Barnard v Columbia

DigitalDad
Sat, 01 Jan 2022 06:23:24 +0000

circuitrider:

I wouldn’t be so quick to believe everything I read in the Harvard Crimson.

I apologize that Harvard isn’t a satisfactory reference. Let me instead refer you to the book “ZORA: In Search of Zora Neale Hurston”:

“Columbia president William J. McGill predicted in 1970 that Barnard College and Columbia College would merge within five years, and Columbia’s financial difficulties during the 1970s increased its desire to merge, but Barnard resisted doing so because of the university’s large debt.”

Or if you prefer an “insider’s” view, here a more in-depth timeline of those years, and the role the different factions played later in the 1970s:

In the aftermath of the protests, (Columbia) alumni giving fell off sharply, and its recently launched capital campaign ground to a halt. As one Barnard trustee characterized the situation: “They were in the red; we were in the black.”
Barnard’s pass proved short-lived, however. Columbia decided that Barnard should help with the University’s financial recovery. The University’s new President William J. McGill observed that Barnard enjoyed benefits from its affiliation with Columbia for which it paid nothing. These benefits included use of Columbia libraries and athletic facilities by students and faculty, as well as cross-registration of Barnard students in Columbia classes for which no charge had been exacted since 1962. When presented with these bills, Barnard quietly agreed to pay up.

circuitrider:

the feeling among some Barnard’s trustees that the College’s days were numbered

The key word here is “some” - which ended up not being the view held by the majority: By 1983, after replacing presidents twice, the majority trustees with a vision ultimately succeeded in reasserting Barnard’s independence and setting it on a growth path to continued success.

(The point being: The stereotype picture of the big University pulling the women’s college along, specially financially, does not reflect the much more nuanced history of, and between, the two institutions. And it certainly misrepresents the College and the University with respect to the actual direction of money flow, and with respect to today’s students and their parents, for whom this website is intended!)