News

Pavlina Tcherneva, president of the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College, spoke with Marketplace about the state of the national employment market. As the government shutdown has halted all nonessential operations, including the jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, economists turn to other available sources to gather data on the current labor market. Tcherneva says that although large firms, with 500 or more employees, added jobs last month, “this is such a small proportion of total employment, it makes no difference to the overall trends,” adding that 90% of employers have fewer than 100 workers. “It’s another look at the weakening labor market.”
 

Visiting Assistant Professor Daniel Wortel-London was interviewed about cities and private enterprise in the magazine Phenomenal World. As “the basic assumptions about what cities do and who they serve are undergoing a historic revision,” Wortel-London argues urban growth can be decoupled from private interests. Speaking with Kim Williams-Fein, he discussed the history of New York City’s five boroughs, and how the city's development politics over the decades now impact the current mayoral race: “Cities have more economic agency than they’re often given credit for and progressives like Mamdani, if he comes to office, have power to wield it.”

Wortel-London also discussed his new book The Menace of Prosperity, which tells the history of New York’s development in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Speaking about public options for city utilities and housing and the pushback to them, Wortel-London says this time period shows “fiscal crises and underdevelopment derive not only from the absence of growth, but also from its presence.”

Bard College student Nicole Meselsohn ’26 has been announced as a recipient of the Newman Civic Fellowship for 2025–26 by Campus Compact, a national coalition of colleges and universities working to advance the public purposes of higher education. The Fellowship is a yearlong program that recognizes students who stand out for their leadership potential and commitment to creating positive change in communities. Each fellow is nominated by their campus president or chancellor, who is invited to select one exemplary community-committed student from their campus each year.

“It is an honor to welcome this group of accomplished and dedicated students to the Newman Civic Fellowship,” said Campus Compact President Bobbie Laur. “As higher education faces unprecedented challenges, these students exemplify the power and possibility of civic and community engagement on campus. As they emerge as the leaders of tomorrow, we are proud that this fellowship will be part of their story.”

Meselsohn, a psychology major, leads Young Leaders: Women in Fire, a series of hands-on and presentation based workshops and training to show young girls in middle and high school that there is a place for them in the fire service. Meselsohn actively engages with the local community around Bard as a volunteer firefighter and NYS certified EMT. Deeply committed to serving her community, Meselsohn has participated in multiple community events including a Resilience Cafe, and was selected to attend Bard's prestigious annual Get Engaged Conference where she presented on her project to an international audience of youth leaders.

Founded in 1985, Campus Compact is the nation's largest and oldest national association dedicated to advancing the civic and community engagement mission of higher education. It empowers colleges and universities to advance their academic and civic missions by partnering with communities to address complex social issues and further equity, justice, and prosperity for all. Learn more at compact.org.