Dare to imagine a world where women receive the same rigorous education as men. That’s exactly what Annie Nathan Meyer did when she founded Barnard College.
Hello everyone. Welcome to Barnard College, a private women’s liberal arts college. It stands in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Barnard College was founded in 1889. Annie Nathan Meyer was a student activist. She petitioned Columbia University’s trustees. She wanted to create an affiliated college. It would be named after Columbia’s 10th president, Frederick A. P. Barnard. He had recently died.
Barnard College is one of the original Seven Sisters. These were seven liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States. They were historically women’s colleges. Barnard is affiliated with Columbia. It has independent admission, curricula, and financials. Barnard students share classes and libraries with Columbia. They also share clubs, sororities, athletic fields, and dining halls. Barnard is the only women’s college to offer Division I athletics. Students receive a diploma from Columbia University.
Barnard offers bachelor of arts degrees in about 50 areas of study. Students can also study at the Juilliard School. They can study at the Manhattan School of Music. Or they can study at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Barnard’s campus is four acres. It is in Morningside Heights. It stretches along Broadway. It is directly across from Columbia’s main campus.
From its founding in 1754 Columbia College only admitted men for undergraduate study until the mid-1980s. Barnard College was founded as a response to Columbia’s refusal to admit women. Classes took place in a rented brownstone on Madison Avenue. A faculty of six taught 36 students.
The college was named after Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard. He was a deaf American educator and mathematician. He served as Columbia’s president for over twenty years. He advocated for coeducational settings. He proposed in 1879 that Columbia admit women. Columbia’s Board of Trustees repeatedly rejected Barnard’s suggestion. But in 1883, they agreed to create a syllabus. It would allow the college’s students to receive degrees. The first graduate received her bachelor’s degree in 1887. Annie Meyer and other New York women persuaded the board to create a women’s college connected to Columbia.
When Columbia University moved to Morningside Heights in 1892, Barnard built a new campus nearby. Mary E. Brinckerhoff, Elizabeth Milbank Anderson, and Martha Fiske donated gifts. Brinckerhoff insisted that Barnard acquire land near Columbia. Anderson requested that Charles A. Rich be hired. Rich designed Milbank, Brinckerhoff, and Fiske Halls. The first classes at the new campus were held in 1897.
Ella Weed supervised the college in its first four years. Emily James Smith succeeded her as Barnard’s first dean. Jessica Finch coined the phrase current events while teaching at Barnard College in the 1890s.
Barnard students have access to Columbia University libraries. But the college has its own library. The Barnard Library includes the Archives and Special Collections. This material documents Barnard’s history. The Barnard Zine Library is a unit of the Barnard Library. It focuses on female, queer, of color, and gender expansive topics.
Every Barnard student is part of the Student Government Association. Student groups include theater and music groups. They also include language clubs and literary magazines. Barnard students can join extracurricular activities at Columbia University.
Barnard Greek Games is one of Barnard’s oldest traditions. They were first held in 1903. Each April, Barnard and Columbia students participate in Take Back the Night. Midnight Breakfast marks the beginning of finals week. Barnard College supplies a long subway sandwich called Big Sub. This happens towards the beginning of each fall semester.
Barnard College is both an independent educational institution and an official college of Columbia University. Barnard graduates receive Columbia diplomas. A Barnard College degree holds the same value as a Columbia College degree.
And that’s the story of Barnard College, a place where women have been taken seriously for well over a century.