Columbia-Barnard relationship

Columbia University and Barnard College are two independent institutions with a long shared history and a close, somewhat unique, relationship. Complications in this relationship often lead to misconceptions and endless bickering among students. The relationship between the institutions has been governed since 1900 by an intercorporate agreement that is periodically renegotiated or renewed. Columbia College began admitting female students in 1983, creating a potential redundancy between the schools.

Summary

Nowadays, Columbia's relationship with Barnard is somewhat paradoxical. On the one hand, Barnard students have the ability to register for almost any class at Columbia, their degrees are conferred by the Trustees of Columbia University, and Barnard styles itself as "one of four undergraduate schools within the Columbia University system." However, Columbia has no administrative relationship with Barnard students, and as a result the University does not count them in any statistical calculation of enrollment, admission, or expenditure. All of these functions fall to Barnard College.

Simply put, Barnard is institutionally independent, while academically and socially linked to Columbia. Institutionally, Barnard has its own board of trustees (chaired by Anna Quindlen) which oversees the school's operation, its own endowment, its own faculty, its own campus (Columbia does not share ownership of any of Barnard's campus buildings), and its own administration. There are few freebies between the school- Barnard has to pay Columbia for access to utilities, the libraries, and other facilities. Columbia University does not handle admissions for Barnard, nor does it spend money on or collect money from Barnard students. The same goes for Barnard College and Columbia students. Nevertheless, both student bodies typically benefit in some manner when either school spends money, as the schools tend to keep student programming open to all undergraduates, though this is not always the case.

That said, both schools are academically linked by the intercorporate agreement which allows for nearly seamless, open cross-registration between the schools. As part of the agreement to open cross-registration (instigated by Columbia budgeteers in 1973 as a means of opening a new revenue stream by charging Barnard for each credit taken by its students at Columbia), Columbia took partial control of Barnard's tenuring process. This ultimately means that Columbia indirectly exercises some control over the Barnard faculty, in some ways making it an extension of Columbia's own faculty. Though there exist politics between members of departments with counter-parts on either side of the street (such as Columbia vs. Barnard History faculty), the schools generally hire faculty and develop departments with eye towards eliminating redundancies and maximizing the benefits from limited resources. However, in a nod to institutional separation, students answer to the department on their side of the street, even though they can usually register for classes on either side of the street.

Barnard is, for all intents and purposes, part of the same college life as the Columbia schools, despite not being under the Columbia yoke. Though there are practical consequences of Barnard's independent status, in day-to-day affairs the lines between the schools are, in fact, mostly non-existent. This is ultimately a very ambiguous relationship when attempting to determine who is and is not a "Columbia student". The situation has prompted endless rumination from all quarters, both informed and uninformed on the Columbia side, where students admitted to Columbia take issue with Barnard students referring to themselves as "Columbia students".

Practical Consequences

As mentioned before, in day-to-day life the lines between the schools are blurred to the point that it all appears like one big student body.

Registration

The schools have nearly complete cross-registration, Registration for Columbia students is almost seamless, with Barnard departments courses listed on the Columbia Course Directory, and registrable through the same process as Columbia courses on SSOL.

Housing

Barnard and Columbia College/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 to 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 is inconvenient for both Barnard and CC/SEAS students to not be able to swipe into each others dorms.

The most recent attempt to enact swipe access between schools was scuttled by CCSC in 2001. Additionally, the excuse that Barnard and Columbia have separate security offices and separate swipe access systems, integrating would be too difficult and costly. Recently there was an SGA campaign for a compromised "Flash Access," in which Barnard/CC/SEAS undergraduates would be able to sign a special security contract and then would be able to themselves sign into the other schools dorm.

Students from each school have the option live in the other's dorms, in which case they are granted swipe access (Barnard students are granted access to all Columbia residence halls, while Columbia students are granted access only to their own building). Columbia students can opt to live in Barnard housing (usually Plimpton), and some students opt to Summer Transfer into Plimpton to get out of a bad Columbia housing choices if they have a really bad lottery number. Similarly, Barnard students can live with their Columbia friends in group housing (they cannot register by themselves for the Columbia lottery, but must register as a group with Columbia students). However, the number of Barnard students allowed to live in Columbia housing is limited, and cannot exceed the number of Columbia students who opt to live in Barnard housing.

Other Aspects

Athletics and the Ivy League

As part of an NCAA approved consortium, Barnard does not maintain an athletics program of its own, but instead women athletes from Barnard compete on University-wide (i.e. "Columbia") athletic teams. There are 3 such consortiums in the nation (such as the one between the 5 colleges of Claremont Mckenna), and Columbia-Barnard's is the only one in Division I. Barnard athletes figure prominently on a number of teams, including Archery.

Whether or not Barnard is an 'Ivy League' school hinges on the interpretation of this arrangement. The Ivy League is an NCAA Division I athletics conference with 8 member schools. Though Barnard itself is not affiliated with the league, as it has no athletics program, its athletes are represented in the league, though only through its connection to Columbia.

Diplomas

One of the more contentious points of the agreement between the school, Barnard College degrees are officially granted by the Trustees of Columbia University, the same body that grants degrees to all Columbia students. This is despite Barnard's status as an affiliate as opposed to an undergraduate school of the University itself, and is often the grounds on which Barnard students argue that they are "Columbia students." Barnard students also take part in Columbia's University Commencement exercises.

Single-sex admissions

Barnard's single-sex admissions policy is an issue of some controversy in some circles on Columbia's campus. Some consider it to be outmoded and even sexist. The Barnard administration, as well as the majority of the Barnard student population, believe that its single-sex policy is necessary to the educational mission and general college environment. Generally they point to both the continual existence of sexism within society as well as data that suggests that at least some women work better and are more likely to succeed when they are educated at single-sex colleges. Barnard has a unique relationship with its parent Ivy compared to the other Seven Sisters colleges. For example, before Harvard went co-ed, Radcliffe College was a separate college affiliated with Harvard. Soon after Harvard began accepting women, Radcliffe was subsumed into Harvard College. Barnard has long been concerned about losing its individual identity as a college, as Radcliffe did, and as it most certainly would if it integrated with Columbia.

Petty Nitpicking

Some of the things people will endlessly argue over are as follows.

E-Mail Addresses

Barnard students are given email address at both barnard.edu and columbia.edu. There are some who believe this is unfair because Barnard students are only affiliates of the school. However, most would point out this is policy is for academic simplicity. This way, teachers can just email all their students at their Columbia email addresses using Courseworks, instead of having to figure out which students have Columbia email addresses and which have Barnard email addresses.

Facebook

A related issue is Barnard's presence on Facebook. Specifically, that it doesn't have one. Rather than create overlapping 'networks' like they did for the Claremont Colleges, the Facebook programmers decided to create only one network. Since facebook networks are largely based on e-mail domains (the @columbia.edu part of your address), there's really nothing to do. Students are ambivalent about this issue, as there are a number who lament the lack of distinction between Columbia and Barnard students, though most admit that it would be unfortunate for students at both schools not to be able to stalk each other.

Selectivity

Some of the more ahem, elitist, Columbia students argue that Barnard students identifying themselves as "Columbia students" cheapen Columbia students' prestige, as they believe Barnard students since admission to Columbia is considerably more selective than to Barnard. They point to figures such as Barnard's significantly lower high school GPA, class rank, SAT scores and higher acceptance rate. Barnard students often argue that they perform just as well as Columbia students in Columbia courses, though there has yet to be any concrete evidence of this.