President Laura Ann Rosenbury Inaugural Address

Wow. Thank you, Martha and Nalini, for those touching introductions. 

And thank you, Jyoti and Cheryl, for this very beautiful, if slightly heavy medallion. 

More seriously, Cheryl, thank you for all you do for Barnard every day.
 
Please forgive me as I take a moment to soak this all in.

It means so much to be surrounded by:
 
Our students, who amaze me with their passion, their ideas, and their willingness to push boundaries.
 
With our faculty and staff, my colleagues, who show up each and every day for our students because they believe so firmly in the mission of Barnard.
  
I want to say I am so honored to be surrounded by our trustees, who have put their faith in me and supported me from day one.

And the question is how do we channel our differences, how do we create a space where we can have civil discourse, where we can channel our activism productively the way Barnard always has? How do we embrace dialogue across different views?

I stand here today on the shoulders of the 12 leaders of Barnard who came before me — four deans and eight presidents — including President Ellen Futter and President Sian Beilock, who join us here.

I also thank President Shafik, the delegates from Columbia, and the delegates from all of the other colleges and universities for being with us here today. 

And, as our students know, you don’t arrive at a place as exceptional as Barnard by yourself. 

So I also want to thank my wonderful family — my partner Randall, my Mom and Dad, my brothers Jake and Jason, my sister Linda. I want to thank my amazing friends from college, law school, and beyond. I want to thank my mentors, my former colleagues and students, and my former bosses who have joined me. Thank you, Judge. Without you I would not be here today.
 
And it’s difficult for me to stand at this lectern, not just because of the shouting but also because this is the same place where leaders like Dr. King, Marian Wright Edelman, Nelson Mandela stood — and I can’t think of that without reflecting on the journey that led me here. My childhood revolved around a family farm with corn and soybeans, Holstein dairy cattle, and chickens, as well as a church community rooted in peace and simple living.
 
Obviously, as our students would say, the vibes are a little different here.

But when I think about it, every step in my life has been leading to this moment and this college.

My life changed because dedicated educators and mentors — starting with my Grandma Mabel — saw and nurtured something in me, much like educators and mentors see something in every student here today.

My world opened up because of a college education rooted in small classes and a tight-knit community, one that started with Nalini and then was built around a women’s studies program that gave me the chance to explore history, critical theory, and public policy through the lens of gender, race, and power and privilege more broadly.

I found my passion educating, supporting, and advancing the rights of women and children at law school — starting in Martha’s Civil Procedure class my first semester in law school and her Family Law class during my last semester of law school — and then I went on to share that work with young women and students as an educator, as a professor myself. 

Although I didn’t know in advance where that path would take me, I’ve known, since my very first day on the Barnard campus, with every fiber of my being — especially over the last few minutes — that this is where I’m supposed to be.
 
I do want to acknowledge: Yes, we are here in early February. Yes, I’m aware I’m not in Florida anymore. I really appreciate you all of you—but particularly the Floridians, and my brother from Hawai‘i — for braving the elements.

But I promise you: There is a reason for this timing. Just as you can’t advocate for something you don’t understand, you cannot have a good inauguration without taking a few months to really get to know a place. 

And, as certainly my family and friends know, I like to be prepared. 
 
That was a lesson instilled in me by a law school professor who was very tough. Who would obsess over the most minute details of the Uniform Commercial Code and then grill us every day, by cold-calling us in rapid fire to solve secured transactions problems.

Professor Elizabeth Warren is now Senator Elizabeth Warren, and she is now busy instilling those same lessons in CEOs and leaders at every Congressional hearing over which she presides.

But her lessons have stayed with me: Our best work happens when we are deeply immersed in something, inside and out. 

I have, accordingly, taken seven months to get to know this incredible college. 

To have hundreds and hundreds of conversations with you about what makes Barnard special and where we want to go together. 

Many thanks to all of you who welcomed me to your staff meetings, who invited me into your offices, sat down with me for coffee, and participated in our community conversations and listening sessions as a part of our Shaping Barnard’s Future Together initiative. Thank you so much. I want to thank you. 

But we cannot talk about the future of this great College — how to achieve the incredible potential Barnard has right now — if we don’t first talk openly and honestly about the moment we’re in, as a college and as a country.

The ongoing crisis in the Middle East is obviously deeply felt within our community, creating fear, anger, confusion, distrust, and often helplessness. 

We’re at a nationwide inflection point where higher education is literally under attack. Only 36% of Americans say they have confidence in higher education right now. 

And higher ed is far from alone. 

We lack faith in our politics, which continue to grow more divisive and polarizing.

We lack faith in our democracy, as we see the rule of law disrespected and civil rights challenged.

We lack faith in our ability to talk with one another — as our differences are no longer celebrated but are used to pit people against one another.

We feel anxious for the future — as massive challenges like the climate crisis loom.

And yet amongst all these challenges, one sits at the epicenter. One that can improve, shape, and address all of these challenges, to lead us to a better, healthier, more informed, more understanding, and more productive society.

And that is higher education. 

When it comes to inspiring the future scientists, technologists, and climate activists who will save our planet … it starts here.

When it comes to inspiring the artists, writers, and creative thinkers who can understand our history, put things in perspective, use their work to imagine new realities and change hearts and minds … it starts here.

When it comes to learning how to have dialogue across difference, how to reject hate, and how to embrace our diverse lived experiences … it starts here.

Higher education has never had more value.

Higher education has never had more potential than it does right now.

But in order to reach that potential, we need to bravely lead.

Barnard has transformed to meet the moment before.

The Barnard of Annie Nathan Meyer’s founding was different from the Barnard of a generation later, when women won the right to vote and Zora Neale Hurston, Barnard’s first black graduate, arrived on our campus.

And Barnard was even more different 40 years later, when Professors Kate Millet and Quandra Prettyman inspired new ways to engage in gender and racial politics and liberation. 

And now, as Mariame emphasized, we analyze and live the complexity of gender in ways that would have been unimaginable then.

But at every turn, as Barnard has evolved, it has evolved with one value at its core, and that is boldness. Being unafraid.

The boldness that dates back to our founding — the very idea of a women’s college. 

The boldness that emanates from our students in the classroom, as they do indeed challenge the status quo every day. 

The boldness of our alumnae, who, among other things, are making scientific breakthroughs, effecting change in their communities, and taking on the patriarchy in the biggest blockbuster movie of the decade. 

And Barnard stands with Greta.
 
This boldness is in our bones as an institution. Our Bold History is who we are. It’s in the DNA of every Barnard student and alumna in this room today.

And this moment calls for us to transform once more.

We need to keep that boldness at our core … but go even further.

This moment calls for us to become an even more Fearless Barnard.

We will continue to evolve outward — while never losing the core idea of our founding, to empower women to learn and lead.

We will acknowledge and recognize where we are, identify the fears and the barriers that are in our way — and then walk through them, bravely. 

We will set goals bigger than Barnard has ever set before — and then we go out as a community and achieve them.

And I want to make it very clear to you all: I am fearless when it comes to Barnard’s future. 

When we leave Riverside Church today, I want all of us to feel that mission, that responsibility to act without fear.

To be fearless as we …

Strengthen communities of care.

Reimagine our infrastructure.

Embrace One Barnard.

Lead into the future. 

And Grow our resources.

These are the five foundations of my vision — our vision — for the future. 

So, first: We will strengthen our community by looking at what we and so many other colleges and universities have been through the past four months — the pain and the challenges we continue to face.

We must commit to disagree better. To live up to Barnard’s history and our unique position as one of the most diverse institutions in the country — in terms of demographics, in life experience, in points of view.

I mentioned Annie Nathan Meyer earlier — the founder of our great College, a deep believer in women’s education, who also happened to be staunchly against women’s suffrage. People are complex. They contain multitudes.

This year’s first-year class is the most selective in Barnard’s history — only 8% of the people who applied were admitted. And applications are up this year, so next year’s class will be even more selective. 

We don’t admit amazing, promising students from all walks of life in order to change their foundational beliefs. 

Instead, we do it to build community across our differences, across our different viewpoints, to bridge divides and engage in civil discourse even as we disagree. Especially as we disagree. 

We must also commit to building more community beyond our walls.

We draw strength from being the best liberal arts college for women in the world — I know Smith and Mount Holyoke are also here, but the best — with a thriving partnership with Columbia, one of the best research institutions in the world. 

But we’re also in the greatest city in the world: New York. 

So it’s time to strengthen our relationships with Morningside Heights, Harlem, and the entire city with new and revitalized community partnerships, including those that will help us engage in that dialogue across differences. 

It is also time to really commit ourselves to the lifelong success and learning of women both within the gates of Barnard and in our community at large. 

To ensure that there will be more women in research labs, in lifesaving operating rooms, in boardrooms and corner offices, in writers rooms, serving as elected officials or challenging elected officials, and of course directing billion-dollar films. We need more bold and fearless women, changing our world.

And none of this community building is possible without a continued focus on our health and well-being. Barnard is already a national leader in making mental health and wellness a priority on campus. 

We will now go farther. 
 
As the physical space of our new Francine LeFrak Foundation Center for Well-Being opens this summer, we’ll be creating a robust wellness program that supports everyone on our campus — students, faculty, and staff — and reaches well beyond our campus as well. We will support the mental, physical, and financial well-being of women while also emphasizing that the life of the mind — the core of Barnard’s mission — is vital to a life well lived.

Community is who we are at Barnard. We pursue different passions and passionately disagree. But we will continue to build our communities of care within our campus and throughout New York. 

Second: Community is not just about people. 

We have the best faculty and staff in the world. I’ll stand by that. We need our facilities to match the caliber of the people and ensure our physical spaces promote connection and intellectual risk-taking at every turn. 

We are renovating and reimagining Altschul Hall starting this summer, and the new Roy and Diana Vagelos Science Center — our R&D — will transform scientific education and research on our campus. Over 42% of our students currently major in STEM, and we want to support them in every way possible.

But we also need to have innovative space for the social sciences, arts, and humanities. 

And our dorms, at the very least, deserve some uplift.

Ten years from now every one of our buildings will better reflect and promote our amazing community.

But infrastructure also goes beyond buildings.

We’ll also become a tech-forward institution with a robust data warehouse and centralized access to data. We’ll invest in best-in-class technology systems. We’ll set standards for tech literacy across campus — and then we’ll reach them.

Third: As we strengthen our communities of care and our infrastructure, we’ll do it fearlessly as OneBarnard.

We’re going to break down administrative silos. Share a sense of ownership in our campus. Share data and ideas with each other. Collaborate. With each other and our partners across Broadway.

By working together, by sharing our diverse and often conflicting perspectives, we will unlock new forms of creativity.

And collectively, we will embrace a culture of excellence for all.

Fourth: We will need this creative culture of excellence in order to lead for tomorrow. 

Leading for the future starts with access. Making sure Barnard continues to be a place where the most extraordinary women in the world — no matter their background or their ability to pay — want to attend and are able to attend.

And to strengthen our commitment to access, this fall we will announce the first loan forgiveness program in our history so that Barnard becomes much more accessible to those in the middle class. 

Leading for the future also means fearlessly confronting two issues that are absolutely consequential for this next generation — the climate crisis and artificial intelligence.

We aren’t just going to lean in on these issues. We’re going to lead into these opportunities.

We’re going to set an example, right here on campus, and reach net-zero emissions on campus by 2040.

We’re going to continue to lead in STEM in our own way — a way that nobody else can — by focusing on how STEM intersects with the humanities, the arts, and the social sciences and on how artificial intelligence is quickly blurring disciplinary divides.

We’re going to prepare our students for the rapidly changing future of work by combining artificial intelligence with the authentic intelligence that only a liberal arts education can provide. 

Every Barnard student will leave here agile, flexible, and creative as they face futures that transcend our current imaginations. 

Fifth and finally: We’ll be fearless when it comes to our resources. 

We need sustained financial support as we build our communities of care and create infrastructures of excellence as OneBarnard so that we can lead for tomorrow.

So we are going to be fearless in telling Barnard’s story to the whole world. And making sure the whole world knows about Barnard.

And we’re going to be fearless in growing our endowment so that we reach our first BILLION by the end of this decade.

And I thank Roy and Diana Vagelos, and Cheryl and Philip Milstein, for making the first major gifts toward that goal last night. Thank you so much.

With that support, we will protect the programs that mean so much to the mission of Barnard.

We will ensure our financial aid program is best-in-class. 

We will be on the same footing as we compete with the other elite colleges in this country and around the globe.

It means we go from the “best-kept secret” to the best college, period.

These are the five foundations for our future: Communities of Care, Infrastructures of Excellence, OneBarnard, Leading for Tomorrow, and the Resources to make it all happen. 

This won’t happen overnight. And I’m confident that everyone in this room will not agree with every single piece of this vision. Many of you may not think we can achieve these goals. But as you heard in the video, I am tenacious. And I know that all of us will come together, right now in this moment, to begin our work together. 

As one community. OneBarnard.

Boldly leaning into our history — which makes us special, and which we will never lose — while fearlessly leading into a new future. 

Together.