Senior Reflections: COVID-19 and the Barnard Community

It has been a very strange and uncertain time for the Barnard community in the past couple of weeks, as it has been for universities all across the country and the world. As a senior, it’s especially strange to have campus essentially clear out and to know I may not see so many of my peers again - or at least not for a long while. Even so, I find myself more conscious of the Barnard community, its presence and closeness, in this period when it would be so easy for everyone at the college to exist in their own isolated spheres. My professors have set up frequent virtual office hours, not only to discuss academic concerns but to check in with anything we want to talk about or seek advice on. The Barnard/Columbia Student Affairs Committee has set up an undergraduate student mutual aid document and students and alumni are posting in class Facebook groups offering assistance with things from forwarding packages to helping others move out. Despite being physically removed from campus and from most of my peers and professors, I find myself feeling not at all removed from the solidarity and thoughtfulness I so cherish about the Barnard community. 

Of course, this is not to say that Barnard has been experiencing a utopic state with perfect mutual aid and relief. The stress of moving out (which most, though not all students have done), navigating the virtualization of classes and jobs, and adjusting to a completely different way of finishing the semester has been and will continue to be a huge challenge for students, faculty, and administration alike. But I am grateful to feel that helping students adjust and feel comfortable in the new college set-up is genuinely important to the decisions being made. The universal Pass/Fail policy that the college just implemented, for example, will be a significant relief for many students for whom taking care of themselves and their family, and possibly relocating, comes paramount. It will ensure an equitable academic landscape where those with easily accessible, work-from-home environments will not be disproportionately advantaged in their classes at the expense of others who may not have such spaces available. Allowing students to stay in campus housing when their circumstances make it difficult to return home has also been very important. As an international student, like the many other international students at Barnard, returning home is not easy nor even necessarily an option - and while I live off-campus this year, for the many in campus housing being able to stay in the dorms is crucial. 

Still, not being on campus is not how I planned to end my time at Barnard. But I am so glad to be part of a community that takes its responsibility for mutual aid and support seriously, and whose members try to make themselves available and helpful in the ways they can when times get tough. I think these times are far more revealing of the care, mettle, thoughtfulness, and grace of a community than the ordinary circumstances of a seminar room or graduate reception or even commencement. It’s easy to feel good about your college experience when you’re in cap and gown, or at one of the many celebrations for seniors, yet I feel more in admiration of my peers and professors during this difficult transition than I think I would have at a perfect graduation. I hope, and have faith, that this community will continue to work at prioritizing the collective, participating in mutual aid, and investing in the relationships that make Barnard a wonderful place to be - remotely or otherwise.