<p>
Just a technical point – but again, the diplomas do NOT say that.</p>
<p>At the top, in very big print, are the words:</p>
<p>“CURATORES UNIVERSITATIS COLUMBIAE” (Trustees of Columbia University)</p>
<p>Then in a smaller font, center/bottom – about 9 lines down – you find the words,
“ET PRAESIDIS COLLEGII BARNARDINI” (and the President of Barnard College)</p>
<p>And at the very bottom are the seals of both Columbia University and Barnard College, as well as the signatures of their respective Presidents.</p>
<p>So there is reference to both “Columbia University” and “Barnard College”… but not on the same line. </p>
<p>“Barnard College, Columbia University” does seem to appear and just about every piece of mail I get from the college (warning: they won’t stop sending mail just because your kid graduates) – but it’s not set out that way on the diploma and certainly not in that order. </p>
<p>Or to put it another way, if a woman graduates from Barnard, gets her diploma framed, and puts it up on a wall in her office behind her desk – someone on the other side of the desk will probably be able to read the “Columbia University” part but it’s unlikely that they would be able to make out the “Barnard” part from 10 feet away. (Disclaimer: I haven’t actually tried this – but in any case the Barnard part is buried in the middle of a lot of other text and hard to find – I doubt that most people who see a diploma displayed that way would be reading past the title line). </p>
<p>(The day my d. graduated she had the diploma framed and also bought a Barnard College sweatshirt – so there was definitely some school pride there. And probably more people will see the sweatshirt than will ever see the diploma. She’s got a bio posted on her employer’s web site that references Barnard, not Columbia – so this isn’t a matter of trying to mislead anyone.).</p>