Barnard College: A Legacy of Liberal Arts Education for Women

Barnard College, a private women's liberal arts college in New York City, stands as a testament to the enduring importance of women's education. Founded in 1889, it has a rich history intertwined with Columbia University, offering students a unique academic experience. This article explores the degrees offered at Barnard College, its historical context, its affiliation with Columbia University, and the various aspects of student life that make it a distinctive institution.

The Genesis of Barnard College

The story of Barnard College begins with a vision to provide women with access to higher education equivalent to that offered to men. In the late 19th century, Columbia University did not admit women to its undergraduate programs. Annie Nathan Meyer, a young student activist, spearheaded a movement to challenge this exclusion. She and a group of like-minded women petitioned Columbia University's trustees to establish an affiliated college for women, named in honor of Frederick A. P. Barnard, Columbia's president who had advocated for coeducation.

Frederick A. P. Barnard, a deaf American educator and mathematician, served as Columbia's president for over twenty years. He believed in coeducational settings and proposed in 1879 that Columbia admit women, but Columbia's Board of Trustees repeatedly rejected Barnard's suggestion. In 1883, however, they agreed to create a syllabus that would allow the college's students to receive degrees. The first such graduate received her bachelor's degree in 1887.

Barnard College was officially established in 1889, marking a significant step forward for women's education. It was founded with the bold vision of creating a liberal arts college for women. Ever since, the College has pushed generations of Barnard women to think critically about what it means to be a woman, a scholar, and a leader.

Campus and Location

When Columbia University announced in 1892 its impending move to Morningside Heights, Barnard built a new campus nearby with gifts from Mary E. Brinckerhoff, Elizabeth Milbank Anderson and Martha Fiske. The college's 4-acre (1.6 ha) campus is located in the Upper Manhattan neighborhood of Morningside Heights, stretching along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets.

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Two of these gifts were made with several stipulations attached. Brinckerhoff insisted that Barnard acquire land within 1,000 feet of the Columbia campus within the next four years. The Barnard trustees purchased land between 119th-120th Streets after receiving funds for that purpose in 1895. Anderson requested that Charles A. Rich be hired. Rich designed the Milbank, Brinckerhoff, and Fiske Halls, built in 1897-1898; these were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The first classes at the new campus were held in 1897. The college received the three blocks south of 119th Street from Anderson in 1903. Rich provided a master plan for the campus, but only Brooks Hall was built, being constructed between 1906 and 1908. None of Rich's other plans was carried out.

Academic Programs and Degrees

Barnard College offers Bachelor of Arts degree programs in about 50 areas of study. Students are encouraged to take advantage of interdisciplinary learning through exploring more than 50 fields of study in the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, and arts. The college's curriculum, Foundations, responds to students' curiosity and adapts to their interests. It’s interdisciplinary, so students might discover a fascination for a subject they never considered before. Whether students are writing a paper, choreographing a dance, or researching in the lab, their senior project is a capstone for the work they’ve done in their major.

The liberal arts general education requirements are collectively called Foundations. Students must take two courses in the sciences (one of which must be accompanied by a laboratory course), study a single foreign language for two semesters, and take two courses in the arts/humanities as well as two in the social sciences.

In addition to Columbia, students may also pursue elements of their education at the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Jewish Theological Seminary which are also based in New York City. Joint programs for the bachelor of science and other degrees exist with Columbia University, Juilliard School, and the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Some of the most popular majors at Barnard include: Psychology, Computer Science, Neuroscience and Behavior, Political Science, and English. The most popular majors at Barnard College include: Research and Experimental Psychology, Other; Econometrics and Quantitative Economics; Computer Science; Neuroscience; Political Science and Government, General; English Language and Literature, General; Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology; History, General; International Policy Analysis; and Anthropology, General.

Barnard aims to empower high-achieving young women with the highest-quality liberal arts education, providing the unmatched advantages of a fully residential college in a long-standing partnership with a large research university, Columbia University. Barnard is a community of accessible faculty members and dedicated students who embark collaboratively on a journey of intellectual risk-taking and discovery. The small, personal, and close-knit character of Barnard is augmented by Columbia’s resources, allowing students to benefit from both an all-women and a coeducational experience.

Barnard will push you in ways you didn’t know you could be pushed. Professors will force you to think about life in ways that you didn’t know existed. At Barnard, you can take a summer, a semester, or a year abroad.

Affiliation with Columbia University

Barnard College's relationship with Columbia University is unique and complex. While Barnard is legally and financially separate from Columbia with an independent faculty and board of trustees, it is also an affiliated institution that is a faculty of the university. Both the college and Columbia evaluate Barnard faculty for tenure; in other words, a Barnard tenured professor is a Columbia tenured professor.

Barnard students wear the same graduation gown as undergraduates from Columbia College, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the School of General Studies, and their degrees are conferred during the University Commencement ceremony. Barnard students participate in the academic, social, athletic and extracurricular life of the broader university community on a reciprocal basis. The affiliation permits the two schools to share some academic resources; for example, only Barnard has an urban studies and dance department and only Columbia has a computer science department. Most Columbia classes are open to Barnard students and vice versa. Barnard students and faculty are represented in the University Senate, and student organizations such as the Columbia Daily Spectator are open to all students.

Columbia president William J. McGill predicted in 1970, that Barnard College and Columbia College would merge within five years. After Barnard rejected later merger proposals from Columbia and a one-year extension to the 1973 agreement expired, in 1977, the two schools began discussing their future relationship. By 1979, the relationship had so deteriorated that Barnard officials stopped attending meetings.

Because of an expected decline in enrollment, in 1980 a Columbia committee recommended that Columbia College begin admitting women without Barnard's cooperation. A 1981 committee found that Columbia was no longer competitive with other Ivy League universities without women, and that admitting women would not affect Barnard's applicant pool. A decade of negotiations for a Columbia-Barnard merger akin to Harvard and Radcliffe had failed.

In January 1982, the two schools instead announced that Columbia College would begin admitting women in 1983, and Barnard's control over tenure for its faculty would increase; previously, a committee on which Columbia faculty outnumbered Barnard's three to two controlled the latter's tenure. Applications to Columbia rose 56% that year, making admission more selective, and nine Barnard students transferred to Columbia. The Columbia-Barnard affiliation continued.

As of 2012, Barnard paid Columbia about $5 million a year under the terms of the "interoperate relationship", which the two schools renegotiate every 15 years. Nonetheless, Barnard students participate in the academic, social, athletic and extracurricular life of the broader university community on a reciprocal basis.

Student Life and Traditions

Barnard College offers a vibrant and engaging student life. Every Barnard student is part of the Student Government Association (SGA), which elects a representative student government. Barnard students can join extracurricular activities or organizations at Columbia University, while Columbia University students are allowed in most, but not all, Barnard organizations.

Barnard's McIntosh Activities Council organizes various community focused events on campus, such as Big Sub and Midnight Breakfast. Barnard students participate in various sororities.

Barnard athletes compete in the Ivy League (NCAA Division I) through the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium, which was established in 1983. Through the arrangement, Barnard is the only women's college offering Division I athletics. There are 15 intercollegiate teams, and students also compete at the intramural and club levels.

Traditions

Barnard College has several long-standing traditions that contribute to its unique identity.

Barnard Greek Games: One of Barnard's oldest traditions, the Barnard Greek Games were first held in 1903, and occurred annually until the Columbia University protests in 1968. Since then they have been sporadically revived.
Take Back the Night: Each April, Barnard and Columbia students participate in the Take Back the Night march and speak-out. This annual event grew out of a 1988 Seven Sisters conference.
Midnight Breakfast: Midnight breakfast marks the beginning of finals week. As a highly popular event and long-standing college tradition, Midnight Breakfast is hosted by the student-run activities council, McAC (McIntosh Activities Council). In addition to providing standard breakfast foods, each year's theme is also incorporated into the menu. Past themes have included "I YUMM the 90s," "Grease," and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." The event is a school-wide affair as college deans, trustees and the president serve food to about a thousand students.
Big Sub: Toward the beginning of each fall semester, Barnard College supplies a 700+ feet long subway sandwich. Students from the college can take as much of the sub as they can carry. The sub has kosher, dairy free, vegetarian, and vegan sections.

Student Demographics

The average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, is 97%. As a women’s college, Barnard embraces its responsibility to address issues of gender in all of their complexity to support students and cultivate the personal fortitude that will assist them in navigating the challenges they will encounter throughout their lives. Barnard holds a legacy of educating young women from first-generation and economically diverse backgrounds - ranked #12 of 64 elite colleges in the social mobility of its students by the Equality of Opportunity Project. Located in the cosmopolitan environment of New York City, Barnard prepares its graduates to thrive in different cultural surroundings in an increasingly connected world.

Controversies

Like any institution with a long history, Barnard College has faced its share of controversies.

In the spring of 1960, Columbia University president Grayson Kirk complained to the president of Barnard that Barnard students were wearing inappropriate clothing. The garments in question were pants and Bermuda shorts. The administration forced the student council to institute a dress code. Students would be allowed to wear shorts and pants only at Barnard and only if the shorts were no more than two inches above the knee and the pants were not tight.

In March 1968, The New York Times ran an article on students who cohabited, identifying one of the persons they interviewed as a student at Barnard College from New Hampshire named "Susan". Barnard officials searched their records for women from New Hampshire and were able to determine that "Susan" was the pseudonym of a student (Linda LeClair) who was living with her boyfriend, a student at Columbia University. She was called before Barnard's student-faculty administration judicial committee, where she faced the possibility of expulsion. A student protest included a petition signed by 300 other Barnard women, admitting that they too had broken the regulations against cohabitating. The judicial committee reached a compromise and the student was allowed to remain in school, but was denied use of the college cafeteria and barred from all social activities. The student briefly became a focus of intense national attention.

Notable Alumnae

Barnard College has graduated many prominent leaders in science, religion, politics, the Peace Corps, medicine, law, education, communications, theater, and business as well as acclaimed actors, architects, artists, astronauts, engineers, human rights activists, inventors, musicians, philanthropists, and writers. Graduates include academic Louise Holland (1914), author Zora Neale Hurston (1928), Grace Lee Boggs, author and political activist (1935), author Patricia Highsmith (1942), biologist Leona Zacharias, television host Ronnie Eldridge (1952), Phyllis E. Representative Helen Gahagan (1924), author Erica Jong (1963), Helene D. Gayle, Spelman College's 11th President and former chair of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (1970), Susan N. Herman, president of the American Civil Liberties Union (1968), Judith Kaye, Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals (1958), Wilma B.

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