CELEBRATING FREDERICK A.P. BARNARD
"It is earnestly to be hoped that no single and earnest seeker after knowledge, of whatever age, sex, or previous condition, shall be denied the privilege of coming here." - Frederick A.P. Barnard (1809-1889)
In the final decades of the 19th century, Frederick A.P. Barnard, an astronomer, mathematician and the 10th president of Columbia University, advanced a bold idea whose time he believed had come -- the admission of women to Columbia as undergraduates. The trustees, faculty and students of Columbia opposed the idea, however, and it would take nearly another 100 years to achieve co-education at Columbia. But in the final years of Barnard's life, others took up his cause and moved it in a new direction, establishing the first secular college for women in New York City in 1889. With a board of trustees equally divided between men and women and drawing members from diverse religious and ethnic groups unusual for the time, the fledgling college for women opened its doors in a rented brownstone. With Frederick Barnard's death that year, the college, offering the same challenging curriculum available to men at the time, was named in his honor. A year later, the trustees of Barnard College signed an affiliation agreement with Columbia that allowed for academic interchange between the institutions while maintaining Barnard's independence through its own governance, campus and finances, which remains to this day.
 The cause that Frederick Barnard advocated -- the advancement of women through higher education -- and the ties between Barnard College and Columbia University, as it marks its 250th anniversary this year, were celebrated on Friday, April 16, in lectures, exhibitions, forums and a reception on the Barnard campus. In addition to an archival display of materials highlighting Frederick Barnard's achievements and the influential women in his life, two noted historians on the Barnard faculty, Professors Robert McCaughey and Rosalind Rosenberg, discussed aspects of Barnard-Columbia history during separate lectures and forums. The day's events drew about 300 students and faculty, closing with a reception featuring a chocolate "dipping fountain" and a festive "toast" to Frederick Barnard with President Judith Shapiro, Dean Dorothy Denburg and other administrators, faculty and students in the LeFrak Gymnasium.
McCaughey, who is the author of the recently published book, Stand Columbia: A History of Columbia University in the City of New York, 1754-2004, gave a slide-show presentation in the Julius S. Held Lecture Hall that chronicled the life and times of Frederick Barnard. McCaughey called the stylish Frederick Barnard, "The most underrated president in American higher education, a person with grand ideas often ahead of his time. A person with immense capacity to get lots done and yet notably neglected, if not entirely forgotten."
During Barnard's long administration (1864-89), Columbia grew from a small undergraduate college of 150 students into one of the nation's great universities. When he took the helm, he inherited a student body of 150 young men and a faculty of six. By the time he died 25 years later, he had achieved his stated goal of making Columbia "the most important institution in the most important state in the most important city." Under his leadership, the School of Architecture, the Faculty of Political Science and the School of Library Economy were established. He integrated elective courses into the structured curriculum and recruited students from outside the New York metropolitan area. The student body increased to 1,500 and the faculty to almost 100.
Barnard, maintaining its reputation for close mentoring of students in a residential environment, is the most selective of the nation's top women's colleges and counts many accomplished and prominent women among its alumnae, including eight Pulitzer Prize winners and nine MacArthur "genius" grant winners, more than any other college.
Rosenberg led a forum in Sulzberger Parlor with three Barnard alumnae from classes during the 1950s, 1960s and 1980s, who described the unique social, political and intellectual climate on campus, in the city beyond and the evolving relationship between Barnard and Columbia students during each of those decades.
 Rosenberg, who teaches American history with an emphasis on women's history, is the author of a new book to be published this fall, Changing the Subject: How the Women of Columbia Shaped the Way We Think About Sex and Politics. Rosenberg noted during her introductory remarks that her book is as much about Barnard as it is about Columbia because many of the pioneering women who trained at the University for advanced degrees and later taught there were Barnard alumnae. She noted that Columbia was the most diverse among the Ivy League and other selective universities during the early part of the 20th century. Columbia trained more female Ph.D.'s than any other college, she said, "The reason for this is that it has Barnard across the street. Barnard, she said, "sent more women onto advanced degrees than any other college."
Fourteen students worked with the College Activities Office to plan the day's events. The archival display was created by students Michelle Choy and Sarah McNally.
-Suzanne Trimel |
