Swipe Access Reciprocated

There is an issue on this campus that nobody's talking about. There are no activists for it, no stories in the Spectator, no item on any student council agenda. It's not sexual violence, the exploitative dealings of the Columbia bookstore, or the quiet deaths of Beta and FIJI. It's Columbia swipe access. The issue of letting Barnard students swipe into Columbia residence halls has been all over the news, but nobody in power is talking about letting Columbia College students do the same at Barnard.

The question is why. Swipe access for every member of the Columbia community is the best possible result that could come out of the situation. Yet the issue is not even on the table at Barnard because of concerns that allowing Columbia College students into Barnard residence halls would threaten Barnard's supportive all-women environment.

But Columbia College students are already a part of that environment. One of the things that makes Barnard Barnard is that, unlike Bryn Mawr or Wellesley, it is a women's college that is affiliated with a coed university. Columbia College students have an important place in the Barnard community and Barnard students value their association with the college across the street.

And swipe access is one of the things preventing that association from growing into a genuine Columbia-Barnard community. Having to be signed in makes it very difficult for students from one college to participate in groups and activities at the other. Columbia College students encounter serious obstacles when they try to attend activities held in Barnard residence halls (and vice versa), making real University-wide activities difficult at best.

Add to that the fact that mutual swipe access could decrease some of the simmering Columbia-Barnard tension. Giving everyone swipe access would not only save everyone the hassle of signing guests in, it would also remove one of the most visible and aggravating signs of the schools' segregation. Giving one-sided swipe access, on the other hand, will only create another source of irritation in a relationship that many Columbia students already view as unequal.

What everyone can agree on is that the current system needs changing. But how to change it? The first thing to do is to have the student councils to get together and try to work out a solution. The picture painted by news coverage of the swipe issue shows the Columbia College Student Council and Barnard's Student Government Association not talking to each other and then blasting the other side for not seriously considering what they had to say. The councils need to seriously discuss the issue with each other, see where the other side stands, and try to come to some sort of consensus.

But even if Barnard refuses to compromise on the swipe access issue, the right choice for the Columbia administrators who will be making the final decision is clear. Open the residence halls up to every member of the Columbia community, not just Barnard students, but commuters, General Studies students, and all the members of the University who are currently shut out. Viewed in a vacuum, nobody gains from requiring any student to be signed in, and it would be a shame if Columbia were to let resentment of Barnard's policies prevent it from doing the right thing.

But won't unequal swipe access lead to resentment and even more division between Barnard and Columbia? In the short term, that will probably be the case, but time and resentment will eventually convince Barnard to open its doors to Columbia students. If Columbia decides to wait until Barnard comes around on its own, though, it will be waiting for a long while. And while we are waiting, the current undesirable situation will continue to annoy everybody.

Open swipe access at Barnard and Columbia is obviously the best result that could come out of the entire debate, but if Barnard obstinately refuses to consider the possibility, Columbia should consider unilaterally opening the Columbia campus. Incremental progress is better than no progress at all.