ticle. Its not easy chasing down allthose details at Bard. But I was hop-ing to make a correction. ALL creditfor the 100% post-consumer contentpaper selection goes to Julie Myers,the Purchasing Director. She doesall the work for making that environ-mentally responsible choice workfor Bard. Its not easy to stick to thatchoice, and to get all the blame forevery paper jam that occurs on cam-pus, and any delivery that gets mis-managed, on top of paying the price

premium...Thanks,

Laurie Husted

Editors,I must congratulate you on the

timely release of this semesters rstissue of the FREE PRESS. I knowthat integrating staff on short noticeis hard, but you pulled it off.

Now, for Gods sake, will you stopletting whatever coked-up orangutanthat butchered the layout of my col-umn near the computer? You cant

put a drop cap on the second para-graph of a column, and you cant layout a column in two different type-faces. It looks ridiculous. Honestly, ifI had a higher opinion of your skills, Imight believe you intentionally messup my layouts just to irritate me.

And why does Donna get so muchspace? NO ONE CARES WHAT SHETHINKS. Half of her budget forumcolumn is the same word over andover and over. Waaaaaaahhhh,waaaaaaahhhh.... Honestly.

Keep up the good work! Youshould publish this email.

Rob Ross

Editors,While I generally enjoyed Rob

Rosss piece in your last issue (Bud-geting Gives a Clear Picture of Bard-ians) and in particular found thelayout of the piece to be delightfullyavante-garde, there was one passagethat struck me as out of place. Reply-ing to global womens rights groupSWEARs statement on PlanningCommittees decision to give thema budget of $.01, which included thestatistic that 1.3 women are rapedevery second, Ross responds, I failto see the connection. I also wonderhow one third of a woman can be

raped[.] Setting aside the questionof what a person who fail[s] to seethe connection between rape ratesand funding for a womens rightsgroup is doing attending Bard Col-lege, let alone sitting on the PlanningCommittee, 1.3 is not equal to onethird, nor to one and one third. Is it re-ally wise to have somebody capableof such an elementary mathematicalerror taking such a prominent role inthe budgeting process?

Respectfully yours,D. O. McColloch

Crimes of idiocy have oc-curred at various points oncampus this past week.

*The power of the paintcan, wielded by individu-als who have graduated frombathroom vandalism, haveseen ft to demonstrate toall of us that Bard some-times admits students oflimited capacity and matu-rity. We hope that the van-dals consider turning theirplay school mentality intosomething more construc-tive, like building struc-tures from their leggo box.

*This Monday at 4am, thevolunteer fre department

was called out once again,to save a pot of burningnoodles.

44 percent of all turn-

outs to Bard are for burntpopcorn, toast and similarculinary missteps. Volun-teer fremen are less thenimpressed with the cookingabilities of Bard residentstudents. Short of throwingall stoves into the recy-cling bin, I am consider-ing oering a security classon How to Pay Attention toCooking, 101. On a sidenote, I fnd an interest-ing comparison to my moth-ers former assisted livingbuilding. Many residents

also leave food heating onthe stove, fall asleep and wake to the fremen breakingdown their door to put out

their grilled cheese sand- wich. My mother is 97 andher friends are all over 80.Something to ponder.

*Another fre in a garbagecan at Cruger is of greatconcern. As in most colleges,trash cans are made from plas-tic - a hydrocarbon - fuel.Someone thought that the can

was a big gray ashtray. NewYork State Law forbids smok-ing in buildings, and basiccommonsense dictates thatthrowing lit cigarettes intoplastic bags and cans is abad idea - so, what am I

missing?

The Seton Hall Fire in 2000 was set by some fun loving

students who just want tohave a bit of action, setting fre to paper on a bulletinboard. The fre reached 1500degrees, burning to death 2classmates, and killing an-other by smoke inhalation. 62other classmates were severlyhurt and 3 horribly disfg-ured. For those torching y-ers on dormitory doors, forfun the result may be hor-rifc.

Bard - a place to think - aboutconsequences of actions.

Cop ShopDispatches and Alerts from Your Friend

Ken CooperVandalism and Fires Abound!


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Since you posted your statement on

your website, there has been a large

response on campus, including an

investigation by the student govern-

ment, and a student orum at which

Michele Dominy, Amy Ansell and Jim

Brudvig answered questions regard-

ing the administrations decision not

to rehire you. Whats happening now

rom your point o view?

Well, I think there are a number o

administrative procedures taking their

course; Im not amiliar with student

procedures. The American Association

o University Proessors (AAUP), both

the national organization and the Bard

chapter, are looking into it. I ound outalso today the Middle East Studies As-

sociation (MESA), theyre looking into

it, and issued a letter to Bard to begin

the evaluation over again. They elt

that my allegations had enough sense

to them to reopen investigations. The

balls in Bards court now, well see what

happens.

What was your initial eeling when

they told you they werent renewing

your contract?

It was one o shock and surprise. I

had been involved in discussions - my

intention was to set up an amicable res-

olution to this. Ive been around a long

time, and I know this could be resolved

peaceully. February 7th I met with the

dean and then on February 10th I re-

ceived a very oicial-looking letter e-

ectively dismissing me. I elt troubled

and undeserving o being dismissed.

Id made it clear that I wanted to nego-

tiate. I went and continued my process;

I met the Dean, that was a very heated

meeting. At the end o that it was agreed

upon that I should talk to Botstein. I let

that meeting with the understanding

that they would get back to me. I waited

a week and nothing was happening. At

that point I had to conclude they didntwant any urther dialogue. I was con-

cerned that justice be done and people

here learn about it.

Since they werent going to discuss

it with me internally, I decided to take

it externally. I eel American academia

and Bard play a deinite role in the dis-

cussion o human rights violations o

Israel. Bard was saying nothing about

this and I thought this was not the way I

elt the college where Ive worked or so

long should behave.

Do you eel Bard openly supports

Zionism and actively suppresses anti-

Zionism?

First o all, when we say Bard, that

can mean a lot o dierent things. I

know the President openly supports Zi-

onism. Its good that hes up ront about

it. I know other key members o the ac-

ulty support Israel. Im sure there are

trustees as well. I dont think overall

the institution supports Zionism. Most

people at Bard are like everywhere else,

theyre in the middle, and unortunately

theyre araid o speaking out. In terms

o being active against people like me,

thats a question that cant be answered

yes or no, thats a thing that requires

looking at a pattern. It would be prettystupid o them to say we oppose Pro-

essor Kovel - that wouldnt happen.

It was very striking when my book was

banned by the University o Michigan

Press in 2006 - you consider that a ma-

jor breach o reedom o ideas. We got

650 letters to support the book, and

they [U. o Michigan Press] backed out.

Not one letter came rom Bard. Bard did

not support its aculty - I t hink thats re-

markable and also reprehensible. Bard

so prides itsel or being this bastion o

ree thought. Botstein told me Well, I

thought that you were doing just

your own. I was; I know how to h

mysel, but thats not the point. W

does Bard stand? Is it being cons

with its principles? I can conclu

that no, they have not been. The

silence on campus says it all. It

proound. Theres a long-standing

tion o opposition o anti-Zionism

theyre very touchy about criticism

hardly hear anybody talk about or

parallels to Israel and apartheid A

I would be glad to debate anyon

anywhere. I think Im right, I dont

Im right, I eel very strongly, bu

I do know is that we dont have a

debate in America, and not at Barthats terrible. Youre not in a plac

gives you the vitality o a debate

o the great issues o our time. It

an elaborate public relations camp

Whats your reaction to the

tive SOTC orms rom stu

My response is that yes, I hav

strong views, but a great many o

students Ive worked with over the

have not had that point o view. I d

personally respect the integrity o

student. I think its really rema

that you have an evaluation rom

In mid-February,Proessor JoelKovel circulatedan open letter tothe Bard commu-nity that outlineshis account o theadministrationsdecision not to re-new his contract.

He has taught at Bardsince 1988, when hebecame the rst to oc-cupy the controver-sial Alger Hiss chair.He spoke with theFREE PRESS over thephone and over email.

Th Sptio Wll i Bthlhm; PHOTOS BY Dan Ter

04


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venient questions about the al-Quds project to make

sure that Bard is not engaging in a kind o neocolonial

action the purpose o which is to divide the Palestinians

and strengthen the hand o Greater Israel. I suspect I

would not be thanked or this.

The administration has cited inancial concerns

about employing part-time proessors such as your-

sel. Do you accept that economics played as large a

role as anything else in your termination?

O course, serious inancial issues have arisen at

Bard, as they have everywhere. This is all the more rea-

son to proceed with much greater t ransparency than has

been the case. It is essential to have a valid (as against a

corrupt) evaluation process in order to remove any hint

o suspicion that economic exigency was being used

to settle a political score. Skepticism along these lines

is rampant, and casts a long shadow on the evaluation

process inasmuch as it may have been rigged to come up

with an alternative reason to let me go. Ater all, Bard

could not possibly state that Pro. Kovel is going because

he is a threat to the order o things, especially Zion-

ist ones. So it must be shown that I am not pulling my

weight, am washed up, a poor communicator, intolerant

o student views, etcor which purposes the evalu

tion has to be doctored.

What would be the most avorable terms or yo

A completely overhauled evaluation, impartially

pervised, i necessary by external reviewers.

I you do stay, how will this controversy a

your relations with aculty and administratio

This will be a challenge. That is one reason I would n

just want to go back to my regular courses, but to pla

more public role within the college. In recent years th

has been a mutual pulling back. I would want to see t

overcome, in part by providing or structured dialog

on questions such as the role o the college in the wor

and the dialectics o speaking out and protesting.

Could you tell us a little about your plans i you

not rehire

I have a number o prospects. In any case I have a

o writing several books lined up which I want to

What is the most important thing to you abo

teachin

To see the light o the critical and creative imagin

tion in the students eyes.

and not the one rom 2007. I regret it - I

would have to also say that its hard t o imag-

ine the context. I know I may have said some

things that may have upset people, but I eel

open inquiry is crucial. Ive never ignored

a student, always tried to work with them.

I dont see mysel as somebody that bullies

students or imposes a world view on them, I

want to hear what they have to say.

I the administration seems hostile to

your views, why do you still want to teach

at Bard?

I would continue teaching at Bard. But

in addition to just showing up or courses,

I want to resume what had been the case

in my early years at the college - namely,

playing an active role in contributing to the

dialogue on the great issues o our time. In

recent years I have been marginalized in

this respect, and I would expect or this to

be reversed in addition to being allowed to

resume teaching. Whether or not the admin-

istration is hostile should be seen in rela-

tion not to emotional attitudes but whether

we can sit down and work things o thi s sort

out.

What evidence do you have to claim

bias by Bruce Chilton and Leon Botstein?

I have never discussed these issues with

Bruce Chilton, and we have always been po-lite to each other. However, there is strong

opposition in interests on the subject o Is-

rael and Zionism. I can do no better than

quote rom my statement o Feb. 17.

[The statement read, in part: Proessor

Chilton... is a member o the Executive Committee

o Christians or Fair Witness on the Middle East.

In this capacity he campaigns vigorously against

Protestant eorts to promote divestment and sanc-

tions against the State o Israel. Proessor Chilton

is particularly antagonistic to the Palestinian lib-

eration theology movement, Sabeel, and its leader,

Rev. Naim Ateek, also an Episcopal. This places

him on the other side o the divide rom mysel. It

should also be observed that Proessor Chilton was

active this past January in supporting Israeli ag-

gression in Gaza. He may be heard on a nationalradio program on WABC, Religion on the Line,

(January 11, 2009) arguing rom the Doctrine o

Just War and claiming that it is anti-Semitic to

criticize Israel or human rights violations - this

despite the act that large numbers o Jews have

been in the oreront o protesting Israeli crimes in

Gaza.

The Faculty Handbook states explicitly that i

an evaluator has a conlict o interest with some-

one being evaluated, he should recluse himsel and

not take part in the evaluation.

The President reely states that he is a devoted

Zionist and is dedicated to the well-being o the

State o Israel (which he visits some ten times a year

according to a recent news article). He has told me

so to my ace and has made it clear over and over

again by his actions. It should be emphasized that support o Israel to this degree is an existentially

proound position. The evidence overwhelmingly

shows that Zionists in power have acted intolerant-

ly toward critics o the state o Israel, and certainly

those who hold views such as my own.]

How do you eel about Bards partner-

ship with the al-Quds university in Pales-

tinian East Jerusalem?

I have rerained rom publicly comment-

ing on this because the issue is delicate and

complex, and I do not eel well enough in-

ormed. However, I would, because it is my

unction as a critical intellectual, ask incon-

Jol Kovl t lctu i 2008; scshot fom bichou.og

Sigs of potst o Oli.

Photo by Tvis Wtwoth


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Fireside Chats wiSpeaker o the Stude

Senate Enrico Puri

Since I last spoke to all you excruciatingly attrmembers o the Bard student body, we had just pasuccessul budget orum. In the atermath o budrum, both the Student Senate and the Central Cotee have been hard at work to keep student lie issthe top o the administrations agenda. Heres a lwhats been done and whats ahead.

Id irst like to speak on the March Student FAt this orum, the decision not to re-hire Joel Kovthe topic o discussion and present or the discuwas Proessor Amy Ansell, Dean Michele DominVice President Jim Brudvig. Ater an EPC reposhowed a small but present decline in Proessor KSOTC evaluations, students were allowed to asktions to the three members o administration pre

The conclusion o the orum brought many ously incendiary issues to rest. Dominy and Aexplained the reasons or the decision centering recent economic crisis and a decision not to reneother aculty contracts due to varying departmneeds.

Dominy also denied that she ever told Koveltire, and that the only member o the aculty evalcommittee that could have had a political bias aKovel, Bruce Chilton, evaluated Kovel positivelyBotstein, the posterchild or sentiment against tministration or the Kovel iring, had no part in tcision process other than the inal stamp o appr

The sense that I got rom student reactions administration at the orum is that most in attenwere satisied. Aside rom a dedicated ollowKovels students who were understandably (albeblindly) deending their proessor, the majority dents seemed satisy to believe in the act that thing o the iring was coincidental (Kovels Zionismwas not part o the evaluation) and that Kovel hmay be overreacting. A bit.

The Student Senate, or the past two weeks, hahard at work to improve the entertainment on caWe have collectively drated a proposed Constituamendment that would make the Entertainmentmittee a democratically elected body. Overwhecriticism toward the Committee or their inacceity and lack o connection to the majority o SMOulars is more or less what dictated this decision.

This new version o the Entertainment Comwould have seven members. The structure o themittee would be such that three members wouelected by the student body, three members woappointed by the Committee chair, and the chair be elected by the Student Body in a online vote.

The Committee would be required to host aone show each semester in which bands are deon in an online vote by the students. FurthermorCommittee would be required to put out an entement survey each semester to gauge student opinpast and uture entertainment committee eventmember o the Committee would have to presentshows as well so that he/she can see how goodthe show that they booked turned out.

The speciics o the amendment will be incluan online reerendum sometime in the next two wI urge you all to vote and to pass the amendment we can inally start improving the sad state o theend social scene here at Bard.

Next time, I hope to give you all the git o a stspace update! We are also working at getting thdent government website updated and streamlistay tuned or that. I anyone has any questionsways, eel ree to email me at [email protected].

ILLUSTraTIOn BY SaM DOUGLaS

This months student orum wasmost notable or the presence o twoadministrators (Admin. VP Jim Brud-vig and Dean o Studies Michele Domi-ny) and a proessor (Amy Ansell, chairo the Division o Social Studies) whoanswered students questions aboutthe decision not to re-hire Joel Kovel.Essentially, the decision was the resulto a conuence o inuences that in-cluded declining ratings rom studentson course evaluations, the expirationo Kovels ve-year contract, and thesudden need to cut spending. Not onlydid politic al antipathy towards Kovelsanti-Zionist views have nothing to dowith the decision, according to the ad-ministrators, but Kovels accusationsagainst Leon as the Zionist ringleadersimply could not be true because notre-hiring Kovel was not Leons idea inthe rst place. Though it was not madeentirely clear, the decision, more thananyone else, was apparently Domi-nys, who, in needing to eliminate non-tenure and non-tenure-track aculty tosave money, determined that Kovelapart-time proessor with ull benetsand middling student ratingspro-vided the least bang or the buck. Kov-els contention that his ouster was theculmination o a long eort to margin-alize him was not true either, say An-sell and Dominy; Ansell claims Koveljust about never attended departmen-tal meetings, and o the notion that

Dominy had asked Kovel to retire be-ore his contract was up, Ive neversaid to Proessor Kovel that its time to

retire, she said. He was never askedby this college to retire. Not ever.

As students speculate that theadministration capitalized on thisconuence o events in order to getrid o Kovel, the story becomes lessclear-cut. Some students in the MPRdidnt seem like they were about to beconvinced. This editor was there orabout two hours until he nally hadenough; a quite resolute contingencyo pro-Kovel students in the ront rightcorner o the room kept passing ques-tions up or the student government toask the administrators, though most othem had already been addressed sev-eral times. On a couple o occasions, astudent rom the resolute contingencyrose and interjected questions (rhetor-ical ones, presumably) on how, whileciting certain statistically insigni-cant declines in student ratings, theadministration could possibly reute aroom ull o students who had shownup in earnest support o Pro. Kovel. Atsuch moments this editor suppresseda desire to rise and state that, or therecord, it was unlikely that everyonein the room had such strong opinionson the matter; many, this editor in-cluded, were probably there simplybecause they enjoyed a good scandal.And a good scandal it was.

At any rate, the student govern-ments Educational Policies Commit-tee, and its chair Dan Whitener, gave

an impressively thorough and com-prehensive report, one that did notstate directly that the administration

erred, but did say that it stood by therecommendation it had previouslymade to rehire Kovel when his con-tract was originally up or renewal.The EPCs report corroborated mucho what the College Evaluation Com-mittee, which in Kovels case wasmade up o Kyle Gann, Mark Lambertand Bruce Chilton, had saidthatKovel had spurts o glowing eedbackon course-evaluation orms, but thatthere was a clear negative trend in rat-ings: low and mid 4s in 04 and 05,and high 3s in 06. Anything below4 raises some concerns, said An-sell. As ar as the comments on theSOTC orms are concerned, betweenthe reports o the administration andthe EPC, words like eye-openingand worldview-changing oten ap-peared, but so did phrases like intel-lectual bullying, dogmatic teacher,not open to other perspectives, anddisorganization.

Ansell also took care to deendBruce Chilton, one o the three acultymembers on the CEC who reviewedKovel (but did not make a direct rec-ommendation as to whether to re-hire). Kovel argues Chilton shouldhave recused himsel due to his pro-Israel views, but according to Ansell,Chilton took the task seriously andobjectively, and in act contributed tothe largely positive CEC report. Suchpersonal vilication o an individual

involved in the review was very prob-lematic to people, said Ansell. Howunair that vilication was.

6

Dominy, Brudvig & Ansell Address Kovel Issue

Faculty explain pragmatics behind Kovels contract non-renewal

Unusual administrative presence at Student Forum

Think youve got that suite or that Manor single inthe bag thanks to all your prissy AP work? Well thinkagain! Your extra credits are no longer good here. Inwhat student senator Travis McGrath sees as no lessthan a class issue - that is, people who went to ancyhigh schools are more likely to have extra credits andthereby get better rooms - the student gov. and ResLie have agreed to apply only credits earned at Bard

to determine what year you are.Through some very complex arithmetic that is

beyond the understanding o your humble interlocu-tor, this will mean, according to Brittany Rode o theStudent Lie Committee, that ewer upperclassmenwill get TBAed and more people will get rooms. Basi-cally.

-T.W.

Also at the March Student Forum:

Pre-Bard Credits Will No Longer Count at Room Draw

By Travis Wentworth


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So youve been serving in theAssembly or over twenty years,

thats correct?Sure.

So what made you deicde torun or Congress now? Youd be

starting over in terms o senior-ity.

Well, Ive always believed thatpeople move you rom on level toanother in terms o service. I was acity councillor or ve years; they

came to me when the assemblyopened up. They said, We thinkyou can serve more people at ahigher level with a better level oexcellence.

And at that time, there wassupport or that--thats where theywanted me to be, and so I ran orthat position. O course, in the lastew years Ive been elected leader;I was conerence chair. And at thispoint, a good number o our con-stituents, in the great ten countieso this Congressional district, havecome to me and said, we thinkyou could do a in Congress rightnow, serving us, serving more

people, at a higher level, and at thenext level o excellence.

I think, in public service, peo-ple move you, and my goal hasalways been to be in the best wayso I can serve the most people, and

make the best dierence in theirquality o lie. And I think, rightnow, thats in this Congressionalspot.

OK.I want this inormation in the

piece: my website is www.jimte-disco.com; Im on Twitter, Face-book, and YouTube.

Bards not a very Republicanschool - staunchly pro-choice,

very much pro-gay-equality.Why should Bard students vote

or you?Because I think what theyve

shown is they want someone whocan stand up and speak out, andbe a representative and stand up tothe most powerul interests whentheyre in power. But Im about thebest interests o our constituents,and I think most politicians canmake a dierence or the interests

o our constituents. My philoso-phy o being a representative is

much like Kirsten Gillibrands.We may have some philosophicaldierences, but we agree on somevery important issues.

We agreed that it was a securityissue that we give illegal aliensdrivers licenses, an issue whereshe supported me. And we beatback one o the most powerulvoices in New York State - the pre-

vious Governor, Eliot Spitzer - weharnessed the support o the morethan 75 percent o people acrossthe state who said, We agree withyou. We think immigration is im-portant, that this country is greatbecause o the diversity, and weneed more immigration - but weneed legal immigration, and wewant to send the message that iyou come here and break the lawby coming here, and you get bene-ts, then you really have no incen-tive to ollow the process, whichtakes a while, to become part othis great mosaic as a ull citizen.

So I think what theyre look-

ing or on that level - it doesntmake any dierence, income

level, whether theyre minorityor majority - theyre looking orsomeone thats able to stand up,speak out, and understand that a

representative needs to be less oa speaker and more o a listener.And I think Ive been very goodat being a representative in thatregard - thats reaching out, andnding out what the concerns o

my constituents are, especially inthese 10 counties. And Ill be rep-resenting their agenda. So I thinkwhat people are looking or is notnecessarily one or two issues, buta genuine philosophy o standingup and speaking out on behal othe people - nding all the peopleand listening to all the peopleabout what they want their Con-gressional district to be. And Iveshown that Im capable o doingthat.

Alright. Onto issues moredirectly aecting Bard right

now. There have been cutbacksin unding or higher education

across the country. Balargest employer in Red

had to lay o workers. Wyour plan to bring more u

to higher education in theson Valley and the n

Well, beore I became a ltor, I had a real job - I like toand an important job, also:an educator or 10 years. know and understand, likeo my colleagues, but unlik

ers, that the most poweruany o us will have is whcan give to the generation cup - thats going to be our a great education. Theres nthats going to be more pothan the ability to think acally, communicate, and bridgap between diversity, dieand dierent people - wherelates to other nations, intional commerce, or undering how to do the best you any type o employment situAnd education is the mosterul thing well have. It wmoney. It wont be gold. It

When Sen. Hillary Clinton wasappointed Secretary o State, NYGov. David Paterson appointedRep. Kirsten Gillibrand to Clin-tons Senate vacancy, creating yetanother vacancy in the House orBards 20th Congressional dis-trict. This sprawling district in-cludes Annandale-on-Hudson aswell as vast swathes o upstate

New York. Though originallydrawn to be a sae seat or Repub-lican John Sweeney, the troubleso the local economy, the unpop-ularity o President Bush, andSweeneys ethics issues - the Con-troversies section o his Wikipe-dia page has 12 entries - lead to aDemocratic insurgency: KirstenGillibrand deeated the longtimeincumbent in 2006 and capturedmore than 60% o the vote in herre-election last November.

Patersons appointment o Kirsten Gillibrand, which has prov-en controversial with downstate Democrats, has opened up awild and unpredictable contest or her vacant Congressionalseat. Longtime State Assembly member Jim Tedisco, who re-cently rose to the leadership o the Assembly Republicans, hasreceived the endorsement o the Republican and Conservativeparties. Scott Murphy, a ormer staer to two Democratic gov-ernors o Missouri, who now runs a local venture-capital irmthat inances and advises local startup businesses, has been

nominated by the Democratic Working Families parties, and, major upset, the New York Indedence Party, which usually suppRepublicans. The Libertarian Po New York, which is currentlytempting to obtain ballot accesthe race, has put orth Eric Swall, an IT consultant and state ertarian Party chair.

Special elections are notoriouslypredictable, and the loyalties o Yorks 20th are divided. Tedhas a long track record in oicedistrict has a preponderance o istered Republicans, and his phas perormed well in other spelections since Barack Obamastory. On the other hand, Murphyshown momentum in recent pand he has the endorsement o nSenator Gillibrand, who is still e

mously popular here. And it would be a mistake to writSundwall, whose clear stances against the Wall Street baand the stimulus package are sure to endear him to some lvoters - as well as the act that, unlike in 2006, he might aally be on the ballot.

Over the past month, the FREE PRESS has had the opportuto speak on the record with all three candidates. In the spirinormed decision-making, we present the interviews, mounedited, to our readers.

Jim Tedisco, the Republican candidate or the U.S. House seat vacat

by Kirsten Gillibrands appointment to the Senate, spoke with t

FREE PRESSs Donna McColloch about his experience and his politic


8/40

be the military power in the nalanalysis or this country. Itll bethe education we provide or ouryoung people.

My plan is to go out to Wash-ington, D.C., and ght or everypenny we can get back to get intothe schools, and secondary educa-tion and higher education, and toreach that level o excellence thatwe should have in the secondaryeducational area and in our colleg-es education areas. I had the op-portunity to graduate rom a greatschool, Union College, and go onto get my masters in special edu-cation at the College o St. Rose,to work in special education, with

kids with learning disabilities.My philosophy o governingis that government should moveobstacles or every single person,not only in our congressional dis-trict but across this state and thisnation, so they can be everythingthey can be with the God-given tal-ents theyve been given. So i youwant no child let behind, youvegotta ght or no child let behind.Youve gotta provide the nancialtools to do that.

Ive been a strong advocate orunding education, and Ill con-tinue to do that. We send a lot omoney out to Washington, and

historically, I dont believe we getour air share back, especially orimportant areas like education,health care, and economic devel-opment. So were gonna be work-ing really hard on that.

Relating to the economiccrisis, were talking about dis-

bursing another $350 billion inTARP unds and adding billionsto the TARP und. But we dont

know what happened to the rst$350 billion. Whats your plan to

bring accountability?Well, you make a very good

point, in that every day we donthave a Congressman representingthe 20th Congressional district in

the State o New York, were notstanding up or the concerns opeople in this Congressional dis-trict. And weve called up the Gov-ernor to tell him to call this elec-tion immediately. And we need toget someone who has experiencestanding up and speaking out,crossing party lines to nd con-sensus, standing up and ghtingwhen we have to ght or the bestinterests o our community. Andwhat we need in any stimuluspackage is, rst o all, oversightand transparency. Theres no waythis money should be stoppingwith CEOs so they can recoup

their losses, go on junkets, or giveindividuals bonuses, when theyrethe ones that had the risky invest-ments and had the reserves to paythose o. People who are losingtheir jobs in the 20th Congressio-nal district - we have small busi-nesses that are laying o work-ers, we have lost 50 or 60 percento their 401(k)s, we have health

care costs that are not being caredor, people who cant aord to paytheir mortgages.

What we need is someonestanding up on the oor o Con-gress and saying, The best andastest way to get rom one point toanother is a straight line, and thatstraight line should be a stimu-lus package where money gets tothe people who need it most: themiddle class, those who pay withcredit to start up their business,keep their business running, keep jobs running, the small armerwho maybe is not making it rightnow because o the prices, thedairy armer. And so Im a little

concerned about agenda, and phil-osophical discussions should takeplace later on. They have more in-terest in income that comes with astimulus package, directly to thepockets o the middle class, whoare acing perilous times with thiseconomy. And thats the directionthey have to go. But you have tohave complete oversight, and un-derstanding o the act that thatmoney cant stop in the pockets othe people who created this prob-lem. And those individuals whomade risky ventures, and manymiddle-class individuals, are su-ering because o that. So it cantstop there, and Im not sure theoversight is in place, but it has tobe put in place.

So you said youre in avor oa stimulus package, in contrastto current House Republicans?Well, three Senators voted

or it. I didnt see the package theway it is right now; I havent gotit outlined or me. All I can see isthe inormation thats being pre-sented in the media right now.And the package Im looking oris one that goes in a straight lineto the constituents who will needit most - not laden with dead-endprograms that are not gonna cre-ate jobs, save houses, help peoplewith their health care and insur-ance. So theres no question about

the act that weve got to get creditto people right now, especiallyabout the act that this is ladenwith some more agenda items,which have to concern everybody,because we dont need more porkin this stimulus. What we need ismore money getting to people whoare trying to make ends meet, andthats the middle class, many owhom are hemorrhaging in this20th Congressional district.

Last question is about thearts. A quarter o Bard students

are art majors; NEA unding lastyear was about $144 million -

about one percent, o what the

U.K. spends. How much sthe U.S. spend on th

Well, let me put it this warts is a very serious part economy, and also a very spart o our quality o lie ancational opportunities. I thyou look at my history, at onwhen they were gonna taNew York City Ballet and

nate it back in Saratoga, I oukeep that part o the qualitythere, because it does t in weconomy, but it also t with ing opportunities - educaopportunities, and trainingarts, and utures.

And percentages are things. What we have to dothe priorities. Thats one things I want to do when ICongress: make sure we hsense o what the spendinorities are, because I live in right now; as I look at the level, its nice to say yes to body. When you say yes to body with unding and spe

and programs, youre basaying no to everybody, btheres not enough money yes. But you have to hacourage to stand up or sothe priorities: those are inrature, those are education, thohealth care, and I think thare up there also, because treal serious part o the qualie, a real serious part o ouism, education, and the ecoSo were gonna support thatgonna try to be one o the inuals that makes tough decabout our spending priorithe interest o the 20th Cosional district, the state, anation.

I was curious about ewhat you meant when w

talking about keeping sing under control. Shouldrunning a decit currentl

ederal governThe best policy that yo

have is to treat the ederaernment like you treat a They have some borrowinthey have some obligationyou have to have a timely where you can pay those obest way to do things is to bto pay as you go, but you alsto take care o the quality and people who need to be sWhen I say we remove ob

so people can be everythinthey can be, we have peoour society who are disablemy brother Joey, who had Syndrome and died at the 15, who are going to have a dity or the rest o their lieand oremost, out o any bo any level, no matter whsituation is nancially, weto take care and have a concethose individuals who haveserious concerns to deal withthats an obligation; were cosionate people. And we hmove on rom there, with ties in terms o the quality

08

Dan Terna


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So the election is March 31st?March 31st.How much work is there to be

done?Lots o work. Were busy everyday, working to get the messageout to people, make sure they re-alize that Ive been a successulentrepreneur whos been start-

ing businesses and investing insmall businesses or the last 15years and that the companiesIve worked with have createdover a thousand jobs across NewYork Stat e.

Do you think the act thatyoure not a career politician is

a strength right now?I think so. My opponent thebiggest issue out there is thiseconomic recovery act that thepresident just passed a coupleweeks ago. I said I was in avoro it, that it needed to be done toget the economy moving. Andmy opponent, talking like a ca-reer politician, has reused or

two and a hal weeks to answerthe question yes or no. Weveheard ive dierent answers on

what he would have done, buthe still reuses to tell people thetruth.

Given the act that no repub-licans voted or it, can we

assume he would have beenagainst it?

I just wish he would tell us thetruth. It just seems like maybeyou learn that skill in Albanyin 27 years and not answer thequestion, but it doesnt seem likeits that hard to say yes or no.Republicans have a signiicant

voter registration advantage inthis district

Yeah, the districts been votingor Democrats latelyHillary

Clinton, Chuck Schumer, BarackObama, Kirsten Gillibrandtwicein the last ive elections,Democrats have won this dis-trict.

Obviously Gillibrand hadsome great success in gettingRepublican votes. Would you

say shes more conservativethan you are?

Well, I think its just a questiono every single issue. SenatorGillibrand and I agree on an aw-ul lot o issues. Shes been cam-paigning with me, and endorsedme, and Ive been working close-ly with her.

Do you think the presidentwill become involved at all

with an endorsement?Hope so. Dont know.

How would you character-ize the makeup o the peopleo the 20th district as ar as

age, demographics, politi-cal philosophy, expectations

o governmentand howmight these have to change inorder to accommodate a new

economy in the region?Well, this is a district o smalltowns. There are small townsall across this district, and thepeople there are just regularAmericans that are looking orcommon sense solutions. WhenI talk to them, theyre worriedabout the economy, and theyrewanting leaders who will tellthem what theyre going to doand be true to their word. Sothats kind o my sense o thedistrict. I think one o the re-ally important things we need

to do in this district rom aneconomic development perspec-tive is make sure that weve got

broadband internet access ev-erywhereits a real problemthat so much o this district isunderserved and doesnt havethe inrastructure. As we moveorward, you know, youre on acollege campus, this is a criti-cal element or young people.People in their 20s dont wantto go anywhere that they donthave broadband internet ac-cess. So weve got to make surewe have that so we can continueto hold on to the young people.Part o the reason Im runningis that Im concernedIve gota big amily, Ive got 30 niecesand nephews, and my own three

kidsand Im concerned aboutmaking sure theres job oppor-tunities or them in this district.And or all the kids coming outo our colleges to be able to stayin this district o they want to.And right now we dont makethat easy because o the lack oinrastructure. Thats some-thing this economic recovery acthas money to help with, and itssomething I want to work veryhard on making sure is avail-able.

Beyond just inrastructure,what would revitalize this

area?

Scott Murphy, the Democratic candidate, worked as a g

bernatorial aide in his native Missouri beore moving to u

state New York. He is staking his candidacy on his experien

as a successul entrepreneur, a skill greatly in need in t

current economic climate. He spoke over the phone with t

FREE PRESSs Travis Wentwort

Well you know, theres not amagic bullet. Its going to be hardwork on a lot o dierent kinds

o businesses, and thats reallywhere my experience comes in.Weve got agricultural smallbusiness, weve got tourism smallbusinesses, weve got retail shopsand small manuactures, andweve got next generation tech-nology companies. One o theareas Ive spent a lot o time in-vesting in is clean tech and greentech stu. Those are great oppor-tunities or us. With the stimulusplan, theres a lot o money or ad-vanced battery technologies, thesmart grid, and some inrastruc-ture plans that will really acili-tate those next-generation, green-tech, clean-tech jobs. And thats

something upstate New York isvery good at and has a lot o po-tential or and thats really a bigpart o our uture in my opinion.

As ar the stimulus package,one controversy was the extent

to which materials used inpublic projects must be sourced

in the U.S. Do you see thisprotectionism as necessary, or

something that will hurt theU.S. in the long run?

Yeah, I think there was a lot otalk about that. At the end o theday, it turn out to be somethingthat was less o a big issue thansome o the talk. I think at the

end o the day, we want to look tobuy things domestically, but wealso want to be involved in trade.

Trade is a big part o our uture,and I think most o the moneyrom this economic recover actis going actually to middle classtax cuts, and going to supportour state and local governmentswhich are really cash-strapped.Those are really good and i mpor-tant things we need to do and un-related to sourcing issues.

China passed a stimulus pack-age yesterday do you think

that will help the U.S. economy?We deinitely need the worldeconomy to get moving. Its a cy-cle and as were going down andeverywhere else is going down,its viral down or our compa-

nies doing business overseas. SoI think it would be great i Chinagot their economy moving andstarted buying more importsrom the U.S. That would be agood thing or us, so Im hopingto see whole worlds economy getmoving as we also get the U.S.economy moving.

Whats the biggest problemacing the younger generations

today that we might not yetrealize is such a problem?

I hear this all the time I wasmeeting with some college kids inglens alls a ew weeks ago. Peo-ple are worried about job oppor-

tunities theyre getting to graduate, and the econoreally rozen and I think

o the kids on campus proarent thinking about it yethe seniors I guess are. Weto come up with opportuto get this economy movthat there are job opportuout there or people to startheir careers, and right nownot what Im hearing at lethe ground. People are starget very worried and I wantthis solved.Do you think perhaps inv

in startups instead o bout, big, established, stru

companies is more impoI think absolutely our smalnesses are the job creatio

gines. Depending on the its 80 to 90 percent o jobsrom small businesses. where we really see the grThats what I want to woThere are a number o thithe economic recovery act tly help our small businesseweve got to be sure that thoimplemented well and theyally beneit our small businSo Im excited about workthat.

Dan Ter


10/40

So both o your opponents in this racehave experience in politics - Jim Tedisco

has been in the New York State Assemblysince beore most Bard students were

born, and Scott Murphy was a gubernato-rial stafer in Missouri. What experience

are you bringing to the table?

Well, I do have practical business experi-ence in the community. Ive lived in thisarea, in Columbia County, since 1994. Mydad has been in politics or quite some time;he served as a town board member in theTown o Kinderhook or eight years. He waschairman o the county Conservative Party

or a long time. Ive served as chairman othe Libertarian Party o New York; Ive alsoserved on the national committee or theLibertarian Party. So in terms o third-partypolitics, I do have quite a bit o experience.Obviously, the problem or us is always bal-lot access - and also you have to be elected.So in terms o experience with third par-ties, thats always kind o a unique thing.But in this particular case, Ive also run orthis ofce, back in 2006, and I actually gotknocked o that ballot, despite collectingover 5,200 signatures.Could you tell me a little more about yourbusiness experience? What kind o busi-

ness are you in?Im an independent IT consultant. I used

to run an operation called Old KinderhookIntegrated Systems. We were based out oKinderhook and Galatia rom 1994 to about2005, and then we shut our retail operationdown, and now we just consult with some o

our better clients.So the two other campaigns have ads onthe air and are well-established. Youre

still trying to secure ballot access?Thats right. We will submit our petition onMonday. We currently have in hand, rightnow, about 7,000 signatures. The require-ment is 3,500 signatures. So it is our ex-pectation that were going to submit thesesignatures and be on the ballot. In the eventthat were challenged, were prepared to goto court with a legal team. We have every-thing all prepared in order to do that. In thespring o 2006, I got knocked o, and ourlawyers have a good deal o experience withthis now. So, again, yes, thats what weredoing. In terms o campaigning, what Ivebeen telling everyone in the media is thatthe petitioning process, as much as I nd

it abhorrent in terms o real democracy, thereality is that Im out here talking to realvoters on a daily basis. Ive collected over200 signatures mysel, and because o that,having conversations not just with votersbut with average people - in GreenwichFalls, in Hudson, in Greene County. So inmy estimation, except or that act that thesesplit-second, say-nothing commercials areout there, inundating the public, were outthere running a real campaign in terms oday-to-day interactions with the public.So generally, though, youre not in a very

established position; it seems unlikelythat you would win. Why would you run?Well, why do you say that?

Well, no Libertarian has ever been

elected to Congress.So historical inevitability is the usual

thing that reporters will report in that typeo situation, and rely on that as real analy-sis. Heres the answer to your question. Ba-sically, what we hope to accomplish in thisspecial election, in a condensed period otime, is not only a recognition o the Liber-tarian Party in general, but also o a lot othe Libertarian ideas. And certainly, in thenormal course, a Libertarian third-partycampaign will grind along over the courseo however many months it takes, and pro-duce a very typical result o anywhere rom

one to three percent o the electorate. Whatwere hoping or in this particular electionis not only another special election withvery low turnout - but our expectation isthat, with our rejection o the stimulus andbailout packages, well get enough votersattentions where you could theoreticallywin this kind o an election with as littleas 30,000 votes. So thats not unrealistic tolook at, in terms o energy and turnout. Illgrant you, certainly, that cant happen in alonger election, but thats not the case.

I think youre going to see a great deal osupport rom the liberty community in gen-eral, in the whole country and in the state,but youre also going to see a large mediapresence that really would be mostly un-

precedented or a Libertarian candidate tobe part o. We expect to be in the WRMWChannel 9 debates; we expect to be in thoseo March 26th. Were working really hardon getting included in the Times-Union and

WMAC debates. So in terms o exposure, Ithink well be there. And, quite rankly, Imknown in Columbia County, and Im knownin parts o Rensselaer County and DutchessCounty. So Im not a completely unknownactor in all o this.

You were talking earlier about bringingLibertarian ideas to the table. Lets talkmore about those. You oppose the bail-out package and the stimulus package,and on your website you say that thereshould be no increase in the nationaldebt. Even beore the bailout and thestimulus, the ederal government was

running a huge decit. Where would youmake cuts?

We could make cuts across the board.Weve extended our empire across the en-tire world. Were deployed in countries like

Japan and Germany and South Korea still.Its a tremendous expenditure thats beingmade, in terms o keeping all o these pres-ences overseas. You could probably save atrillion dollars, real ast, i you were to re-ally withdraw a lot o our orces rom allaround the world. Were spending too muchmoney on what we call national deense,when in reality theres special interests outthere promulgating the American empire. Ithink that would be the number one way tocut money.

The other thing would be that, in termso Libertarian ideas and principles, theFederal Reserve and currency thats notbacked up with anything is a huge issue.And youre seeing a great deal o ina-

tion, and what you mean by ination is apumping o the money supply - its got totake place, and theyre just wasting uturegenerations wealth in a matter o minutesnow. So, rst o all, across the board cuts aresomething a Libertarian candidate wouldhave to look at. I I were to be, miraculously,elected, Id be more o a voice o oppositionto the current spending spree that Congressis on. And, certainly, one representativecouldnt prevent that kind o result - even iits Jim Tedisco or Scott Murphy. They saythat dont have an inclination toward thatsort o thing. But theyre two career politi-

cians, with promises to special interests,and theyve made promises to the districtto spend money that doesnt exist. And thatwill have an impact or uture generations,or decades to come.

So youre opposed to increased spend-ing, but almost hal the current stimuluspackage was tax cuts. Senator DeMint oSouth Carolina proposed an amendment

that would replace the entire stimuluspackage with a tax cut package. What

would you say about tax cuts? Should taxrates be lowered right now?

It should i they would be cutting spend-ing, but theyre probably not doing either.I dont generally buy the argument that thestimulus package is a matter o tax cuts.

Any time you inate the money supply, ina money system like this, its really a taxincrease, because theres inationary pres-sure. The banks and the institutions man-age to make money, but the average persons

dollar is subject to huge inationary pres-sures. Thats a tax in and o itsel. So I dontbuy the idea that theres a tax cut involvedwith any o this at all.

On your website, you also talk brieyabout the importance o the environment.

What environmental policies should theederal government be enacting?

Well, the Libertarian perspective tends to bea little bit more contractual when it comes toenvironmental issues. Obviously, i some-one dumps garbage on your lawn, theres acourse o action that you can take on a legalpath. So in terms o any sort o legislativeor political plan or proposal, anything thatreduces the size o the ederal governmentis subsequently going to reduce pollution.The ederal government is the largest pol-luter in the entire United States. So in my

estimation, i you reduce the size o the ed-eral government, youre also going to be re-ducing the amount o pollution. So, in thatregard, thats the sort o issue that I wouldemploy in that type o situation.So you think a reduction o the size o the

ederal government should be the mainenvironmental policy that the ederal

government should be enacting?Potentially. And I think that the CAFE stan-dards, and all the other things theyre try-ing to tweak in order to get people to behavein a certain way, are just grossly unair andinefcient, and just wont work. Were see-ing strides in technology and strides in con-sumer awareness that are achieving resultswithout, necessarily, the coercive hand o

government.So youd be opposed to the cap-and

system thats being proposed or house emis

Id say that Im more skeptical; I donitll do any good and just lead to moels o legislation and bureaucracy, anmately, in the end, just not make anyence.

One last question - higher eduunding is being cut by a lot o le

government right now. Many coincluding Bard, are nding it in

ingly difcult to put together a wo

budget. Would you be in avor ohigher education spending right

Not at all. Im in avor o eliminatinspending altogether. Why shouldspending any money o my own into send you to a $50,000 a year colleBard, just to read Henry David Thorthe weekend?[*] I see no obligation taxpayer or individual to support anelses secondary education.

Alright. Any nal commSure. I you look at the issues the Libian Party will promulgate in an eleyoure going to see the end o Social Sty, the unjust drug war - a lot o the otsues: military spending, entitlement sing thats really just ruining this co

And the only thing I would add to that we should be - human beings sbe - in the most prosperous time in hhistory right now, and were being band cheered up by ederal and state p

that do nothing but spend and wastviduals wealth and money, and elimthe prospects or any kind o notions reedom and liberty i n this country.

10

Eric Sundwall is the Libertarian Party candidate or the U.House seat vacated by Kirsten Gillibrand ater her appointmen

to the Senate. He spoke with Donna McColloch over the phon

about the diculties third-party candidates ace, and why th

government shouldnt pay or you to read Thorea

[*Ed. note: Though Mr. Sundwalls intion o Thoreau may appear quite imptic, his reerence, whether accidentallnot, may be valid. Behold, orsooth, inEconomy section oWalden:

At Cambridge College the mere rent odents room, which is only a little larger th

own, is thirty dollars each year, though theration had the advantage o building thi

side by side and under one roo, and thpant suers the inconvenience o many an

neighbors, and perhaps a residence in thestory. I cannot but think that i we had mo

wisdom in these respects, not only less edwould be needed, because, orsooth, more

already have been acquired, but the pecexpense o getting an education would in

measure vanish. Those conveniences wh student requires at Cambridge or elsewh

him or somebody else ten times as great afce o lie as they would with proper mana

on both sides. Those things or which thmoney is demanded are never the things

the student most wants. Tuition, or inis an important item in the term bill, w

the ar more valuable education which by associating with the most cultivated

contemporaries no charge is made.


11/40

six years on paper

A material Maniestation by frst-year graduate students at

the center or curatorial studies


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What you have in your hands is a spin-o o a spin-o. This publi-cation is the second cousin o www.artwurl.org and a young, rebel-

lious sibling o www.six-years.com

It all began with the brainchild o Carlos Motta, artwurl, which

Tirdad Zolghadrs Curating and Criticism seminar at the Center

or Curatorial Studies inherited in August 2008. Shortly therea-

ter, in October, six-years.com saw the light o day. The site was, and

is, a dematerialized exhibition space that changes work, curator,

and critic on a weekly basis.

Six-years.coms arrival brought together a group o ve rst-year

students as part o the seminar. These ve newcomers were skep-

tical o the cybernetic utopianism and the undened minimalism

that inormed the web project, and answered with a re-material-

ized and geographically mappable contribution that went public

between December 12, 2008 and January 30, 2009. The dissidentsmodus operandi was a simple 3-step procedure: 1) invite artists

rom their respective home countries (Belgium, Iran, Mexico, Unit-ed Kingdom, Venezuela) to submit work, 2) display the nal teen

selected works in an unexpected, loosely thematic constellation in

ve installments on six-years.com, and 3) create a printed version

o the images and texts to remit to the contributing artists.

What you have in your hands is the culmination o this October

Rebellion. It brings an end to our resistance and turns us into Up-

state promoters, distributors, and reviewers o works by Ali Chit-

saz, Shadi Malek, Miguel Amat, Paul Newman, Saskia de Coster,

Johan Jacobs, Pablo Rasgado, Ruben Gutirrez and Jaime Ruiz Otis.

Many thanks go to Christina Linden at CCS and the Bard Free Press

or generously (but perhaps unknowingly) helping us in complet-

ing this act o apostasy.

Andrea Torreblanca; Diana Stevenson; Carlos Palacios; Sohrab

Mohebbi; Sarah Demeuse.

Cover: Miguel Amat, GLG Partners-London-Headquarters, rom the series Top Hedge Fund Firms, January 2008

Six Years on Paper2


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Six Years on P


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Six Years on Paper

4


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Traveling in the Socorro deserts o New Mexico, an unidentiied lying

object drits in to view. Whos there? As this is a holiday destinationespecially avoured by visitors rom other planets, the question seemsrelevant. However, it turns out that the visitor has only traveled a ewthousand miles rom the UK, rather than the light years others maketo this particular location. But like the scientists and specialists o theextra terrestrial, this visitor is also in the desert to undertake research,

to explore other dimensions o the various ictional characters tha

populate his work. Paul Newmans work (perormance, painting aninstallation) involves quasi-human creatures inding themselves idiscomorting scenarios. Interior anxieties are played out by placithese creatures (already bearing the evidence o psychological unrinto an environment where their disquiet is ampliied to the stu onightmares.

Paul Newman, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Preceding pages: Somewhere in Socorro II, 2006; The Socorro Connection, 2006; Above: Somewhere in Socorro I, 2006

Six Years on P


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Ruben Gutirrezs projects are otentimes a mockery o the art worldand appropriate canonized language as a way to subvert it. At othertimes, his work is a violent alteration o popular culture. For instance,scenes orm TV shows, movie sequences or images o childish nostalgiaconstantly appear in his work. He uses a variety o mediums (drawing,lm and painting), each o which translates quotations that are requent-ly in-between sarcasm and seriousness. Ruben Gutirrez has a ten-

dency to be suspicious about the artwork that is being produced todIn Post Philosophical Needs he created a series o drawings that resembexcerpts rom action, drama, and political lms. The trivial phrasesinserted seem to reveal a whole spectacle by themselves. Ruben Gutrez currently lives and works in Monterrey, Mexico, where he oundONF (Object Not Found), a non-prot semi-nomadic space or conporary art projects.

Ruben Gutirrez, Monterrey, Nuevo Len, Mexico

Ripple

Up-down. Downsize history-locality; excavate punctual remains.

Borrow ragments and overturn them ironically, or even, place them just as they are.

Chronicles o conned pasts and presents: portrayals o strangers that glance on opposite sides.

This is the history o histories, where translation occurs at a distance; where individual battles emerge and archetypes are broken.

Recycling cycles and rippling ripples; a border that is never crossed.

Stumbling with the unknown at an edge in which nothing else occurs, but the anxiety o a mosquito ying in the midst o conict.

Hub: an inverted chapeau utilized by one and all. a container embodying the Horse o Troy.

This is the history o histories: a paraphrase o antonyms.

Right:Leave the Art Fair, 2006-

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The work o Pablo Rasgado Quintanar oten presents an encounter with thequotidian. He tunes into a secret stratum that hides beneath the quotidiansurace and that oten emerges in disguise. Pablo Rasgado walks the citystreets and interrupts his itinerary to remove elements that conound him.By means o several ormats he accumulates, assembles, and reconstructschronicles that pose philosophical questions that are implicit in every

object. In this translation, each o his works open a possibility or collecstories, as they unold the predicaments o each o their layers.Landscap(2006) is a dissected project that ocuses on a single subject: mountainsThe repetition o this moti in multilayered quotations visualizes how wsee, interpret, absorb, and decipher meanings. Pablo Rasgado currentlylives and works in Mexico City.

Pablo Rasgado Quintanar, Zapopn, Jalisco, Mexico

Let:Landscape, 2006; Above: Lightnings, 2007

Following page: Ali Chitsaz,127,

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Debris, alteration, residue, and reuse are the main reerences or JaimeRuiz Otiss work. His ndings are almost archeological. He makes theletovers o manuacture labor evident by the single gesture o posing thedebris as it was revealed to him. The ruins o industrialized environmentsbecome this artists playground. Jaime Ruiz Otis discloses the urban

ramework in each o his projects to address dierent modes o prodution. Coilderis the result o such disclosure, and is part o a series thatcould be called The Many Faces o Cyber as it displays computer remas vestiges o what has evolved rom outmoded technology. Jaime RuiOtis currently lives and works in Tijuana, Baja Caliornia, Mexico.

To get to Memphis rom New Orleans, it is necessary to drive the whole length o Mississippi, taking Route 55 where it starts somewhere over the Louisianaswamps. The swamps rom the highway cannot be seen in any detail and the trees and water are gone beore you can take a picture. The landscape ickers awayurther away behind us, receding into the past along with the petrol cap we let at the gas station, the odd acquaintances, and the hospitable sunlight o a southewinter. These pictures show landscape as an ephemeral thing, as much a ction o reconstructive imagination than a document o the world outside. Romanticmemories o past adventures, idealised and distilled - clouds and a horizon line are all that are let. Did we see two people sitting on that rock, or was it the nalremains o some ancient relic? Is it time to saddle the horses? When we get to Memphis we can have some beer and look in to the Mississippi River.

Jaime Ruiz Otis, Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico

Let: Coilder (Computer), 2005

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Writing about Ali Chitsazs paintings is like dragging a camel out o ashopping mall when the poor bastard is already walking itsel out.Beard and lollipops, ootball and tyranny, bored kings and Alain Robbe-Grillet, vodka and ashion police, mangled in this chop suey o acrylic oncanvas they call painting. Post-colonial discourse becomes dry academismthat will dust its way on the bookshelves o well-educated collectors who

import ake Barbies rom China, screw the local industry and spend tholidays in the Caribbean. In the end they are not that much dierentrom the religious anatics at whom Ali is smirking.

All in all this could be considered a rather decent textual bikini or Chsazs not much decent art.

Ali Chitsaz, Tehran, Iran

Right: Best Day, 2008; Untitled,

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The scenario is pretty common: two artists become riends and decide to col-laborate. This time the story is set in Brussels in 2008; its main characters are

Johan Jacobs (1961) and Saskia De Coster (1976). He, the reelance photographer,specializes in documentary, reportage, and portraiture and provides the images.She, the writer, comes up with bold, oten enigmatic statements that look likecaptions.

Johan requently contributes in Belgian newspapers and weekly publications(De Standaard, Humo). His work has been included in several books and exhibi-tions, such as 300 Jaar Geschiedenis van de Munt (1996) (300 Years o Historyo the Monnaie) and Brussel, Groei van een Hoodstad (1999) (Brussels, Growth

o a Capital). Saskias acerbic columns appear in De Standaard and NRC nepapers. She has published our daring novels - Vrije Val (2002), Jeuk (2004Eeuwige Roem (2006) and Held (2007) - and is now working on her thbook. Saskia has also written lyrics or musicians such as Dez Mona and DStuyven, and has worked with experimental theatre companies (The Crew

Now the Chances o Being Struck are Pretty Slim (2008) combines a caption withwhat looks like a burned portrait o a young man. The reerent and contextthe caption are unclear. Through this semiotic ambivalence and skewed viperspective, the piece responds to a visual regime that is intrigued by disasand the representation o human destruction.

Saskia De Coster & Johan Jacobs, Brussels, Belgium

Let:Now the Chances o Being Struck are Pretty Slim, 2008

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On that Petrol Free Sunday people took out their bikes and headed in serpentines to the capital.I see highways as the open pastures o anti-OPEC wannabe Wild West explorers.He rattles on about cycling on the worst trafc intersection in the country.1970s in 2008.Horses gush behind herds o bualos. Kevin Costners voice somewhere.1862 in 1990.This is a sincere exercise in ree association spiced with some cynical daydreaming parasitically eeding on another mans nostalgia. Like re-enacting a historicasoccer gamePel scoring in the World Cup or Maradonnas mano de diosbut backwards and interrupted each sixth minute or a Corona commercial.

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Miguel Amat belongs to a new generation o photographic docu-mentarians. For his participation in the past edition o the MercosulBiennial in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Amat showed landscapes, whichwere battle scenes o the Venezuelan Independence war. The im-ages describe natural spaces without a trace o history o heroism;instead, they seem totally insigniicant until we notice the titles. In

this series devoted to the Top Ten Hedge Funds, Amat recovered photographic collage technique o early avant-garde movements.These images show the headquarters o ailed capitalist companithe urban settings to which they belong. The result is a very comimage that reers to the emptiness and the hybridization o capitain urban areas.

Miguel Amat, Caracas, Venezuela

Shadi Malek, Tehran, Iran

Shadi Malek is a printmaker. She has a silkscreen table in the middle her hall where occasionally, when in a particularly good mood, she mprints. She lives and works in Tehran.

Let: Miguel Amat, Goldman Sachs-Monaco, rom the series Top Hedge Fund Firms, January 2008

Back cover: Untitled, 2008

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Ki With a Camera: Phtraphs Wane

When people call little Wayne Lil Wayne he tells them to call

him Big Wayne instead. But the title is pretty accuratehes

a three foot tall rst grader in New Orleans. There are times

when hes extremely mature, trying to be the older kid, but

there are times when hes just a regular six year-old who likesto be picked up and held in your arms, explains Anna Putnam

(09), who teaches at his school through the Bard New Or-

leans summer camp. Wayne and Anna are pictured to the right.

Everyday at school Wayne runs aways with Annas point and

shoot camera in his hands. His photographs tell the story of h is ad-

ventures through the hallways and playground of his school. Whats

so amazing about Waynes images are their composition and their

attention to the small details in a childs world that most of us are

disconnected from. Its also how he encounters these unseen so-

cial dynamicshis photos arent these generic posed pictures that

wed expect from a six year old, says Anna. Hes gone beyond

the novelty of a digital camera, where he needs to pose his subject

and then check the screen right after. When he was shooting with

my lm camera, he didnt need the reward of seeing the picture

immediately like the other kidshe just wanted to take photos.

By ANNA PUTNAM and DAN TERNA

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What made you want to come back to Bardto teach?

Well, I knew Bard, I liked the people here, I

believed in the kind o teaching that was be-ing done. At that time Bard thought o itselas a very particular place, a place dierentrom other American colleges and universi-ties.

Why English in particular?I started out wanting to write. I did a creativesenior project, a collection o poems. I knewvery much this is what I wanted to do. I wentto a high school specializing in the sciencesand it became very clear to me that a careerin science didnt interest me, and literatureseemed like a pleasant way to spend onestime.

Why are you retiring?Thats actually a very hard question to an-swer. Ive been thinki ng about it over a num-ber o years, in the past our or ive, and parto it is almost abstract. Its been a very long

time that youve been in this one place - asmuch as you like it, shouldnt you try some-thing new at some point? More speciically,Id say I had a rather ambitious book projectI wanted to take on and I realized that Imjust not very good at working on that kind oproject while teaching, I wanted to be able toconcentrate on it.

Whats the book about?I did a book a number o years ago, it cameout in 1980, on essentially one particularstylistic device in Charles Dickens novels,

and in some sense the book was a kind ostunt because it was so narrowly ocused. Ihad a lot o un doing it, but what I wanted

to do was a larger project on what youd callperiod style in that same area, Victorian ic-tion, which I ind very rich, very interestingor this kind o research. What Im going tobe working on there is a larger number o de-vices and characteristics which you ind inVictorian Fiction and not in contemporaryiction or even early 20th century iction,or at least not as much, and what we can sayabout those.

In the course o your career at Bard, whatwould you say youve accomplished?

I wouldnt say its any large structural thing.Its educating a large number o students,which obviously doesnt mean giving themtheir complete education, but I think Ivebeen able to show students certain kinds othings, particularly in the combination othe history o the English language and the

work o English Literature. In some ways myapproach has been somewhat old ashioned,or out o ashion, which to me has been moreimportant to do so at least students get a tasteo it - to pay very close attention with word-ing. Its almost a kind o ear t raining, to makeine distinctions - one situation, one way odescribing a situation, is not really the samething as something else. There are dierenc-es that youre discriminating; theres both apleasure and much to be learned by makingthese ine discriminations.

What book do you have the most unteaching?

A great many o them. I you put it a dierent

way, in terms o which author, I would sayChaucer. In some ways hes the most com-panionable.

Did you have any teachers that inspiredyou to become a teacher?

I had a number o extremely good teacherswhen I was here. The one Ive been thinkingabout recently was someone who just startedwhen I was at Bard. 30 years old, beginningpoet, just had his irst book published, a mannamed Donald Finkel. He was my adviserand a wonderul teacher; he was just herethat irst year and wound up going to theUniversity o Washington in St. Louis. I sawin the paper that he died in his 80s. I had nocontact with him in all o those ity yearsbut it was lovely to work with him. Everytime I walk past his old oice I get this senseo layers o history. One o the most inluen-

tial teachers or me was Erma Brandise, mysenior project advisor, my mentor, my riend.It would take hours to describe her. I assumepeople still remember her - Bard gives theBrandise prize every year. She was a marvel.What are ive landmarks in English Litera-

ture in the last 200 years?I would concentrate on the romantics, partic-ularly Wordsworth and Keats. Ulysses has t obe in there. I love Dickens so Id be sorry notto have a representative Dickens novel in t helist. And or ive I guess Ill say Henry James.

Mark Lambert, the Asher B. Edelman Proessor o Lit-erature, graduated rom Bard in 1962. He returned toBard as a proessor in 1967 and retired this semester.

Interview an Pht ALEX ERIKSEN

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Pro. Graham, a Bard College Fellow, hasbeen here since 2006, specializing in Victo-rian Studies - a eld that does not suggest hissomewhat remarkable upbringing. His ather,Philip Graham, was publisher and co-ownero the Washington Postrom 1946 until he com-mitted suicide in 1963; his mother, KatherineGraham, then took over and presided as thePostbroke the Watergate scandal. She chroni-cled her own lie in the Pulitzer-prize winningautobiography Personal History.

What was it like growing up with parentswho were so prominent in the publishing

world?One tends to accept whatever the environ-ment is. So I wasnt aware that there wasanything unusual about my amily or theircircumstances. My ather worked at this bigbuilding and had an ofce at the top oor, butyou know, a lot o peoples athers were busi-nessmen. And the Washington Post Compa-ny wasnt really nationally known. It wasntreally a actor outside Washington D.C. untilNixon and Watergate.

Was there every any discussion o you tak-ing over the Washington Post?

It never entered my mind. For one thing, Iloathed Washington. I didnt go to Bard, but Ieasily could have. Im the kind o arty youngersibling who oten winds up at Bard, whereashis older siblings might wind up at Penn. Inever lusted or journalism or business in par-ticular. I just didnt have the political gene, the

journalistic gene. Its like i your parents workat G.M. and you have a rebellious streak, itslikely you wont want to go into making cars.

You have to nd some niche that hasntbeen lled by somebody else, so you castaround. I just couldnt wait to get out o Wash-ington. I do not have a sense o exclusion.

How did you handle your athers suicide?Im still trying to gure that out. It was a sucha catastrophic event. I was 11. It aected metraumatically and undamentally. But I cantreally quantiy it. Losing a parent at that ageundermines your whole sense o stabilityand probably makes you emotionally wary.Guarded. Beyond that, youll have to talk tomy psychotherapist.

How did lie change ater your mother,Katharine Graham, took over at the Post?

I was let to my own devices. My house be-came the gathering spot o choice or a certaincounter-cultural element. Im not going to usethe phrase pot partiesnever let that phraseescape my lips. Also at that time I played thedrums, and she was very understanding,tolerant, about my really not very good rock

band rehearsing in the living room. But theact that she was oten not there made that aneasier call or her.

So there was benign neglect, you know,and it had its pluses and minuses. For exam-ple, nobody ever made me do my homework.Its kind o the lot o the younger siblings - therst-born are kind o hovered over and everystep is watched and great things are expected,and by the time you get to number our, you re-ally are let alone to carve out your own path.I liked being let alone. I could have done withsome more supervision, it probably causedme some problems adjusting to college. WhenI had to run my own lie, I think it took me lon-ger to gure out how than it might have.

How did your mother handle the transi-tion?

She has nine lives, my mother. She steppeddown as head o the company ater a very suc-cessul time. Then she worked or seven yearson her autobiography. Wrote the whole thinghersel. She had never written a book. Filledup one yellow pad ater another. It won the Pu-litzer Prize. And now these plays and movieprojects keep rumbling around. [The latest isan HBO project written by Joan Didion, withLaura Linney rumored to play Katharine Gra-ham].

I admire her, you know, I admire her workethic. I loved her. We werent close in the senseo yukking it up together. She was earthy,but we didnt totally share the same sense ohumor, lets say. And there were moments oconict.

What was lie like at Harvard?I got there right in the middle o Vietnam, soit was very political. My dorm room was righton Massachusetts Avenue, so every time therewas a demonstration they would march past.Spring o my reshman year there was a bigstrike because we bombed Cambodia. Therewere demonstrations and strikes and unrest,

and all my exams and papers were canceledreshman year. So that was an unexpectedringe benet o the Cambodian incursion.

What was the inspiration or ounding theNew York Theatre Workshop in 1979?

I worked on some shows and I produced a cou-ple things. And then it became clear that therewere certain things that it didnt make senseto put on Broadway, or even o-Broadway.Things like Sarah Kanes Blasted, or example.[When scripts] came across my desk I wouldhave thought, Hmm, this looks a little iyto have a backers audition and raise moneyrom a bunch o dentists, theyre gonna thinkthis play is really strange. We need a non-pro-it arm. So I started it initially just as a ounda-tion, and then it kind o metamorphosed into amore traditional non-prot theater.

And Rent had its rst production at theNew York Theater Workshop.It was largely a blessing, because prior to Rentwe were always nancially strapped whichis the case with most downtown non-prottheaters o a very risky kind. And or the nextten years we piled up royalties, so we alwayshad a cash reserve. It got the theater settled ona solid ooting and gave us a lot more visibility.People started approaching us with a highercaliber o plays. The downside was that it cre-ated a sort o welare culture, a culture o de-pendency, so thatRentcash reserve graduallydwindled. And now theyve run out and wevereally had to cut back. So it has reverted to itsoriginal, excitingly nancially unstable stateo being.

What are the theaters prospects now?I it collapses, it collapses. I dont think immor-tality should necessarily be the aim o any-thing. One theater collapses, somebody comesalong and starts another. I never dreamt that itwould last this long.

How do you remember your time at Ecco,the literary press?

The Ecco Press was on its own and wasdering and having nancial problems.on board or a number o years, trying tit into a sel-sustaining small literarywhich isimpossible. But nevertheletried or a while. But it continued to losey, although it was an enormously ing time. I met all these interesting poeso on. But at the end o the day, Ecco gto Harper Collins, so its now part o arm. All those poets now work ultimatRupert Murdoch. I eel ne about thatdeserve to get paid.

So how have you ound Bard Awul. I dont know how to describe thtalizing work conditions here - no, hocompared to the only other two institIve taught at, Bard is, or me, ideal. It wo

more ideal i it were closer to New Yorits a bit o a hike, but the trains run acomortable. What I want is smart st- and without denigrating the New Sa lot o the students there are perectlyligent but its a mixed bag and there ao people who are there to get a stamptheir passport so they can get a job at Cior somewhere like that.

And Columbia is obviously a guished place but its personality is hdous. Feuding, backstabbing, hostilithappiness, departmental rivalries Iits a really grim place to work. So at nd collegiality, I nd bright students, place that hires a lot o adjuncts. This dplease some tenured aculty, but it pleasince Im not one.

I dont know i this is the sort o thione should coness to, but I adore readiresearching things, and I love historylove novels, and I have crated a proeslie o sorts in which I am able to pursuinterests in a somewhat ocused, orgway.

What exactly is the Student Responsible InvestmentCommittee?

The Committee consists o 4 student representatives and4 aculty/sta representatives. The students are elected atStudent Forums. Our mission is basically to improve the

transparency and social responsibility o the Colleges en-dowment, and leverage the endowment or social change.Because the College owns shares o public corporations, ithas the right to speak directly with corporate management,raise issues that may be voted on by all shareholders at an-nual shareholder meetings, and vote on issues that are im-portant to the corporation.

What are the Committees responsibilities?The Committee has three responsibilities. First, it makesproxy-voting recommendations to the Board o Trustees.This means that instead o attending the annual sharehold-ers meeting, we vote on issues by proxy, over the Internet.It also maintains a partial list o the College Endowmentspublic stock holdings. Second, the Committee engagescorporations held in the Colleges endowment by writingshareholder letters and ling shareholder resolutions. Fi-nally, we support the Bard College Social Choice Fund orEndowment Giving, which i

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