Barnard College songs

Barnard College songs include its own alma mater, "College on the Hilltop".

College on the Hilltop

1. There's a college on a hilltop That's very dear to me, And a certain group of students With ties of comrad'rie, So we'll sing to dear old Barnard, And loyal be and true, As we show to coming classes How we love the white and blue.

2. When the day has come for parting And college days are o'er, There will always be a fondness For the good old days of yor, And we'll sing to dear old Barnard As in memory we see The college on the hilltop Where our classmates used to be.

The song is attributed to May Appleton Parker, BC class of 1904. Apparently in the days of yore, Barnard seniors would symbolically mark the end of their time at Barnard during the "Senior Steps" ceremony, during which the seniors would sing College on the Hilltop (apparently no other class was allowed to sing it) and other class songs from the steps of Milbank Hall and then yielding the steps to the rising senior class after an oration. Barnard seniors also planted Ivy on campus between 1909 and 1913, after earlier attempts to plan "class trees" failed.