Bard has 3 early options: Early Decision, Early Action, and Immediate Decision. Obviously one can apply to only one college Early Decision, and that is binding. And I see that Bard states it “strongly discourages” applicants from applying Immediate Decision to Bard and Early Decision somewhere else. But what about Early Action? Imagine one wants to apply to a “reach” college Early Decision but also loves Bard and would go to Bard if the other school rejected them. Is it a problem to apply non-binding Early Action to Bard and Early Decision somewhere else? Obviously the Early Decision would be binding, but if you got rejected or deferred, how awesome to find out at the same time that you got into Bard!
I don’t see why that would be a problem. Early Action just means you get the application in earlier and hear sooner. There’s also nothing wrong with just applying via Regular Decision!