Reid Hall (Paris)
Reid Hall is Columbia's facility in Paris. Located in the Montparnasse district, it is home to Columbia's study abroad program in France, among other academic activities.
In March 2010, Columbia formally initiated the Columbia Global Center | Europe, part of a network of four university Global Centers worldwide. CGCE will be based at Reid Hall, which now confusingly calls itself the Reid Hall Global Center, supporting more interdisciplinary teaching and research.
It's unclear how the creation of CGCE affects preexisting Columbia or other programming at Reid Hall, other than adding another layer of bureaucracy. The new center is, however, scheduled to be the locus of joint operations between the Mailman School for Public Health and its Paris counterpart.
History
Built in the mid-18th century as a porcelain factory, the complex that is now called Reid Hall has served since as France's first Protestant school, a club for American girls living and working in Paris, a World War I hospital, and, finally, a residential center for female students. At the time, it was owned by Elizabeth Mills Reid, whose daughter in law was a Barnard alum. Barnard Dean Virginia Gildersleeve signed on to support the project, alongside officials from Smith, Vassar, Wellesley, and Bryn Mawr. During World War II, the complex was briefly a refuge for Polish and Belgian students and academics, before being converted back into an academic center by Gildersleeve et al., this time for men and women.
In 1964, the complex was formally bequeathed to Columbia. Faculty members assisting with the transition included Wm. Theodore de Bary, Bert M-P. Leefmans, and Robert O. Paxton. Danielle Haase-Dubosc has been director since 1975.
Over time, it has acquired a reputation for hosting lectures by influential intellectuals. Among those to have appeared there are Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, Simone de Beauvoir, and Gertrude Stein.
