Barnard's 99 percent

It started with a meal plan. Last year, Barnard College enforced a mandatory meal plan, regardless of a student’s commuter status or dietary restrictions. Winter break housing went from being free to one hundred dollars to two hundred dollars. Then, a compulsory registration fee was added for parents during Family Weekend. And just last week, Barnard’s dean Avis Hinkson sent out an email to students informing us that, starting fall 2012, part-time students will be required to pay full tuition. In the past three years, Barnard has nickel-and-dimed us to no end—it has milked us dry, and this is the last straw.

We already pay an arm and a leg to attend Barnard. Factoring in the other needless expenses (like the meal plan) at this school, it became clear that I could not afford another full semester of Barnard after this May. So, I planned to be a part-time student my second semester and take the first semester off to work. But with that one breezy email, my entire future changed. No longer will I be graduating in 2013. I have to pile on courses this year so I can graduate this May. What about financial aid, you might ask? Financial aid, unfortunately, is unobtainable. My parents hail from working/middle class backgrounds: Dad’s a teacher, Mom’s a computer programmer. What does that make me? DISQUALIFIED from receiving aid. This full-tuition policy squeezes us, the students in the middle, from both sides, until we can simply no longer afford this school.

Why a protest? Why, some students have asked me, did you turn straight to that instead of trying to work with the SGA and the administration? True, the idea of a protest arose in the heat of the moment (the same day we received the email from Dean Hinkson) and it was hastily organized. But what might we expect from the administration? What good did the town hall do last year, during the meal plan uproar? Many of us attended the open SGA meeting on Monday, and the results were as expected: Dean Hinkson reiterated Barnard’s new policy and tried to put it in a positive light. Just as with the meal plan, the voices of the students counted for nothing.

The nature of the policy and email was the main motivation behind this protest. A life-altering email arrived after registration had ended and program filing had closed. Many students had to scramble to make changes to their schedules in order to graduate early, but could not even get into the required classes for their majors as it was too late. I was lucky—my concentration only requires me to take one semester of senior seminar, but other students did not fare as well and had to change their majors.

I realize that Barnard is experiencing financial difficulties. Barnard is not as well endowed as Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, all of which receive generous gifts from their wealthy alumni, many of whom occupy some of the highest paying jobs in the country. Sadly, Barnard has not received that kind of infusion of capital for a number of reasons. Although Barnard graduates are highly competent and go into great careers—medicine, law, and business, to name a few—they DO NOT become presidents of banks. A vast chasm separates “doing well” and becoming a multimillionaire. Society does not like to give the best, most lucrative positions to women. We would prefer not to believe that, and insist we live in a post-sexist world, but the facts reveal a different picture.

So, Barnard is suffering. Nevertheless, there could be other ways of saving a few dollars at Barnard. God forbid they think of reducing salaries of the people at the top, like that of President Spar. That’s simply unthinkable, isn’t it?

According to Dean Hinkson at the SGA meeting, the email was sent for the purposes of “community building” and “enriching the Barnard experience.” This seems questionable. It would show greater integrity if an email were sent explaining the financial crunch. This lack of transparency does not redound to the good name of Barnard. Barnard has taken an action that burdens the lives of its students and families.

Yesterday, there was a protest. A protest against this unjust policy, a protest in which we demanded that the administration grandfather the policy and enact it only upon the incoming freshmen—at least they will know what they are getting themselves into. The end of the protest should not be the end of us raising our voices in dissatisfaction and continuing our fight. I urge all of my peers to keep sending emails, to keep setting up meetings with Dean Hinkson. Even for those of us who are not affected by this policy, let us not continue in the culture of apathy that has prevailed at this school. Your friends, fellow students, and dare I say sisters will suffer greatly from this policy. Even if it is only twenty to fifty of us (as Dean Hinkson claims), let’s show her that Barnard is a community—a community that stands by all its students who are being cheated, regardless of whether it’s two students or two hundred.

The author is a junior at Barnard College majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing.