Barnard College

Barnard College is a single-sex, all-women educational institution in New York City. It was founded in 1889 and is affiliated with Columbia University. Barnard students can take classes with Columbia students and officially their degrees are granted by the trustees of Columbia University. Barnard's other major affiliation is as a member of the Seven Sisters. Its campus is located between West 116th to 120th street.

Controversies

Several controversies surround Barnard's relationship to the Columbia undergraduate schools.

Single-sex admissions

Some consider Barnard's single-sex admissions policy to be outmoded and even sexist. The Barnard administration believes that its single-sex educational environment is necessary and legitimate. Barnard is has a unique relationship with its parent Ivy compared to the other Seven Sisters colleges. For example, Radcliffe College was originally a separate college affiliated with Harvard, much like Barnard and Columbia today. But Radcliffe is now fully integrated into Harvard College. Barnard has resisted pressure to do the same since the 1960s. Until 1983, while Columbia College had an all-male admissions policy, Barnard served a vital role granting undergraduate women access to a Columbia education. Since Columbia became co-ed in 1983, Barnard has been repeatedly called obsolete by some.

Columbia University privileges

• Barnard college degrees are officially granted by Columbia University, despite Barnard's status as an affiliate rather than as a fully integrated undergraduate school. Some have suggested this gives Barnard students the opportunity to unfairly claim they attended Columbia University, which may harm CC/SEAS/GS students.
• Barnard students are given email address at both barnard.edu and columbia.edu, again, even though they are not actually Columbia students, but students of an affiliate.

Residence hall swipe access

Barnard and CC/SEAS undergrads have historically not had swipe access to each others residence halls. Students on both sides of the street have varying opinions on this policy. Some Barnard students believe they should have access to Columbia undergraduate dorms, but CC/SEAS undergraduates should not have access to the Barnard dorms because only girls (or mostly girls) live in these dorms and thus Barnard dorms have extra security risks. Other students from both CC/SEAS and Barnard believe that neither of the two undergraduate populations should have access to the other's dorms. The two student populations belong separate schools, these students argue, and thus each should only have access to their own dorms and the resources therein. Finally there are students, both from Barnard and CC/SEAS, who believe that all the undergraduates within Columbia university should have access to each others dorms. Students of this view generally argue that the two student populations are not really separate and that it huge inconvenience for both Barnard and CC/SEAS students to not be able to swipe into each others dorms. Barnard and Columbia do give swipe access to students who chose their housing through the Barnard/Columbia room selection process.

Map

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