The'' Bard Free Press'' (the ''Free Press'') was a monthly

college newspaper A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also repo ...

published by students of

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

, a private

liberal arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...

college in

Annandale-on-Hudson, New York Annandale-on-Hudson is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet in Dutchess County, New York, United States, located in the Hudson Valley town of Red Hook, New York, Red Hook, across the Hudson River from Kingston, New York, Kingston. The hamlet consists main ...

. The paper has a circulation of about 2,000 and was the only printed student newspaper at Bard. The paper was founded in 2000, by former student editors of ''The Observer'', Bard's original college newspaper. The'' Free Press'' and the ''Bard Observer'' merged in 2008. The ''Free Press'' ceased publishing in 2020, in the wake of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The ''Bard Observer,'' which had gone dormant in the wake of the 2008 merger with the ''Free Press'', was reestablished in 2023. Issues of'' The Free Press'' were not organized according to traditional categories, sections, or columns. The'' Free Press'' was run entirely by

undergraduates Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

, and had no faculty advisor. All decisions on its content and operations are made by editors. The newspaper did not accept outside advertisements or announcements from student clubs or programs. The newspaper was financed through Bard's Convocation Fund, a collective percentage of each student's tuition. Like all charter clubs at the college, the paper's budget was determined annually by the elected student body, and cannot be reduced during the biannual budget forum. In 2013, the'' Bard Free Press'' won a Best in Show title from the

Associated Collegiate Press The Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) is the largest and oldest national membership organization for college student media in the United States. The ACP is a division of the National Scholastic Press Association. It awards the newspaper, maga ...

. In 2014, the ''Free Press ''received first place for design and second place for feature story by the New York Press Association awards.

History

The first issue of the ''Bard Free Press'' was printed on March 14, 2000. At the time, another student newspaper already existed, ''The Observer'', which had been a campus publication since 1961. According to ''the Free Press'' Mission of Purpose, the paper "was founded by former members of the ''Bard Observer'' staff––the managing editor, section editors and contributors––who were dissatisfied with the quality of student journalism at Bard." Initially, the ''Free Press'' focused on world news, U.S. politics, and student editorials. In 2003,

SPIN Magazine ''Spin'' (stylized in all caps as ''SPIN'') is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. ...

recognized'' ''the'' Free Press'' as the “Best Campus Publication” in their First Annual SPIN Campus Awards. The'' Free Press'' merged with ''the Observer ''in 2008, in conjunction with a major redesign that departed from a traditional tabloid format.

Format

The Free Press began as a newspaper, then shifted towards a tabloid format. In March 2016, the Free Press became a glossy magazine. Beginning in February 2017, the publication abandoned recurring columns and sections in favor of a more fluid structure that varied issue by issue. The paper was published once a month, and distributed throughout Bard's campus, and nearby towns Tivoli and

Red Hook, New York Red Hook is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 9,953 at the time of the 2020 census, down from 11,319 in 2010. The name is supposedly derived from the red foliage on trees on a small strip of land on the H ...

References

{{Bard college Bard College Student newspapers published in New York (state) Educational institutions established in 2000 2000 establishments in New York (state)