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Breaking news from the Diana Event Oval! Meryl Streep has just been announced as Barnard’s Class Day Speaker. Bwog is hoping she’ll deliver the speech in a medley of her most famous characters– a Miranda Priestly drawl, a Julia Child shrill, whoever she played in 2006’s under-the-radar film “The Ant Bully”. Make way for Meryl, 2010!
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56 Comments
@Proud Barnard alumna Barnard doesn’t pay their Commencement speakers. They just want to come and be honored by the amazing institution that produced Anna Quindlen, Jhumpa Lahiri, Edwidge Danticat, Zora Neale Hurston, and 31,000 other amazing alumnae.
@I wonder... what percentage of athletes aren’t within GPA, class rank, and standardized test range.
@epic fail Columbia accepts dumbass jocks for athletic scholarships who can hardly speak civilized English. That is all.
@Alum Columbia and Barnard don’t give out athletic scholarships. Everyone at Columbia and Barnard should know that. You’re either uninformed or an impostor. (Or both.)
@Actually It’s not done explicitly, but they do it under the table.
@LOVE! I am a proud Columbia student, but I just wanna put this out there: almost ALL of my friends go to BC and they are just as intelligent and witty or even moreso than the people on my hall. I love Barnard girls; y’all rock! No hate or pettiness from this Columbia kid!!!
@suckas Let those kids make their noise…in the end, it’s always the whiners who look bad.
@Chill I go to Barnard. I acknowledge the fact that Columbia’s more prestigious than Barnard, but that Barnard is also very selective. Um. Yeah. Not much else to say. Touchy Columbians, chill out- if some BC chicks wanna say they’re from Columbia, just let ’em be- is that really gonna make you that “angsty” and “frustrate you”? Let it go, man.
@Anonymous I love that for every BC-related Bwog article, a bunch of insecure Columbia students who wouldn’t have the guts to say the things that they write here face-to-face feel the need to put down Barnard.
Back on topic: SEVEN SISTERS LOVE! I hope that Barnard’s amazing class speaker streak lasts into 2011.
@uhmm.... wait so if so many women try to use their degrees to get strong careers, how come barnard’s endownment is so small?
plus Just admit Columbia’s a better school, you all at Barnard should feel privileged to be associated with one of the top 10 schools in the nation
@ho hum uhmm We admit it… “us all at Barnard” do feel privileged to be associated with Columbia. It’s a brilliant school. Do you feel better now?
@Anonymous FYI
barnard profs have to be approved by the barnard tenure board AND the columbia one. so its not a better school. its just a smaller school that doesnt have the ivy league name brand that columbia has and you think that makes you better…
columbia is enhanced by the talented young women who contribute to columbia’s athletics, theater, clubs and academics. without barnard you wouldnt be so great. so why dont we stop looking at the negatives and focus on the positives people…
@size matters? small endowments?
ok… I see where this is coming from.
what next?
@ALERT Ok, gonna lay it down now:
CC/SEAS: You want a good speaker? Either:
a) Convince Student Life to start PAYING people to come speak at Class Day. (Yeah, that’s right, we don’t pay them, hence not exciting speakers)
b) Start up a Class Day Speaker fund.
BARNARD: You guys are great, but it’s always a few bad apples that keep ruining your reputation. You end up with some (emphasis on “SOME”) Barnard graduates using their diplomas (which says Columbia) to get strong careers. In no way am I trying to knock down the strength of academics at BC, but if you stop people from doing that, you destroy the stigma.
Btw, I am TOTALLY coming uptown to see Meryl speak!
@bc2011 Our degree actually says Barnard College of Columbia University. So what do you expect us to do with our degrees; not get strong careers? The Columbia University part comes with the degree; some employers may hire you because of that, some may not. But it’s not like we can remove the Columbia University part.
I think people need to stop thinking that everyone who goes to Barnard wanted to go to Columbia because when I found out about Barnard, I didn’t know it was affiliated with Columbia until way after I got in. I never wanted to go to Columbia either. I hate the core, the swim test, and the lack of a loving atmosphere. At least at Barnard it feels like they care more about us.
Also SWEEEET Meryl Streep! I hope they someone just as great or better for 2011!
@bad apple I really want to understand the nature of your complaint with us bad apples. Aren’t you going to use your degree to also get a strong career? Seriously… try to examine you concern over Barnard women advancing in their careers. We would all be stronger if we didn’t hack away at what makes our university great. Glad you’ll make the trip uptown.
@hey "ALERT" are a graduating Barnard senior? because if you’re not, you can’t just “come uptown” to hear meryl streep speak. you’ll need to charm a barnard senior into giving you a ticket… and you’re not doing yourself any favors by writing these comments on bwog.
@Ladies... What if we simply stopped reacting every time a CC student made a vitriolic comment about Barnard? We’ve heard ALL their arguments before: we study in their libraries; we date their men; we trade on their name; and now…we buy their notebooks and college gear. Someone who is clearly fascinated in ranking reminds us of “our place” in the US News and World Report (did the person who keeps writing this not get enough love as a child?)
What would the incredibly small percentage of CC students who write this garbage do if none of us responded? They could just sit there on the sunnier side of the street and feel excellent about themselves.
No doubt, our good news that Meryl Streep is coming brings out the worst in those who fear they might be outranked in their own game.
@Anonymous to those who think getting into a womens college is easy:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22651712/
@Anonymous haha i love how EVERY single mention of barnard on bwog ignites something reminiscent of gang war
@wow “Excuse me but you act as if I didn’t work hard to get into Barnard. Barnard is the most selective women’s college in the United States. It is not easy to get into so before you make a remark like that maybe you should check your facts.”
Ok, maybe this is true…but please explain why it is ranked no. 30 in the liberal arts category according to US News and World Report putting it behind many of the other women’s colleges
On the other hand…Columbia is tied for 8th in the nation
@Simple. Endowment is a huge portion of the US News ranking. Barnard is -not- a wealthy college and does not have as much funding-per-person as many colleges of its level. By the way, according to DSpar at the meal plan meeting, Columbia makes the situation worse: since Columbia students eat more meals at Barnard than the other way around, our tuition winds up paying for the meals of the students across the street.
Admissions % is pretty obvious too – if you reject 50% of prospective applicants off the bat (because they’re men), then yeah, you’re going to be 50% less selective than an identical college.
@Alum The US News ranking criteria presume that each liberal arts college functions as a standalone institution. Barnard doesn’t fit that model, so US News doesn’t measure it fairly. For example, US News thinks Barnard has a small library because it does not factor in the availability of Columbia’s libraries. It also presumes that Barnard’s course offerings are limited by the size of its faculty, without taking into account what Columbia offers. There are many other ways in which Barnard’s ranking suffers because the school doesn’t match the US News paradigm.
@Ridiculous It’s ridiculous that every single Bwog article’s comments section turns into this idiotic Columbia vs. Barnard banter. Get over yourselves…
Now to the important things: YAY Meryl Streep! Definitely looking forward to hearing what she has to say…
@BC'09 lady Let’s just LOVE! Barnard’s great. Columbia’s great. After graduation no one gives a crap. Don’t ruin your time in college trying to prove you’re as good as Columbia or trying to put down Barnard. It reallllly doesn’t matter.
@seriously? You guys think Columbia is all high and mighty and better than Barnard. So why do classes from our school apply to your degree if we’re so below you guys? Come on, grow up.
I understand that you’re mad at the girls who try to pass off at Columbia students and walk around with Columbia stuff. I hate those girls too.
But I’m ok with Columbia University stuff because we are part of the university whether you like it or not.
And if you think about it we’re not so selective as CC because we have less of applicant pool to pick from since we have eliminated males. So if you think about it if Barnard was a co-ed school, it might have the same acceptance rate since more people would apply and it would cause more competition.
@hmm to your opening question: a glorified transfer credit system.
@For the record... I don’t own a single piece of Columbia gear and many other Barnard students don’t either. However, I don’t blame those that do. When I need a notebook, folder, or sweatshirt… I buy whatever is closest. If I’m in the Columbia bookstore, then yeah, it’ll say Columbia on it. Who cares? It’s just a brand. I could be a UPenn student and wear a Columbia sweatshirt. I love my CC/SEAS/GS/Barnard friends, I have their respect, and I don’t really need ‘approval’ from every single Columbia student to validate my existence.
On topic: Meryl Streep is crazy-awesome. O_O She may even be a better speaker than Hillary Clinton, although I think it’s an apple to oranges comparison.
@wow “i agree with you. i would love the respect of the people across the street since they do take our class, eat at our dining hall/cafe/liz’s place, and have tons of friends from over here. also barnard girls are very much active on columbia’s campus in sororities and clubs. I would love respect.”
Maybe you would get some respect if you learned how to form coherent sentences and I feel the animosity has to do with the fact that a lot of barnard girls pose as Columbia students and that is angering to those who worked hard to get into Columbia
@hey Excuse me but you act as if I didn’t work hard to get into Barnard. Barnard is the most selective women’s college in the United States. It is not easy to get into so before you make a remark like that maybe you should check your facts.
@Anonymous But that pales in comparison to the selectivity of Columbia College. It’s simply not comparable, and yet many Barnard students try to pass themselves off as Columbia students. As a Columbia (college) student, I feel like that is not fair.
Maybe Barnard is selective and super cool and shit, but that does not forgive what some people do. And for that, some animosity is deserved. Not that terrible misogynistic kind, but some general angst.
@lolwut And here you make the assumption that everyone at Barnard would ever have WANTED to be at Columbia. Lol no.
I came to Barnard because I was promised a small, insular community in a big city, because I knew I’d have access to the astounding resources of the neighboring research university, and because I knew my time would culminate in a mandatory challenging senior thesis. Columbia’s got one of three. And the Core. Ick. Dead White Men left, right, and center? Thanks, I had enough of the Greeks in high school.
@lolwut As a note, though, the “small, insular community” was a bit of a joke. Sigh. Can’t have everything.
@Anonymous seriously! hilary then meryl! who are they gonna get next year?!
and i agree, the barnard/columbia adversity is ridiculous…. i don’t feel it that much anymore but i did in the beginning… i wish they could just stick to one definition of the relationship!
@person “seriously! hilary then meryl! who are they gonna get next year?!”
Oprah.
Then the Virgin Mary.
re: Columbia and Barnard,
I have plenty of Barnard friends. I know people who have plenty of Barnard… friends. I don’t care about Columbia vs. Barnard. Sucks for girls competing for performing arts stuff though. But the scene as a whole is better for the presence of Barnard, and I’m glad Barnard’s around overall.
@Anonymous barnard love!
@To wow Man didn’t that shit end freshman year?
@SEAS '10 Barnard girls get everything. No fair.
@lolwut Except for respect from vocally neurotic Columbians. It’s nice to be the cause of a different sort of caterwauling across the way.
@hey i agree with you. i would love the respect of the people across the street since they do take our class, eat at our dining hall/cafe/liz’s place, and have tons of friends from over here. also barnard girls are very much active on columbia’s campus in sororities and clubs. I would love respect.
@Decent Commoncy see, not only do i not care about that shit, but I would rather those things not exist. I would never demonize Barnard, like some people, but I *wish* it didn’t exist. As a CC male, I don’t see very many benefits from Barnard, so I would rather Columbia owned both campuses, and we just expanded the undergraduate body. I really don’t like how the built in bubble of insecurity sours the atmosphere here. It doesn’t help that some people are huge assholes about Barnard, but personally I see it as a negative influence as a whole.
@lawlz well put, lolwut.
@sporkle Huzzah!! I’ve had a crush on her since I was maybe twelve.
@wow Columbia is a better school, so Barnard’s setting the bar high…at this rate we should get Obama or Jesus
@2010 I’m so excited!! And yes, Anna Quindlen’s speech made me cry..
@Anonymous Whattt. Lucky Barnard!
@well... i heard gov patterson should be available soon
@BC '10 YAYYYY.
@Anonymous Jealous!
@bc2010 Anna Quindlen’s announcement was so heartfelt! I love Barnard!
@CC guy So jealous. I hope we get a real celebrity as class day speaker.
@Anonymous woooott woot
@aaaahhhhhh YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@yay barnard! yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@bc 2011 Congrats 2010! Let’s see who they’ll bring for 2011…Idk how they’ll beat Hillary and Meryl
@actually wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhtttttttttt