Barnard College - Mortarboard Yearbook (New York, NY)

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Barnard College. . The institution justifiably takes pride in the quality education it provides for ' its students. But talking about the Barnard education also means appreciating the V history of the college that made such an education possible — a history of dreams and struggles, and of dreams realized. Barnard College opened at 343 Madison Avenue on October 7, 1889, a day of celebration, but one that classes in recent years — having heard the clamor for more o-education within the university — can look back on with irony. The College had been named after Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard, president of Columbia Uni- versity from 1864 to 1889. He vigorously campaigned for equal opportunity in higher education for both sexes, seeking the admission of women to Columbia. Coeducation found little sympathy in University Trustees meetings. Only after a decade of continual effort by proponents of higher education for women could Barnard start receiving applications f6r its first class. Though Dr. Barnard felt the formation of Barnard College was but a compromise, he was nevertheless pleased about the birth of this women ' s college. Barnard ' s first dean was Emily James Smith, a member of Bryn Mawr ' s first graduating class, and a distinguished scholar in Greek at the University of Chicago. Her administration was marked by her drive to build up the College ' s curriculum. Just as everyone was settling down to a long, successful administration under Smith ' s guidance, she announced her engagement to publisher George Haven Putnam. The Trustees were alarmed. Would not the College suffer, some asked, if it had to compete for her attention with her duties as wife and housekeeper? After much debate, Barnard finally decided the Dean was capable of doing justice to both positions. In her History of Barnard College, Marian Churchill White ' 29, conceded the magnanimity of this decision: At a time when the tradition of scholarly women was still a celibate one, this decision showed courage and enlightenment. Un- doubtedly, the sight of a woman successfully combining a happy marriage with a notable career was a wholesome example for the undergraduates. When Dean Smith Putnam became pregnant, however, it led to her February 1, 1900 resignation. Many Trustees agreed that if a woman shows she could be a devoted wife and still be active in affairs outside her household, she could certainly continue to do so as a mother. But the weight of opinion at the turn of the century as against it, White says. Events must be judged against the background of their own times, not of ours. Just as the great outcry against sending females to college is understandable if we study the nineteenth century, so we can reluctantly see the viewpoint of the harassed Trustees when it became known that Mrs. Putnam was pregnant. They could not risk the charge that Home and Motherhood were slighted for Homer and Miltiades. % On December 13, 1910, Nicholas Murray Butler, then president of Columbia University, named Virginia Crocheron Guildersleeve as the new Dean of Barnard College. A Barnard graduate, alumna officer, and member of the faculty, Guil- dersleeve was the position of knowing, through her own experience, the con- SI

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TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CLASS OF 1982: When you came to Barnard in 1978 the College was already in the process of reassessing its relationship with Columbia University, and there were many who feared that Barnard ' s special mission and iden tity would be lost to a merger with Columbia. As you graduate in 1982, you should leave confident in the knowledge that Barnard will not be merged with Columbia, but rather that it will continue as a distinguished undergraduate college for women affiliated with a major research university. You may be confident too that the College will proceed in a strong, active and exciting manner which will keep faith with the excellence and distinction of its past and which will permit the generations of young women who follow to enjoy the superb education with which you were blessed. As you go forward with your own lives, you may be assured that your Barnard education will serve you well. You have been prepared to handle whatever intellectual challenges your lives and careers may offer, and the reputation of the College ' s rigorous academic program engenders immediate respect that will redound to your personal and professional benefit. We cannot predict what the years ahead will bring for each of you personally or for the world at large. We hope that the basic human values and standards which characterize the Barnard community, together with the intellectual training which you have received, will assist you in coping with whatever the future may hold and that you, like the Barnard alumnae who have preceeded you, will be good citizens of the world. We hope too, that you will maintain your interest in Barnard . We are a small and caring community, and the ongoing participation and interest of our alumnae not only enriches our day to day life at the College, but also supports the essence of what we are and contributes to a tradition of nearly a century. With all best wishes for lives of peace, happiness, good health, and personal fulfillment. Sincerely, Ellen V. Futter President

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IBKIIIIIliP cerns of the Barnard community as a whole. As a result. Dean Guildersleeve was able to deal sensitively and effectively with all parties in her thirty-six years of office. Aware that instructors were a vital influence on the students, often serving as role models, Dean Guildersleeve noted that it was necessary to appoint en- couraging, successful, dynamic women to the faculty. Under her direction, Barnard emerged front the Depression and both world wars, strong in its own right, devoted to the education of women. . By 1947 when Barnard appointed her fourth dean, Millicent Gary Mcintosh (who changed her title and became Barnard ' s first president because corporation heads wanted to speak to the president of Barnard, not the dean) it marked a departure from conventional academic practice. None of the other Seven Sister colleges had appointed a married woman for its head and no other women ' s college in the country had a mother for its leader, much less one with five children. Mcintosh also strove to prepare Barnard ' s graduates to bridge the gap between learning and living. Within this concept, the curriculum continued to increase in diversity, and Barnard started sponsoring conferences on topics ranging from philosophy to physics, whereby Barnard faculty and students could share with other scholars discussions of important problems and ideas in their own fields and relating to the community. By the time Dr. Jacquelyn Mattfeld was inaugurated as president of Barnard on November 5, 1976, the College was no longer the poor sibling it started as within the Columbia University system. With its own departments and administrators, it stood tall as a proud advocate of women ' s education, not only because of the quality education it provides, but also by virtue of its successful — though arduous — struggle to survive. Society ' s attitude towards female students and scholars had been fluctuating between disdain and accolades. But with the proven advantages of women ' s education — 70% of women listed in this year ' s ' Who ' s Who graduated from women ' s colleges instead of coeducational schools — the intellectual capacity of women should no longer be doubted. At Columbia, the drive towards admitting women had gathered full force, marking Dr. MattfeM ' s administration with her strong efforts to articulate the need for women ' s colleges, institutions whose pri- mary purpose is to nurture women scholars. Barnard College ' s evolutionary — even revolutionary — history draws a full circle this year with the inauguration of her newest president, Ellen V. Futter. President Futter was a 1971 Barnard graduate before receiving her J.D. from Co- lumbia ' s School of Law. She is married to Mr. John Shutkin, also an attorney, and their first child, Anne Victoria, was born this academic year. Unlike with Barnard ' s first dean, in the eyes of the community it is clear that President Putter ' s positions as wife and mother will not detract from her capacity to lead Barnard in the coming years. In this. President Futter and other and future women scholars benefit from the legacy left by the perseverance and success of Barnard and other women ' s colleges ' graduates.