Cheryl Glicker Milstein ’82, P’14’s Remarks

Cheryl Glicker Milstein, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Barnard College
February 2, 2024

My name is Cheryl Glicker Milstein. I have the distinct privilege of being not only the Barnard Board of Trustees chair but a Barnard alumna, a proud Barnard parent, and most recently, a proud grandma of a Barnard Toddler Center student.

This is only the ninth time in our 135-year history that Barnard has gathered to inaugurate a new president. Each has been a new leader for a new moment — with their own learning curve, their own challenges, their own path forward.

Through it all, they have helped Barnard evolve and brought us to where we are today.

When the Search Committee began our work, we went looking for the best-qualified person to lead Barnard in this moment.

Soon enough, we had our first meeting with Laura Rosenbury.

Right away, we knew a few things: She was gifted and brilliant, as you might expect of an honors student from Harvard Law School and Harvard undergraduate. She had an uncanny ability to connect with every person in the room. Each Committee member saw the way Laura’s values aligned so well with Barnard’s own.

We learned how her scholarly writing had sparked national conversations — on postmodern feminist legal theory, the evolving idea of marriage for women, the connection between feminist movement and children’s rights, and much, much more.

We learned she was results-driven — how at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, she’d overseen a 27-spot jump in the U.S. News rankings, how she raised more than $100 million at a public institution and built a transformative new student center, which brought everything students needed under one roof — from collaborative places to study, to career counseling services, and to support mental health.

We learned Laura was bold, and how she’d launched new scholarships to bring more HBCU graduates into the field of law — a program that is growing today. And how even during COVID, Laura literally paid out of her own pocket to support law students in need.

Those would be great qualities for any Barnard leader in any moment.

So why Laura, why now?

In that first interview, Laura told us she wasn’t really looking for a new job — but that Barnard was different. What would it mean to her to lead a women’s college right now? The best women’s college, right now.

How everything in her life had prepared her for this role and this moment.

We saw how Laura had fallen in love with women’s studies courses as an undergrad at Harvard — and how that led to decades of immersing herself in critical theory and public policy, through the lens of women and families.

We learned how motivating it was, early on in Laura’s career, to work at the national office of Planned Parenthood and see the impact her colleagues with law degrees were making: fighting for reproductive rights in courts, shaping public policy to help more women get health care, giving a voice to families who’d never had one.

We wake up every day in a world where women see our fundamental rights under attack. Our hard-fought progress being dragged backward: On equal pay. Voting rights. Career opportunities. And autonomy over our own bodies.

We have a leader in Laura who has devoted her life to taking on these fights. Who knows how to push through traditional boundaries and drive change. Who leads with quiet strength and conviction and provides examples for every one of our students.

I’ll close with a quick story. From her very first day, Laura has understood intuitively how important that sense of community is to Barnard. How important those personal relationships are. She set out to meet every faculty member. She sat down with students and staff. And one day, early last fall, she came to my house for an event with alumnae.

The weather wasn’t cooperating, like today. It was raining, and the clouds were ominous. Yet soon enough, the rain stopped and we were able to go outside. Laura began to speak. And just as she did, a beautiful rainbow appeared directly behind her. And I know you think this is the kind of story that someone might make up for this event, but I have proof. [Photo appears on screen behind her.] There it is! And it was a great reminder that when different colors are banded together, just as when different members of a community come together, they form something very beautiful.

Laura, we are so glad to have you as the leader of our beautiful community. We are fully behind you. And we know that together, we are all just getting started.