PARENTS HANDBOOK 2015–16 Bard annandaleonline.org/parents Photography front cover: Pete Mauney ’93, MFA ’00 inside front cover: Peter Aaron ’68/Esto page 3, 17: Karl Rabe page 13: Stockton Photo Inc. page 19: Anya Kopischke page 23, inside back cover: Chris Kendall ’82 contents 2 WELCOME 14 TRAVELING TO, FROM, AND Parents Network AROUND ANNANDALE Ways to Get Involved Accommodations Travel to Bard 5 CAMPUS LIFE AND RESOURCES Transportation On and Off Campus Dining Services Technology 16 HEALTH INSURANCE Career Development Office AND MONEY MATTERS Employment Opportunities Health Insurance Purchasing Books and Supplies Billing and Payment of Tuition and Fees Athletics and Recreation Financial Aid Student Clubs Student Government 18 COLLEGE POLICIES Civic Engagement Bard College Parent Relationship Policy Residence Life and Housing Inquiries Health Information Privacy Campus Life Alcohol and Drug Policy The Extracurricular Community Grade Release Policy Your First-Year or Second-Year Student’s Consensual Relations Extracurricular Experience First-Year Experience 20 CAMPUS MAP Second-Year or Transfer Experience Bicycles on Campus 22 ARRIVAL-DAY SCHEDULE Vehicles on Campus Zipcar at Bard 24 ACADEMIC CALENDAR 2015–16 Religious Services Bard Alumni/ae Association 25 IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS 11 HEALTH, SAFETY, AND SECURITY Safety and Security/Emergency On-Campus Health Services On-Campus Counseling Service BRAVE Wellness Committee Initiatives welcome Dear Parents, Welcome to the Bard College Parents Network. This handbook is your resource for information on all aspects of student life in Annandale, including policies, procedures, and important dates and phone numbers. As assistant director of development, parent programs, I am here to support you and answer any questions you have about Bard and your student’s undergraduate experience. I encourage you to take every opportunity the College affords to make your student’s years here the best experience possible. To that end, let me give you our list of the top 12 things to do during your tenure as a Bard parent. • Read our monthly e-newsletter just for parents, the Annandale Insider, for updates on everything going on at Bard—in Annandale and on our other campuses. • Watch for e-blasts and news releases from the Bard Parents Network. They contain important information about upcoming events on the Annandale campus and anywhere our worldwide Bard network is active. • Come to Family Weekend in October. Autumn in the Hudson Valley is beautiful, and the weekend offers a range of activities that provide a window into your student’s life at Bard, including guided nature walks, performances, meals, and the opportunity to take classes with Bard professors. • Volunteer to be a mentor for Bard Works, a weeklong career program for juniors and seniors held in January. Mentoring a Bard Works participant involves a Skype introduction and mock informational interview, résumé review, advice, introductions to colleagues, job-search strategy recommendations, and answers to specific field-related questions. You need not be on campus to volunteer. • Cheer on the Raptors at an athletic event. Bard has 18 intercollegiate sports programs and five club teams that participate in games, meets, and matches on campus and throughout the Northeast. • Attend a concert, play, or other arts event at Bard’s amazing Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Designed by Frank Gehry, the Fisher Center has been named one of the top college arts venues in the nation. Visit fishercenter.bard.edu to view the 2015–16 schedule of events. • Visit the recently renovated Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS Bard) Hessel Museum of Art, an exhibition and research center dedicated to the study of art and exhibition practices from the 1960s to the present. CCS Bard’s permanent collection of contemporary art includes over 3,000 works by more than 400 of the most prominent artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Each year the museum has several different exhibitions. • Attend the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities three-day conference, held annually in the fall. The conference topic changes each year. Past speakers have included Ralph Nader, Bernard Kouchner, and Richard Rodriguez. If you can’t be there in person, watch live at www.bard.edu/ hannaharendtcenter. • Attend one of the biannual Bard College Farm events: the Harvest Fest in the fall and the Farm Fest in the spring. At these events, Bard student farmers sell the fruits and vegetables they’ve been growing, along with extras such as honey from the farm’s beehives (they have three!) and maple syrup tapped from the sugar maple trees on Bard’s 500-acre campus. To top it off, both festivals include live music from Bard students. 2 the bard college parents handbook • Take a long weekend to tour the Hudson Valley. Visit one of the area’s historic estates: Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s home and the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, Mills Mansion in Staatsburg, Montgomery Place in Red Hook, Clermont in Germantown, and Bard’s Blithewood Mansion in Annandale-on-Hudson. Stroll through Hudson, Kingston, Rhinebeck, Tivoli, and Woodstock, five communities nearby that are rich in arts and culture and have a number of charming restaurants that serve delicious food grown and produced in the Hudson Valley. • Attend Commencement Weekend. Bard does an extraordinary job celebrating our undergraduate and graduate students. Because we are a small, rural college, Bard cultivates a strong sense of place, identity, and intimacy; these traits are most apparent at Commencement Weekend, when parents, students, alumni/ae, and friends gather to celebrate the completion of your student’s undergraduate academic career. • Make an annual gift to the Bard College Fund and, if you are able, join the Parents Advisory Council (PAC). Bard’s PAC is made up of dynamic, engaged, and supportive parents and guardians committed to enhancing and strengthening the Bard parent community, ensuring a rich and productive dialogue between parents and the College, supporting participation in and giving to the Bard College Fund, and assisting with College recruitment and mentoring of students. Once again, I welcome you to the Bard College community and look forward to working with you over your student’s years at the College. Please feel free to e-mail ([email protected]) or call me (845-758-7657) anytime. Sincerely, Hillary Henderson Assistant Director of Development, Parent Programs annandaleonline.org/parents 3 The Bard College Parents Network Parents Advisory Council The Parents Advisory Council (PAC) plays a leadership role in the Bard community by offering on-campus and regional recruiting and mentoring events, promoting and providing career opportunities for students, and through peer-to-peer fund-raising. PAC members contribute to the success of the Bard College Fund by making annual gifts of $1,500 or more. The council meets two times each year—once during Family Weekend and once in the spring at the Bard Graduate Center in New York City. PAC members receive • An invitation to meet with President Botstein during Family Weekend • Early notification of upcoming campus news and activities • Invitations to small, select, off-campus Bard events such as concerts, lectures, and salon evenings • Advance notice of Fisher Center ticket sales • Priority seating with the College president’s party during the Commencement ceremony Where Your Support Goes Parent contributions to the Bard College Fund are a vital component of ensuring that the College maintains a healthy financial position, and enable the College to enhance the educational experience for all Bard students. The Bard College Fund provides scholarship dollars to 68 percent of students, as well as access to the latest books, technology, and online resources for the entire student body. In addition, the fund sustains faculty development and retention, student life, and campus facilities. Contributions to Bard College, a registered 501c3 nonprofit organization, are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Visit annandaleonline.org/giving to learn about the various ways to make a gift. Ways to Get Involved Bard Works Bard Works is a professional development conference that prepares juniors and seniors for careers after they graduate. Parents, alumni/ae, staff, and friends of the College participate in panels, lead résumé and interview workshops, and much more. We welcome your ideas, time, and expertise. Assisting Office of Admission The experience and insights of Bard parents are especially valuable to the parents of prospective students. Each spring, the Office of Admission solicits volunteers to call parents of accepted students who are considering enrollment at the College. The Office of Admission also holds receptions throughout the year in various parts of the country that bring together President Botstein, prospective students, their families, and college counselors. Bard benefits from the generous community of parents who offer to host such events in their homes. If you are interested in being a caller or hosting an event, please contact Janet Stetson ’81, senior associate director of admission and coordinator of faculty/parent/alumni/ae relations, at [email protected] or 845-758-7472. 4 the bard college parents handbook campus life and resources Dining Services Bard has four locations where students can purchase hot meals, snacks, or groceries. Facilities include: Kline Commons, the main dining facility on campus; Down the Road Café at the Bertelsmann Campus Center; Manor House Café in the Ward Manor residence hall on North Campus; and the Green Onion Grocer at Kline Commons. Bard EATS (Eating Awareness Transforms Society) functions as an umbrella for all sustainability efforts pertaining to food as well as a platform to raise awareness about food and food issues on Bard’s campus. In addition to seasonal produce grown by students on the Bard College Farm and local apples and milk served on campus since 2007, our dining service offers local eggs, beef and chicken, produce, legumes, grains, organic bread, and fair-trade coffee.