Arendt Conference Explores Judgment Modern-day mass murder, genocide, and atrocity are the focus of the Hannah Arendt Center conference “Judgment in Extremis,” to be held in Berlin on May 16–17, inspired by the 50th anniversary of the publication of Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. Keynote speaker is Christoph Menke, professor of practical philosophy at Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main. Sponsored by ECLA of Bard: A Liberal Arts University in Berlin and the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, the gathering of artists, business people, academics, and intellectuals will debate such questions as, “How can we respond to great wrongs with judgments that help give meaning to our world?” “Can we justly respond to truly evil and enormous crimes through law?” and “What is judgment, especially in the face of inhuman wrongs?” According to Roger Berkowitz, academic director of the Arendt Center and associate professor of political studies and human rights at Bard, “Arendt famously addresses the question of how to respond to great wrongs in her report. In Eichmann in Jerusalem, Arendt never doubts the glacial reality of Eichmann’s wrongs; she does insist, however, that legal judgment was an inarticulate response to extraordinary wrongs.” Berkowitz points out that Arendt’s book caused controversy for all the wrong reasons. “The truly radical claim in her book is that great crimes require extraordinary judgments—judgments that
“Bard Works” Tackles Life after College Thirty-five juniors and seniors imagined their dream careers—and how to get there—during Bard Works, a weeklong, mentor-based professional development program aimed at preparing students for life after Bard. Students met with mentors in a variety of fields including the arts, law, publishing, teaching, and business in a series of sessions, held both on the Annandale campus and in New York City, where the key was individualized attention. More than 29 alumni/ae spoke on panels or ran workshops along with staff and friends of Bard. Sponsored by the Center for Civic Engagement, Career Development Office, Bard–St. Stephen’s Alumni/ae Association, and the Office of Student Affairs, participants heard June Stoddard, president and consultant, JS Executive Search, and parent of Chloe and Jessica Chappe ’16, discuss “How to Interview” in a workshop with her sister Eloise Stoddard-Levitt, a corporate education consultant. Cinta Conti-Cook ’03, associate attorney, civil rights and criminal defense, Stoll, Glickman & Bellina LLP, and other panelists discussed “Legal Careers and What to Do with a Law Degree.” Conti-Cook described her journey to become a prisoners’ civil rights attorney, emphasizing that she was inspired by her work as a student with the Bard Prison Initiative. Taking part in a seminar about “Artists and Entrepreneurs” were Crichton Atkinson ’05, video artist and codirector, Nothing Space; Joel Clark ’05, screenwriter and musician; Richard Frumess, founder and owner, R&F Paints; Galen Joseph-Hunter ’96, executive director, Free103point9 / WGXC 90.7 FM; Kale Kaposhilin ’99, managing director and producer, Evolving Media Network; and Caitlin Kaposhilin ’03, former content specialist and music reviewer, Pump Audio 6. All the panelists stressed the role Bard played in forming their careers, and that the groups they had been part of at Bard were like none other since. They encouraged students to “make things happen” with their friends and faculty while at Bard and take advantage of all available opportunities. Each speaker had examples of group creativity from her or his time at Bard, such as Olde English, a comedy troupe Clark helped start, or Kale Kaposhilin’s multimedia arts cooperative—both of which continued after graduation. Dylan Byers ’09, blogger, Politico, and Gaia Filicori ’09, senior public relations manager, Condé Nast Traveler, were among those who helmed a panel on “Journalism, Writing, and Publications.” At a session on business and finance, three alums—Anna Neverova ’07, associate director, UBS AG, corporate lend-
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Tech Meet-Up Joins Alumni/ae Day
cannot address the legality or illegality of the wrongs,” he says. “If law seeks to judge Eichmann’s compliance with rules or to assess his moral character— whether he had a guilty mind—Arendt insists that extreme cases demand, rather, a judgment that asks: Ought we to reconcile ourselves to the world as it is with Eichmann in it? She answers that we cannot justly live in a world in which someone like Eichmann continues to live.” In February, the Arendt Center sponsored “Why Fixing Wall Street and the Economy Is Critical to the World,” with journalist Matt Taibbi ’92 and Sandy Lewis—the ex–Wall Street broker who now runs Lewis Family Farm, the only USDA–certified grass-fed organic farm in the nation. The Arendt Center’s next conference, “The Educated Citizen: Can Education Save Politics?” is scheduled for October 3–4. The conference will examine how the most literate society of all time has produced politically uneducated citizens, and asks whether we can educate our youth to be politically engaged. The center’s mission is to think through contemporary ethical and political questions in the spirit of Hannah Arendt. Past speakers have included the founder of Médicins Sans Frontières, Bernard Kouchner; maverick inventor Ray Kurzweil; the irreverent journalist Christopher Hitchens; activist and presidential candidate Ralph Nader; businessman Hunter Lewis; author Zadie Smith; and essayist Lewis Lapham. For more information about the conference and the Arendt Center, go to http://bard.edu/hannaharendtcenter. ing; Leslie Chen ’09, associate, PwC Consulting, financial services; and Lucas Pipes ’08, vice president/senior analyst, Brean Murray, Carret & Co.—advised students to be prepared to prove everything that’s on their résumés, research the employers, dress appropriately, and be careful of what they say on social media—because it will be scrutinized. Michelle Dunn Marsh ’95, design and publishing consultant and president, Bard–St. Stephen’s Alumni/ae Association, addressed “Planning a Career After the First Job”; while the cofounders of Greene County’s Greene Bee Greenhouse, Briana Davis ’03 and Eli JosephHunter ’00, were panelists at a session covering green business. “Government and NGOs” took center stage in a career panel featuring Pia Carusone ’03, executive director of Americans for Responsible Solutions; Alysha Glenn ’09, development officer, Human Rights Watch; and Anna Pycior ’09, communications associate, Demos: Ideas and Action; while Dan Wilbur ’09, comedian, writer, and performer, described in “Social Networking and Promoting Your Brand” how he stretched his comfort zone while he was a student by performing his stand-up material at open mic events where he knew no one. In “Entrepreneurship and Engagement,” Peter DeBartolo ’07, director of administration for the Levermore Global Scholars Program, Adelphi University, asked, “How can we do good in the world, but still remain financially stable?” DeBartolo said that while the 20th century was dominated by technical problems, the 21st is defined by “adaptive problems” that don’t have clear-cut solutions and require different skills. The top ten jobs most in demand in 2010 were entirely different from those that existed in 2004. “We need to prepare people to create their own solutions, distinguish themselves in the workplace, and make a difference,” he said. “Bard Works drew upon the breadth and depth of Bard’s vast network, and highlighted for students just how much the Bard community at large cares about their success,” said Erin Cannan, associate director for the Center for Civic Engagement and dean of student affairs. “One consequence of this first Bard Works program was the tremendous outpouring of support and good will from all corners of that network. From Bard parent mentors, who were assigned to guide all student participants, to panels filled with alumni/ae, Bard Works provided a foundation for students to take their education to the next level—finding a rewarding and flourishing career. Students could not stop talking about how much the connections they made alleviated their job search anxiety, knowing that so many people were interested in their achievement.”
Top: Kate Hartman ’03. Bottom, from left: Eric Hoffman ’94, Ross Shain ’91, and Bradford Reed ’93. photos Karl Rabe
The Bard–St. Stephen’s Alumni/ae Association, the College’s Computer Science Program, and Career Development Office (CDO) collaborated on a panel about new technology during the annual Alumni/ae Day. The Tech Meet-Up panel consisted of seven young alumni/ae who are in very different areas of work but who all use technology to achieve their artistic and professional goals. The panel included Kate Hartman ’03, an artist, technologist, and educator with a B.A. in film and electronic arts. Her work, in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, spans the fields of physical computing, wearable electronics, and conceptual art. Her projects include “Botanicalls,” which lets thirsty plants place phone calls for human help, and “Lilypad XBee,” devices to enable clothing to communicate. Michael Walker ’11 got his B.A. in computer science; worked at Zynga, where he helped launch the Facebook version of the game Words with Friends; and founded Scribe, a webbased tool to help composers create and publish sheet music. Also a computer science major, Jacqueline Bow ’10 is malicious code analyst at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where she conducts in-depth research on malware, applying the results to problems involving national cybersecurity. Rebecca Bray ’98, manager of interaction design and strategy for the Smithsonian Institution, creates digital tools that allow visitors to participate in the scientific process. Her Bard degree was in sociology. Also on hand were Eric Hoffman ’94, founder and creative director of a multidisciplinary graphic design studio; Ross Shain ’91, film software designer and chief marketing officer for Imagineer Systems; and composer, performer, producer, and instrument inventor Bradford Reed ’93. Alumni/ae Day ended with the annual men’s basketball Alumni Games, featuring two matches: alumni versus the varsity team and alumni versus alumni; a reception in the new Alumni/ae Center; and the chance to admire an exhibition of vintage Bard drama and dance posters from the collection of Professor of Dance Jean Churchill and Bard’s longtime drama/dance technical director and “den mother” Natalie Lunn.
Green Vehicle Expo Comes to Bard Means of transport powered by electricity, grease, and even human muscle were on display during Bard’s Green Vehicle Expo. Visitors checked out the plugin hybrids Chevy Volt (which they could test drive) and minicar Spark, an allelectric Nissan Leaf, a grease-powered van, and 1972 Triumph Spitfire with electric conversion. Also on hand during the event, sponsored by the Bard Center for Environmental Policy and Bard Office of Sustainability, were vehicles owned by Zipcar, a membership-based, car-sharing company with a location on campus. Transportation on two wheels was represented by Bard’s bicycle co-op. A panel discussion, “An Addiction to Cars: Air Quality and Policy Challenges in the U.S. Transportation Sector,” featured green transportation experts. “We were excited to have this conversation at Bard with panelists ranging from academia to industry to government, from New York City to the Hudson Valley to Albany,” says Molly Williams CEP ’08, assistant director of graduate admissions and alumni/ae affairs at the Bard Center for Environmental Policy. “I came away with a sense that we are making real progress through stricter vehicle emissions standards, policy leadership in New York City, and electric vehicles hitting the mainstream again. This is very encouraging, given that we live in a carcentric society. Greening transportation is a win-win-win for public health, the environment, and lessening our dependence on fossil fuels.” Panel speakers were Andrew Bata, chief for strategic improvements and best practices, Metropolitan Transit Authority/New York City Transit; Keith Kerman, deputy commissioner for New York City Department of Citywide Administrative
Examining cars at the Green Vehicle Expo. photo Karl Rabe
Services and New York City’s first chief fleet officer; Mark Lytle, Lyford Paterson Edwards and Helen Gray Edwards Professor of Historical Studies and coordinator of Bard’s Environmental and Urban Studies Program; John Maserjian, director of media relations for Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corp.; and Adam Ruder, associate project manager for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Eban Goodstein, director of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy and of the Bard MBA in Sustainability, moderated.
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