Bard College at Simon’s Rock closes

The closure of Bard’s campus at Simon’s Rock has left faculty facing an uncertain future.

Photo courtesy of the Berkshire Eagle

Bard College at Simon’s Rock closes

GREAT BARRINGTON — An online petition by a student trying to save the livelihoods of Bard College at Simon’s Rock faculty has gained 912 signatures since it was first released on Tuesday, Nov 19.

And another student is working on a campaign to establish a fund that employees of the school who lose jobs and health insurance can draw from.

After the Nov. 19 announcement that the school would close its early college at the end of spring semester, employees and students have been grappling with the news, attending frequent meetings and trying to help those whose jobs are likely on the chopping block.

There is much sorrow, anger and frustration in the atmosphere, students said.

“It’s been really, really sad,” said Isabella Zeisset, 18, a sophomore, who started the Change.org petition asking Bard to renew faculty contracts. “The students are really worried about the faculty.”

Numerous faculty contacted by The Eagle said it is too early to talk about what’s happening.

And, the students said, it is also too painful. Many longtime faculty and staff at the school are facing layoffs as the school moves its entire operation to Bard’s new Massena Campus at Annandale-On-Hudson, N.Y.

It’s a move that Bard has been mulling for several years.

Bard said in its announcement and on its website that faculty positions will not be transferred from Simon’s Rock, and that they have to apply anew for any available teaching slots.

A spokesperson for Bard has not answered specific questions the number of positions at the New York campus, about 40 miles southwest of Great Barrington.

Rumors are flying through campus about these numbers, students and other sources told The Eagle. The Bard website showed roughly 50 job openings as of Thursday evening.

A Simon’s Rock spokesperson said the school currently has 238 employees. It was unclear exactly how many staff and faculty may lose their jobs.

Those who do get rehired at Bard could lose seniority in terms of benefits. It will be up to the discretion of Bard, the website says.
For these reasons and more the announcement on Tuesday rattled the entire campus and town, given Simon’s Rock’s immense economic and cultural significance in town since the 1960s.

School officials cited declining enrollment as a primary reason.

Students who continue on will transfer to the new Bard campus in the fall to finish their studies. Summer housing will be available “on a limited basis and prioritized for students with the greatest need,” the school website says.

The school is one of Great Barrington’s largest employers. And over the decades its students have worked and shopped at businesses in town. Many returned to the town later to raise families and open businesses.

“It’s a huge deal,” said Erik Bruun, who owns SoCo Creamery downtown and has employed Simon’s Rock Students. “And once you start pulling back the layers of the impacts, [the closing] really almost affects every element of the community. It’s a great loss.”
“The school made a big difference,” Bruun said, “in a lot of people’s lives.”

But Bruun, who wrote about the school in the 1980s when he worked as an Eagle reporter, remembers that the school has long struggled with money.

“It was sort of touch and go in the 80s,” Bruun said. And apparently also for the last “several years,” according to the school’s website.

The school’s board of overseers and college administration “have been working to find a solution for a path forward for Simon’s Rock … after it became clear that the current state of enrollment and fundraising was not sustainable”

The school, as a nonprofit, did not pay property taxes and has not made any payments in lieu of taxes, according to the town.

Another big question is what will happen to the campus. It will be sold, but the question is to whom and for what. Great Barrington residents have floated a variety of ideas, such as affordable housing and even as the new location for a Monument Mountain Regional High School, which could cost around $140 million to rebuild.

In response to questions, Bard spokeswomen Liz Benjamin said that there are no offers currently on the table to buy the campus or any part of it.

The Kilpatrick Athletic Center will carry on with its regular programming through the end of summer. “More information will be shared as it becomes available,” she said.

The Daniel Arts Center, Benjamin added, “will honor all performances and rental agreements through the end of 2025 summer season.”

There are various other campus programs, including a farming program, whose fate is uncertain.

Bard has not responded to the the student petition. Benjamin said that school officials are aware of it, and that “this situation is developing, but faculty and staff will have the opportunity to apply for positions at the new campus.”

Some petition supporters expressed their concerns and anger in comments.

“Shameful,” wrote one. “The school knew full well and hid this from us when our daughter started a few months ago. At the least they should offer the teachers the new jobs and allow all students to enter Bard full time ASAP.”

“The faculty at the Rock,” wrote another, “are the school’s heart and soul. I was there twenty years ago and can attest to the lifelong impact of the incredible professors I had back then.”

The petition’s author, Zeisset, said she has “deep connection” to the school. Her parents met at Simon’s Rock when they were students. She will continue to Bard next fall, but worries about the employees and faculty here. She hopes the petition will help pressure Bard to hire them.

“A lot have dedicated half their lives to Simon’s Rock,” Zeisset said. “Just the idea of leaving their life’s work behind has been really difficult.”

Salem Lockney, a junior, said she’s working on the fundraising aspect of this for the employees. A professor is helping her figure out the “ethics” conundrum of who would be able to draw money from a fund and how much.

“I’m not sure what that looks like yet,” said Lockney, 18, who also attended the pre-college Simon’s Rock Academy. “I have so much anger about the whole thing and I wanted to do something about it.”

“The staff and faculty,” Lockney said, “have really changed my life.”

Latest News

Legal Notices - May 8, 2025

BAUER FUND AND FOUNDATION COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS

Through grants to colleges, The Bauer Foundation provides indirect scholarship assistance for undergraduate college education to students residing in The Connecticut Regional School District One based on merit and need.

Keep ReadingShow less
Classifieds - May 8, 2025

Help Wanted

A Plus Detailing Hiring: Open position for a Full Detailer & Cleaner. Depending on experience $21 to $30 per hour. Contact Ryan at 959-228-1010.

Driver: For The Lakeville Journal and Millerton News newspaper routes, part time Wednesdays, Thursdays and some Fridays. Call James Clark. 860-435-9873, x 401 or email publisher@
lakevillejournal.com.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Hydrilla Menace: Twin Lakes group buoyed by DEEP’s assault on invasive hydrilla in 2025

A detail of a whorl of hydrilla pulled from the shallow waters at O’Hara’s Landing Marina in fall of 2024.

Photo by Debra A. Aleksinas

SALISBURY — The Twin Lakes Association is taking an earlier and more aggressive approach to fighting the spread of invasive hydrilla in East Twin Lake by dosing the whole northeast bay, from May through October, with low-level herbicide treatments instead of spot treatments.

The goal, said Russ Conklin, the TLA’s vice president of lake management, is to sustain herbicide concentration over the 2025 growing season.

Keep ReadingShow less
Home field advantage holds true for Webutuck softball and baseball

Olivia Wickwire, no. 2, tags out a runner at first base. The Webutuck Warriors varsity softball team beat the Germantown Clippers 14-7 at home Friday, April 25.

Photo by Nathan Miller

AMENIA — Webutuck girls varsity softball beat visiting Germantown 14-7 Friday, April 25.


Keep ReadingShow less