The Center for Ethics and Writing, an initiative of Bard College’s Written Arts Program, reimagines the study of literature and writing as both an academic and social practice, one that asks students to translate the skills they develop in the classroom as critical readers and writers to some of the most pressing and divisive social issues of the moment. Through a growing consortium of Center-supported courses, the Center provides a critical framework for students to understand the role language plays in shaping our public discourse and what roles they, as students, citizens, scholars and writers, can play in creating narratives that offer a more complex and dynamic representation of their environment.

Faculty and students in Center-supported courses address a broad range of social and political concerns through a creative and critical practice that prioritizes complexity and an interrogation of competing, even opposing perspectives. They are asked to consider the relationship between moral ambiguity and ethical representation, and at the end of each semester have the opportunity to publish the work produced in their courses in the Center’s online journal. In addition, the Center is working with Pen America’s Artist at Risk Connection to develop a non-residency international fellow’s program for writers and artists whose work has come under direct threat. Faculty and students in Center-supported courses are invited to read, work, translate, and when possible work directly with the Center’s fellows.

The Center for Ethics and Writing is made possible through the Booth Ferris Foundation.