Dean of Barnard College Virginia Gildersleeve

barnard college

throughout tenure dean of barnard college, gildersleeve worked advance women s rights championing access columbia professional school , best professors. included hiring charles a. beard, young columbia instructor in 1914 teach barnard s first course in american government barnard graduates eligible attend columbia school of journalism. @ beginning of world war i, hired head of columbia s anthropology department, franz boas, when threatened being fired because of objections world war i. professor boas german jewish immigrant , socialist. among barnard undergraduates, boas found several of century s outstanding anthropologists, including margaret mead.

barnard had few african-american students during gildersleeve s tenure. zora neale hurston pioneer in 1925, attended barnard assistance literary mentor fannie hurst , barnard college co-founder annie nathan meyer. in 1940s, dean gildersleeve paid full scholarship of @ least 1 african-american student harlem out of own pocket.

gildersleeve opposed religious exclusivity , refused openly categorize students, took steps reduce number of jewish students. in 1930s, 20 percent of barnard students jewish, compared 6 10 percent @ other women s colleges, although jewish enrollment @ columbia college had reached 40 percent before world war i. according gildersleeve s biographer rosalind rosenberg, both columbia , barnard began recruiting students outside new york city, evaluating applicants on basis of psychological tests, interviews, , letters of recommendation, academic criteria, thereby lowering number of jewish applicants accepted. in 2 decades before world war ii, process of selective admissions reduced percentage of jewish students @ both columbia , barnard 20 percent.