Barnard College, founded in 1889, is an independent college of liberal arts and sciences for women, located in the borough of Manhattan, in New York, New York, United States. Though affiliated with Columbia University, Barnard has its own campus, faculty, administration, trustees, operating budget, and endowment. The college has occupied its four-acre Morningside Heights campus since 1898. This Manhattan neighborhood is at times referred to as the Academic Acropolis, because the Manhattan School of Music, Teachers College, Bank Street College of Education, Union Theological Seminary, and Jewish Theological Seminary are also situated here.
Barnard??s original 1889 home was a rented brownstone at 343 Madison Avenue, where a faculty of six offered instruction to 14 students in the School of Arts. When in 1900 Barnard was incorporated into Columbia University??s educational system, it continued to be independently governed, while making available to its students the instruction, the library, and the degree of the university.
The College gets its name from Frederick A.P. Barnard (1809-89), an American educator and mathematician, who served as then-Columbia College??s president from 1864 to 1889. Frederick Barnard advocated equal educational privileges for men and women (but preferably in a coeducational setting).
Barnard College was one of the Seven Sisters schools paired with seven of the Ivy League schools. It was the sister school of Columbia College, now Columbia University. Barnard is one of the few Seven Sisters that remains single sex (female). It maintains financial independence from Columbia University. |
