Weather Update

Due to the storm, Barnard College closed at 4pm Friday, for non-essential personnel. “Essential personnel" include staff in Facilities, Public Safety and Residence Halls.  

Friday evening and weekend classes are cancelled but events are going forward as planned unless otherwise noted. The Athena Film Festival programs are also scheduled to go forward as planned but please check http://athenafilmfestival.com/ for the latest information. 

The Barnard Library and Archives closed at 4pm Friday and will remain closed on Saturday, Feb. 9.  The Library will resume regular hours on Sunday opening at 10am.  

Please be advised that due to the conditions, certain entrances to campus may be closed.  The main gate at 117th Street & Broadway will remain open.  For further updates on college operations, please check this website, call the College Emergency Information Line 212-854-1002 or check AM radio station 1010WINS. 

3:12 PM 02/08/2013

President Spar: Why Women Should Stop Trying to Be Perfect

September 24, 2012
president
career
feminism
Debora Spar

For Newsweek/The Daily Beast, Barnard President Debora Spar writes about the challenges of "having it all" and why women should stop trying to be perfect. An excerpt:

"Like most working mothers, I have snuck out of meetings to attend piano recitals and missed track meets when a deadline was looming. I have sprinted through airports in the futile hope of catching an earlier flight home and tried to comfort a sobbing child when, inevitably, the plane was late. I delivered my first lecture in a suit that reeked of infant throw-up from earlier that morning and crashed the minivan into a tree as I raced to retrieve the correct ballet costume.

Through all this chaos I have become increasingly convinced of two interconnected points. First, that there is undeniably still a “women’s problem” in the United States, a problem that relates deeply and intimately to the bleak roster of numbers that tell this story. And second, that part of this intractable problem is tied to the fact that women in this country are struggling far more than is necessary not only to have that ephemeral 'all,' but to do it all alone."

Below, Barnard students weigh on the topic of President Spar's piece.

President Spar's piece is also generating dialogue in the Twittersphere.  View a compilation of responses to the article on Storify.