Barnard College - Mortarboard Yearbook (New York, NY)

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The Class of 1981, Demographic Breakdown FRES The 1981 class of freshwomen is the largest ever, with 508 new students,! as opposed to last year ' s 435. 247 of the new students came from the Middle} Atlantic States, 81 from the South, 66 from New England, 49 from the Mid- west, 39 from the West, and 25 from foreign countries. Their median SAT scores are 610 Math and 600 Verbal. 59 percent of the freshwomen are from public schools, with the rest coming from private and parochial schools. 8 FRESHWOMEN

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By September of 1976, Mattfeld was firmly established in office, and one of her first acts was to publish a message to the students and faculty in which she described her efforts to form a group, under the auspices of the Ford Foundation, to examine the alternatives to Barnard ' s structure at the time. The objec- tive of this was to determine the position the College would be in over the next 10 years. In October of 1976, the study completed, the Ford Founda- tion report was released. The report recommended the simplifi- cation of the college ' s administration through the creation of a centralized system of Vice-Presidents who would be in charge of the major areas of the college ' s operations. The report also proposed the formulation of a college council to be made up of representatives from all the college ' s constituencies. The council would examine college-wide concerns referred to it by the president. The Ford report also outlined three possibilities for Barnard ' s future: expansion in the college ' s strongest areas; a continua- tion of the status quo; and a merger with Columbia. From about the time of the completion of the Ford report, a series of administrative appointments, transfers, and depar- tures made it clear that a significant change was occurring in the college ' s structure. Then in September of 1977 it was an- nounced that the administrative restructuring of the school was complete. The college ' s final structure almost precisely matched that proposed by the Ford Foundation report. Four vice- presidencies had been created and filled: Charles Olton was the V.P. for academic affairs; Harry Albers, the V.P. for Adminis- tration and Finance; Doris Critz, the V.P. for Public Affairs, and Barbara Schmitter, the V.P. for Student Affairs. The president also created the President ' s Advisory Com- mittee which followed the structure of the College Council suggested by the Ford report. The Barnard-Columbia Intercorporate Agreement It was in the Fall of 1976 when it was announced that talks on a new Barnard-Columbia Intercorporate agreement were underway. The most recent intercorporate agreement between the two schools was slated to expire in June of 1977, with either side having the option of extending the agreement for one year after that date. In May of 1976, the trustees of Barnard released a resolution which outlined their desire to maintain Barnard ' s autonomy and integrity while furthering the Barnard-Columbia relation- ship through interinstitutional planning and cooperation. Another, briefer, resolution made by the Columbia trustees spoke of a review of the existing arrangements and of hopes for a mutally satisfactory rearrangement in 1977. The intercorporate agreement deals with such things as fac- ulty tenure, cross-registration of courses, and other areas of Barnard-Columbia cooperation. Other Developments Arthur Altschul was, in December of 1976, appointed the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He replaced Eleanor Elliot who for 17 years had chaired the Board. Altschul, on his ap- pointment, affirmed the need to maintain Barnard ' s indepen- dent yet cooperative role in the Columbia University framework. He also expressed a support of Mattfeld ' s policies on Barnard ' s administration and his commitment to non- change. Later that fall it was revealed that Barnard had accumulated a one-million dollar deficit over the preceding six years, and that a three year plan had been formed to balance the budget. Academic Developments In February of 1977 there was an uproar over the one-year laboratory science requirement, with students demanding its reduction or outright repeal. Little action was taken on these requests. Incompletes also came under investigation, and as fear of student abuse of this option mounted, the administration tight- ened up the requirements for taking incompletes. Pass-fail options were also put under examination, with fac- ulty members voicing concern that this option induces students to put in less work than they would, were the option not avail- able. The pass-fail option for English A was abolished entirely. During the 1976-1978 academic year Barnard saw an astound- ing array of non-curricular lectures. Bernadette Devlin, the Irish militant, spoke to a crowd of 400 students in the Barnard Gym in December of 1976. Mirra Komarovsky was awarded the Emily Gregory Award. An $85,000 collection of manuscripts by Nobel Prize winning poet Gabriela Mistral was donated to the college, and the Bar- nard Bulletin reported a rising trend in preprofessionalism among the students. In March of 1977, a motion to increase the number of stu- dents in the Undergrad Executive Board from four to five members was passed by the student body. The Fall of 1977 brought in the largest class of freshwomen in the college ' s history. 508 students were introduced to the col- lege by the newsmaking, beanie-capped orientation ' 77. The unusually large number of freshwomen excacerbated an already-acute housing problem, and many students previously offered rooms were told that there were none to be had. Servomation, the problem-plagued food service at Barnard was replaced by the T.J. McDermott Company. Dean of Stu- dents Doris Coster, who ousted Servomation, herself resigned when the appointment of Barbara Schmitter as Vice-President of Student Affairs eliminated Coster ' s authority to report di- rectly to the president. The question of security at the college became an issue when a series of thefts began to generate concern. Buildings and Grounds tightened up the college ' s security as a result. Mortarboard went to the presses in the Spring of 1978 so most of the events occuring that semester could be covered in this article. C.T. (1974-1976) A.K. (1976-1978) Barnard in the P.M. (pre-McIntosh) INTRODUCTION 7

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ORIENTATION