Barnard College - Mortarboard Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 15 text:

ODCMICN. When the British troops came into view of Kip ' s Bay, Washington ' s men realized for the first time what they were really up against. The Barnard Freshwoman understands she ' s in for some rough times ahead and feels perfectly prepared to deal with them, until she arrives on campus and is confronted with Section V of the Course catalogue — Academic Require- ments for the A.B. Degree. ' ' Now that she begins to realize what she ' s up against, she knows that getting into Barnard was one thing. Getting out will be another.

Page 14 text:

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

Page 16 text:

r SOMETHING HAPPENTP On the first reading, the course catalogue seems to contain dozens of fascinating courses. You spend evenings mapping out your intended program for the rest of your college years, trying to fit all those wonderful courses in before graduation. You paper your desk with little diagrams and schedules and lists. However, the first two weeks of school, called the shopping period , will convince you to abandon these visions of becoming well-rounded in every subject. After running from class to class and meeting up with surly professors who want to keep their enroll- ments down and reading lists exceeding ten pages, you realize you can ' t find even three courses worth taking. Courses requiring oral reports and independent projects are out of the question. Classes held on Fridays or early mornings are not for you. Professors with ac- cents must be avoided. Meanwhile you are three weeks behind in your work and it ' s only the second week of school. Planning programs can be fun, or so they say. Armed with Course Guides dating back to the 60 ' s and catalogues from each division of the University, you slowly organize the av- ailable date and narrow down your choices. Right away you can skip some subjects like Urban Management. Night courses are quickly discarded, although they are given during the only time you ' re sure to be awake. Courses with prerequisites usually preclude eligibility, and courses whose hours are to be arranged are too vague for your restricted schedule. (You don ' t want classes three days of the week and nothing that interferes with the Thursday noon organ recitals at St. Paul ' s.) Oops, you ' ve narrowed your program down to one course — European Folk Dance, so you go back through the catalogues and consider trying something new, maybe an intro course to some obscure Mid-East doc- trine. Soon you ' ll have a smooth-running program, provided you don ' t get closed out of anything. Like the surfer in search of the per- fect wave, the student searches for the perfect Gut . But even tips from friends won ' t save you from occa- sionally getting stuck in a course where pulling a C is the best you can do. So you take it pass-fail. Unless it ' s your major. In which case, you are obviously in the wrong field. But it ' s too late to change your goals, and you take the course incomplete in- stead. I ' m too young to have an In- complete, you mourn, but there is a last chance — that two week grace period during which, if you finish the work, you are not penalized with an Inc. on your record. This two week period falls, after the Autumn term, during such minor holidays as Christmas Vacation, New Year ' s Eve, ski season, and internship programs . . . but what is pleasure and relaxa- tion to a Barnard student anyway?