Barnard College - Mortarboard Yearbook (New York, NY)

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In the late sixties, student unrest erupted in a series of strikes and confrontations between students, faculty and administra- tion. It appeared as if the Revolutionary armies had returned to the Heights in the guise of student radicals. Battles broke out sporadically through the spring of ' 72. In 1974, Barnard Presi- dent Martha Peterson, and Columbia President William McGill, signed still another agreement attempting to define the vague relationship between the two schools. This latest docu- ment placed a dollar value on an educational relationship some 70 years old and outlined the following terms: A. Barnard would continue to admit and recommend women for the A.B. and Columbia College would continue to admit and recommend men for the A.B. degree. B. The desirable goal of increased co-education will be achieved through common access to faculty, courses and joint utilization of facilities between the two colleges. C. Any imbalance of instructional, library and support costs incurred in the exchange of students and services will be ad- justed between the two institutions on an equitable basis. D. Reduction of operating costs, consistent with maintaining and improving the quality of education and services, to be a constant factor in any decision on cooperation.

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BARNARO COLLEGE BBB | •! FOUNDED AD 1889 WAS NAMED IN HONOR OF FREDERICK A. P. BARNARO PRESIDENT OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE IB84 1889 FOREMOST ADVOCATE OF THE ADMISSION OF WOMEN TO ' COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NO ONE IS ANY LONGER WEAK ENOUGH TO ARGUE THAT WOMEN SHOULD BE DENIED THE EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES WHICH THE UNIVERSITIES OFFER ON THE CROUND OF ANY NATURAL INCAPACITY OF THE SEX TO PROFIT BY THEM ' PRESIDENT FREDERICK A. P. BARNARD 1881 THIS rUOUC (IVCN SY THE CLASS Of 1»14 JUNE, 1tt4 JUNE. IMS Although all traces of the Redcoats vanished from the area over a century before Barnard was established, the spirit of conflict remained. The founding of Barnard itself involved a long arduous struggle for recognition of the importance and need of higher education of women. In 1869, Frederick A.P. Barnard, the tenth President of Col- umbia University, made his first unsuccessful appeal for women ' s education to the Board of Trustees. Barnard fought for co-education not as the best, but as the most practical solution to the problem of equal educational opportunities for women. Men were not the sole opponents of women ' s educational advancement. Discrimination and prejudice were inherent in the very structure of society. While advocating equal oppor- tunities, women admitted that they required special treat- ment. Some of Columbia ' s trustees believed women deserved to pursue their education, but they did not believe it should be done at a male institution. Others thought that the delicate female constitution could not endure the rigor of academic life: They realized, as some women did not, how difficult col- lege studies were and how poorly the girls were prepared by the existing secondary schools. (from an article by Annie Nathan Mayer, 1888.) Finally, in 1889, following five additional abortive petitions by Barnard, the Columbia Trustees approved a resolution es- tablishing Barnard College. The resolution, however, stipu- lated the following: Barnard was to purchase its own build- ings, to be financially independent, and to set up its own board of trustees. Columbia instructors were required to make independent teaching arrangements with Barnard which would not interfere with their Columbia commitments. Despite these limitations, Barnard expanded rapidly, graduating its first class of eight women in 1893. In 1897, Barnard outgrew its building at 343 Madison Avenue and moved to Brinckerhoff Hall at 119th Street, the original battle site, right across from Columbia University. Barnard became formally affiliated with Columbia in an agreement between the two institutions in 1900. The Barnard faculty was then recognized as one of the University faculties. The agreement also stated that Barnard was to be governed by its own trust- ees and to assume responsibility for its own endowment and physical plant; it would share some instructors and libraries, and that Barnard students would receive Columbia University degrees. As early as 1937, and more than four decades before Peter Pouncey became Dean of Columbia College, the possibilities of merger threatened Barnard ' s independence. The subject elicited the following comment from Virginia Gildersleeve, the Dean of Barnard for thirty-six years: If the time comes when Columbia trustees sincerely b elieve that the education of girls is just as important as the education of boys, possibly the fi- nances for the two might safely be merged. Even under those circumstances, this arrangement might be less advantageous for Barnard, because in a great University like Columbia, the tendency is for the most distinguished professors to drift to the Graduate School and to neglect undergraduate instruc- tion. Our present organization keeps at least a few of them at Barnard. An agreement in 1952 further clarified the independent status of Barnard College and made the Dean, Millicent Carey Mcintosh, President of Barnard and also a dean of Columbia University. 8

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The Class of 76 has lived with this agreement, placidly accepting the deceptive victory conducted in our names. We are not as vociferous as our predecessors; we have neither taken over buildings, boycotted classes nor ab- ducted deans. We have been accused of being apathetic, obsessed with ourselves, grubbing, and getting into pro- fessional schools. Although we suffer silently, the spirit of the battle remains within each one of us. Survival at Barnard entails cutting through unending redtape, daily skirmishes with the registrar, the bursar, the housing of- fice, clashes with unsympathetic faculty, and the per- petual battle with the books. As a mild diversion there is always the battle across the street — the threats of merger, and absorption issued by menancing college deans. Turning away from the Morningside Heights ' Battleground, we find, instead of relief, only more strug- gles of getting by in the Big Apple: inflation, crime, pollu- tion, etc. As seniors we leave the battle site, veterans of this four year engagement. But we are not sure that the conflict will end once we are beyond the protective gates of Bar- nard. We leave behind many unsettled issues only to face the uncertainty of the future. Is victory ours or does the battle go on and on and on and on and on