Barnard College - Mortarboard Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 18 text:

BLACK AT BARNARD Besides the waters of the Hudson I feel my race. Among the thousand white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon and over swept, but through it all, I remain myself. When covered by the waters I am; and the ebb reveals me again. Zora Neale Hurston, one of Barnard ' s most distin- guished alumna and the first Black graduate, expressed her feelings about attending Barnard in the above quote. Bar- nard College is not without a history of Black women. Unfortunately the stories of Zora Neale Hurston and other Black women who succeeded her at Barnard have not been relayed to women attending the school many years after Hurston. The four years spent at Barnard represents an imple- menting process of those ideals and gains struggled for by many black women in Barnard ' s past. A knowledge of this past reveals the diversity of this college. Barnard is a com- posite of many individuals who bring to this unique at- mosphere all their personal reference points. For many a group of women being an individual means being a Black woman. But each of these Black women is an outgrowth of different perspectives within the Black culture. This indi- viduality and sense of self is what Hurston spoke of in her statement. And the Barnard Organization of Black Women has grown with the times and development of Black at Barnard in order to answer to a need for many Black Women at Barnard to express themselves in an environment of understanding beyond the educational. Barnard Organization of Black Women was born of the struggles of the sixties and early seventies. This period in the college ' s history marked the beginning of a more active recruiting program for minority students, increasing the number of Black women per class. This higher concentra- tion of Black women created a stronger feeling of a Black presence on campus. Therefore many Black women felt a need for a gathering place, a place for Black women to address themselves as Blacks but most importantly recon- ciling that with our position as women. Through the sixties and seventies B.O.B.W. helped many women work out their feelings about entering pre- dominately white schools. The eighties will be a time of resolving our feelings of being a part of a larger Black culture but recognizing all the variations on that theme as well as realizing ourselves as women within that culture and within Barnard. Marcia Lynn Sells B ' 81 From Left to Right (Committee heads of Celebration of Black Womanhood Weekend): Veronica Mallet, Diane Elebe, Sharon Roberson, Kuumba Edwards, Debra Johnson. 14

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The Chinese enrollment in Columbia University and Barnard College is a sizeable one, and it makes up an integral part of the community on the two campuses. Chinese students, however, do not come from identical backgrounds. Basically three main geographical categories can distinguish most Chinese students. First, there are those who were brought up in America with a relatively heterogeneous upbringing. At home, Chinese culture is practiced; away from the home mostly Western culture is taught. Second, there are students from Hong Kong whose views of Chinese heritage are influenced by a very cosmopolitan. Western lifestyle that exists in the British colony. Finally, there are students who were brought up in Taiwan, yet another land of Chinese tradition and experience, whose people make up the third main sector of a most interesting Chinese community at Columbia and Barnard. Included this year also are approximately forty scholars from the People ' s Republic of China. Since all Chinese students share a common cultural heritage, it is also important to achieve a certain cohesiveness among the members of this community. This cohesiveness is necessary for students to organize in sharing and presenting their common culture. And because the Chinese students hold different views of the same culture, their interactions enrich and bring more meaning to Chinese traditions. The desire to organize, which overcomes the general reluctance of Chinese students to be involved in such matters, is concretely represented in the existence of the Chinese Students ' Club, which has become the center of activities in the Chinese community. It is therefore impossible to mention the Columbia-Barnard Chinese community without taking into account the CSC. Over the years this club has been the source of enjoyable extracurricular and social activities which are important to students in an academically demand- ing environment. The CSC has two primary functions: to promote Chinese culture and to facilitate an interesting social environment for its members as well as enthusiastic nonmembers. Events sponsored by the CSC work toward these two goals. For example, the Welcome Fest held soon after Freshman Orientation included a culture show, a Peking duck dinner, and a disco. Deans and several faculty members were invited to acquaint students with Columbia ' s faculty. In the Mid-Autumn Festival Chinese mooncakes were served under moonlight to commemorate this traditional celebration. And the biggest event was the festival, honoring Chinese New Year. In addition there was the basketball team, the movie presentations, the bowling and social hours, and work on the annual publication — the CSC Bulletin. In particular, the CSC has enjoyed its unique status of having members from very diverse geographical backgrounds. Such diversity has given its members greater opportunities for a better setting to appreciate their common cultural heritage. In this time of a growing awareness of the Chinese culture, it is appropriate and very significant that the CSC play such an important role in the activities of Chinese students. Its success is not only commensurate with its goal and title, it is also a salubrious element to a more lively atmosphere at Columbia University and Barnard College. Su-Ping Chan C ' 82 Addison Lau C ' 82 Susie Ng B ' 81

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' Where do you go to school? Barnard. Where? It ' s the female part of Columbia. You answer wearily, one more time, and wish to God they ' d finally get it right. But you kind of understand. After all, you thought more of going to Columbia yourself, a year or two or three back. It ' s only when you ' ve been here a while that you begin to recognize the importance of a woman ' s school — of Barnard — and of being a woman, after all. Mortarboard 1977 15