VC volunteers beloved by Bard's Botstein

Community Works Special
From restoring historical houseware to lending a hand over at Bard to their Renaissance Man president, Community Works is hard at work for the Hudson Valley. This week, the Backpage takes a closer look at Vassar’s lesser-known contributions to the community.

Leon Botstein President, Bard College

In between my tours with the American Symphony Orchestra, writing columns for the New Republic, my bi-weekly bridge games with Nancy Kissinger and Thomas Friedman, my work towards a viable peace plan in the Middle East, my campaigning for John Kerry, and yogalates, I fill my free time by administering a small liberal arts college in the collar bone of the Hudson Valley. I like to think of Bard as my get-away, my hideout, my own little slice of heaven where Joseph Epstein and I can get a drink without having seven goddamned photos of us taken between the time we order our cosmos and when we send them back just because Joe likes to see the waiters squirm.

Of course, things aren’t so easy here. I mean, being president of Bard certainly isn’t rocket science (which I also do), but it’s no piece of cake either. There’s a great deal to be done up here and that’s why I write to thank Vassar for her Community Works Volunteers. Every day during Vassar’s fundraising campaign, I get three volunteers from Vassar (or as we like to call her, our kid sister down the river).

After all, it seems that every day a new problem arises—and boy, do those kids from Vassar ever help out. On Monday, I was meeting with representatives of the Asian Sculpture Studies Department and the Bard Center for Theater and Economics. There was a fight between the two department heads; I’m sure you can imagine what about. I was working on a tight schedule and making no headway when disaster struck: my secretary came running into my office to tell me that the new Frank Gehry Concert Hall was sinking. Apparently, we had built the damn thing on a swamp.

I had a paintball game with the editors of Commentary in ten minutes, and I’d need at least half an hour to design and single-handedly build a new foundation for the concert hall. That’s when I remembered Community Works. Not five minutes after calling that triumvirate of intrepid (if dim-witted) volunteers up to Annandale, they were restraining the feisty department heads and struggling under the weight of the beautiful, collapsing concert hall. More importantly, I made it to paintball on time!

In the end, what I took from my experience with Vassar’s Community Works Volunteers was a reminder of how valuable volunteer work really is. Even if they sustained a few injuries maybe even one fatality (old Frank and his crazy designs) these kids represent the pioneering spirit of our nation. After all, what makes America so great is our willingness as a people to pitch in and give our all. Like I do for Chautauqua and Dissent.