Four Pillars of Barnard: A Women's College

When talking about Barnard as Women’s College, one must first consider that the term “women’s college” is a fluid, ever-changing idea, and that it moves with the fluctuating social and political definitions of gender. I want to state right off the bat that not everyone who attends Barnard identifies as a woman. Historically, Women’s Colleges were for those who strictly identified as female, but this was when our idea of gender was static and binary. Our perception of gender has changed greatly within the last century, and therefore the landscape of what it means to be a “Women’s College” has as well. As a History major with a specific concentration in gender and sexuality, I could go on and on about this (I highly recommend the class “US Lesbian and Gay History” taught by Professor Chauncey, the best class I’ve ever taken!), but I will leave it at that and shift to Barnard as a women’s college today.

I could go a couple of different routes when describing Barnard as a women’s college. First, I could hit you with some Barnard stats: the fact that 64% of our faculty are women (compared to a 35% national average) or that around 2/3 of Barnard students go on to a graduate school (more likely than graduates of coed institutions). These are facts that other women’s colleges could also attest to – going to any women’s institution offers job opportunities and leadership positions specifically to uplift underrepresented identities. However, women’s colleges are so much more than just percentages and success rates post-graduation, so let's talk about it.

Going to a women’s college offers a community unlike any other that I have experienced. All of Barnard's first years live in the Quad, a group of four buildings on campus that are all connected by a hallway. This means that all first years basically live in the same dorm building, which perfectly demonstrates the kind of community you will receive here. With a student body of roughly 3000 (class size of around 750), everybody knows or knows of, everyone else in their class, and having one on-campus dorm space all first years live definitely adds to this. While it may be corny to say, I truly believe that women (and those from marginalized gender identities) have a bond that runs deep between them. The support, connection, friendship, and comradery you will receive from going to a women's college is not something that can be found anywhere else.

Barnard College is, however, also distinctly different from other women's colleges across the world. This is not to say that other women's colleges do not have unique things to offer, but to me, it does mean that we cannot completely lump Barnard in when talking about women's colleges as a whole. So why is Barnard different, and what does it mean for Barnard specifically to be a women's college? Due to our unique relationship with Columbia, Barnard classes may still have Columbia men in them, clubs and extracurriculars are coed, and you will see men in all the facilities around Barnard’s campus – except for the Barnard Fitness Center, we maintain a Barnard-student-only gym space ;) 

This relationship with Columbia largely benefits Barnard as an institution (you can read more about the Barnard-Columbia relationship here), but it may leave some wondering how Barnard maintains its identity as a Women’s College if so much of our academic and student life is coed. The first thing I will say is that while there may be men in Barnard's classes, the voices of Barnard (and female) students will always be heard. Academia is traditionally a white-male-dominated space, but at Barnard, most classes have a majority female makeup. Many women, including myself, have been conditioned from a young age to hesitate to speak in class or voice their opinions for fear of harassment from their male classmates, but at Barnard, this habit is broken down.

I would also say that Barnard being a women's college is so much more than just the gender makeup of the school. Everything here, from classes to student resources to clubs is created conscious of gender. What this means is that gender identity is ingrained in all aspects of campus life. Medical and health services are specifically tailored towards women, all campus leaders are female, and all the classes I have taken on this side of Broadway have been taught with a specific emphasis on women and marginalized identities. Intro to Bio at Columbia and Intro to Bio at Barnard are not going to have the same syllabus because at Barnard there is a pointed focus on uplifting female (and other marginalized) voices. 

When I was doing my college search, I was not specifically focused on applying to women’s schools. In fact, Barnard was the only school I applied to that maintained an identity as an all-female institution. However, I am often asked what I would do differently if I could do the college application process over again, and I always tell folks that I would have applied to more Women’s Colleges. Being at Barnard now, I could not imagine going to an institution that does not have this specific focus on gender coursing through its veins. Women's colleges are truly special places, with a community unlike any you can imagine, and Barnard specifically is a one-of-a-kind institution, which is only amplified by its identity as a Women’s College.