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The bus thing referred to Wellesley. Barnard is directly across the street from Columbia. No buses; just Broadway.</p>
<p>My statement was in response to the fear that Barnard women were regarded as “sluts” by Columbia students – I was trying to say that I don’t think most Columbia men are prowling around the Barnard campus simply looking to get laid. I do think the students on both sides of the street are interested in dating and forming relationships.</p>
<p>(I’d note that when I spent time at the Barnard campus, I didn’t see any sign of such guys. There were a bunch of drunken frat guys who came into the Barnard courtyard late one night to loudly serenade the women, and my d. said that happened quite frequently on weekends… but the result was that women shouted at them to quiet down.)</p>
<p>As the mother of a son as well as a daughter, I get kind of irked at the constant depiction of males as lecherous beasts who objectify and attempt to repress all women around them. (This goes back to the “rape culture” thing). Maybe my son, who treats women with respect, is the exception to the rule, but I don’t think so. The guys I know who are Columbia grads, including my d’s current bf, lean more toward the quiet/serious types.</p>
<p>My d. did not choose Barnard because it was a women’s college; she chose Barnard in spite of that fact. She did not particularly like taking female-dominated courses. Her closest friends tended to be male – that was true in high school, and that remained true through college. That being said, I think that she definitely did benefit from the very strong support network that Barnard created at all levels for women, and the very strong female role models she found among the faculty. I don’t know if Barnard could achieve the same if it were co-ed; maybe so, but I doubt it. There is a Barnard culture, and it is a feminist-oriented culture – but it is a 21st century feminism – certainly not about “separation” of the sexes.</p>