Word: bard
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...with a library of 66,000 books, Bard can be no center of research. Yet, for a college its size, the collection is considerable. For undergraduate work it is quite sufficient. During the last year the circulation has increased from 62 books per student per year...
Those individuals who do go to Bard find themselves in the midst of an extra-ordinarily beautiful campus. But Bard presents an unimpressive physical plant. The girls' dormitories and one of the boys dormitories are excellent, both roomy and comfortable. Most of the men, however, live in barracks--wooden structures put up temporarily after the war and never replaced. The science building is very fine, but the old structure where most of the classes are held and where most administration offices are located is horrible. An offensive odor pervades the place and the stairs creak menacingly. The theatre is miniscule...
Students are initiated into the Bard discusion-seminar method of education through what is called the "Common Course." This is a sort of natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities course rolled into one. President James H. Case, Jr., Princeton '29, describes the purpose of the Common Course as "to catch these people before they know any better and to work their tails off." According to Case the educational process at Bard starts when the student develops a significant question. The role of the teacher at this point is to needle the student into making the necessary effort to work...
Thus, although Bard has succeeded perhaps best in the education it offers per sc, it faces serious problems here too. Because of its extremely small size and limited resources it can not attract too many outstanding men for its faculty. The same is true for its student body, though it is of an extremely high calibre...
Despite its natural appeal, the present buildings are depressing and Bard finds itself completely unprepared comfortably to house and provide adequate classrooms for its present students, let alone providing for the increase in numbers it expects and finds necessary to achieve in the next few years...