Talking with my good friend and fellow alum Sameer Agrawal, I learned that my old school and first home away from home, Simon's Rock College of Bard, will be changing its name. It has used a variety of names over the decades, and the newest one will be "Bard College at Simon's Rock." Apparently a lot of alumni are upset, and that's understandable. Many alumni spent their most formative years there, and I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that a disproportionately large amount of my growing-up occurred in Great Barrington. We want it to remain a time capsule because its painful to imagine otherwise. But change is inevitable, and in this case we must ask ourselves that age-old question: What's in a name?
We know that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and surely the same will be true of Simon's Rock; it will remain the place we've loved. But I will go on to say that the name change will make the college a more attractive rose. I think back to my very first contact with the school: I received a small blue postcard in the mail asking me to apply to the Acceleration to Excellence Program. I took one look at it, saw the name "Simon's Rock," and threw it in the recycling. I threw away my first message from the school purely on account of its name. By that point in my life I had already distanced myself from my Christian upbringing, and I didn't want to attend a Christian school. Fortunately my mother came across the card and did a little investigation at the public library. I count her recovery of that little blue card as the most fortuitous event in my life, and as an A.A. recipient, a Dolliver R.A., and a yearbook editor I'd like to think that it was fortuitous for SRC too.
But it didn't need to come down to that. Had "Bard College at Simon's Rock" been written on the card I probably wouldn't have recycled it. And I'm betting a similar story has unfolded many times without such an improbable intervention. How many excellent students have we missed because of our misleading name? Maybe some market research could tell us, and I don't know if there have been polls or surveys conducted. I hope so because the school should always be making the most informed decisions. For me, an alum with no official say in the matter, my personal experience is more than enough. I can embrace 'BC@SR' wholeheartedly.
Make no mistake: I wouldn't be so supportive of just any new nomination. I support this move because I think the board has selected an excellent name. Unlike the old "Bard College of Simon's Rock," the newly-minted "Bard College at Simon's Rock" quite elegantly leaves the place-name alone. That bit of land off of Alford Road—that place full of winding wooded trails, that place with a well loved community garden, that place with mismatched buildings, that place where we did so much growing up, that place that was every bit as important as the formal lessons taught there—that place remains 'Simon's Rock.' The academic institution located there is taking the name of Bard College, but it's at Simon's Rock, and the new name makes no bones about it.
5 comments:
Your views on BC@CR have gone a long way to convince my parents and I that this school might be right for me.
I had some questions about your experience. Do you feel that you could easily flow into the next part of your life after this? Did you find it easy to get scholarships after Bard? How about while you were there?
There are the claims on the website, and what the testimonials given, but how much aid is available to students? Is it consistent for all the years, or piled on for the newcomers?
Maybe you could also tell me more of the social aspect of the school as well.
Thanks,
Ned
Ned, I have to level with you about the finances first off: I was a lucky recipient of one of the Acceleration to Excellence Program's full scholarships. In that position, I wasn't very observant of other scholarship opportunities. I will say that only a couple of my friends won scholarships while they were there, but since several of my closest friends we're also on AEP money, I'm not a good weathervane for this matter. I guess the good advice is to not count on anything that you don't have going in.
Fortunately, I can tell you that I was able to flow comfortably from Simon's Rock into the next phase (which for me happened to be a very happy two years at UW–Madison, a school 100 times larger than the Rock). I did have trouble with scholarships, but I later learned that this was mostly because I applied as a transfer student. If I had applied as a freshman (and later transferred in my credits like AP credits), most schools would probably have offered me all the same financial opportunities as John Smith coming out of Central High. If you take this course, do recognize that the issue is that your record will be a bit confusing (and keeping your GPA at 4.0 will be much harder), but some choice essays and some phone calls to make sure they understand what an awesome education you've had can go a long way.
The social aspect is a hard thing to sum up. It's certainly a multifaceted place. While I could probably have recognized every single face on campus, there are certainly people you don't know. That's said, if your perfect match is there (romantic or platonic), you'll probably find them through classes and mutual friends. Four hundred actually seems to be a really fabulous number in that sense. It'd be hard not find some good friends by the end of the first semester (unless you don't want any, and in which case you could find some other people who don't want friends either).
I suspect you've figured out that the school's population leans heavily to the left, politically speaking. Not to many people under 19 have strong economic views, so most of the political concerns revolve around social issues, particularly around issues of sexual orientation and identity. As in the larger world, those with the most extreme views (PETA, Evangelical preachers, etc.) shout the loudest. Sometimes Simon's Rock seems pretty charged. Really, the studies come first and a few rowdy political demonstrations get squeezed in when someone has time. They're easy to find if you like 'em. They're easy to avoid if you don't. I guess the same could be said for drugs and alcohol. The dorms are pretty dry. I neither had nor saw an alcoholic beverage on campus. I know I could have found one if I had gone looking.
Ned, I haven't had face-to-face contact with one of my peers for over two years now, but I do stay in touch with several former Rockers, and I consider them to be among by best friends. It's a pretty neat bunch of people that show up at that place. If the finances work out for you (and I hope they do), I'm sure you'll find at Simon's Rock some of the best classmates, best study-buddies, and best friends you'll ever know.
Hi, this is Ned again,
I don't have an email by which to contact you, so I am forced to resort to a redundant blog comment.
Partially because of your advice, I have continued to pursue my application to BC@SR. Today I received a letter from the college, inviting me to AEP day.
I'd like to thank you again for your advice and encouragement
Ned
Sorry, Ned. My email address is my first and middle name at Gmail dot com. (ie. JxxxxLxxxx@gxxxx.com, if that makes sense to you) Other potential Rockers who happen upon this page are welcome to email me as well.
And congratulations, of course!
Post a Comment