Russia says Soros-funded Bard College threatens its government
Russia has terminated its relationship with Bard College, which did have an affiliation with St. Petersburg State University.
George Soros' $500 million donation to Bard may have been a factor in the decision.
Bard College has become the first American higher education institution to be officially banned from Russia.
In June, the government placed it on the list of “undesirable” organizations, officially ending their relationship with the country.
This announcement came as a shock to Bard. The administrators are disappointed in the abrupt end to the program, which has given over 2,000 degrees to Russian and international students.
In a statement to The New York Times, Bard’s president Leon Botstein expressed his lament at these new developments, “If it doesn’t get reversed — because it’s a mistake — it will have a corrosive effect on any kind of scientific, cultural or educational cooperation.”
Bard administrators believe that this is the result of rising international tensions between the United States of America and Russia. Bard had also been attempting to scale up its program at St. Petersburg State University, according the Times report.
According to News 12 Brooklyn, Jonathan Becker, Bard College’s vice president of academic affairs, said, “We think it’s no coincidence that our name was added to the list just after the Biden/Putin summit, and immediately after, the U.S. had imposed additional sanctions on Russia...A second reason is that there’s internal politics within Russia, with their elections in September, and I think there’s a lot of posturing. And being anti-American is a very good posture to take.”
In June, the Russian government expanded their “undesirable organizations” law. This new expansion gave the government the ability to end relationships with NGOs they deemed a threat and forbid Russian citizens from working with them.
The Russian government was vague on their reasons behind cutting ties with Bard. Agency officials wrote, “Following the examination of materials … the Prosecutor General’s office decided to recognize the Bard College foreign-based educational NGO undesirable on the Russian territory. It has been determined that the NGO’s activity threatens the constitutional order and security of Russia.”
Although the Russian government gave no details as to why they targeted Bard, it is speculated, as The New York Times lays out, that the college’s strong ties with left-wing billionaire George Soros might be the reason.
Soros gave Bard a massive $500 million gift. In Russia, Soros is viewed as a progressive disruptor, which threatens to undermine the Russian nationalist government. Their close relationship with Soros, a figure already on Russia’s “undesirables” list, seems to be the likeliest reason behind the deterioration of their relationship with the Russian government.
Soros does have a long history of supporting progressive politics. He has funded Human Rights Watch and MoveOn. In June 2020, he donated $200 million to support “racial equality” during the height of the George Floyd protests. He is a noted supporter of the Black Lives Matter organization.
Soros’s famous Open Society University Network started in Jan 2020 with the goal of starting a university to fight authoritarianism and climate change. This university would be formed from a partnership between Bard College and Soros’s Central European University.
Hungary forced Soros to remove his Central European University due to his negative relationship with Viktor Orban.
Campus Reform reached out to Bard College for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
