Barnard endowment valued at $174 million

Barnard College’s endowment cashed in at $174 million as of Aug. 31, up from $163 million as of Dec. 31, 2008, Barnard President Debora Spar said in a recent interview.

The endowment had previously hit the $200 million mark but was buffeted by the economic crisis down to $163 million last December. The rebound to $174 million places Barnard mid-pack among peer institutions in terms of recession fallout. (As of June 30—the benchmark by which other institutions release their numbers—Barnard’s endowment was valued at $164.7 million.) “If you compare year to year, we’re down 18 percent,” Spar said.

Barnard invests its endowment through Investure, a company that manages nine other endowment funds. Chief Operating Officer Gregory Brown attributed the increase primarily to market conditions, but added via e-mail that, “asset allocation has a lot to do with it as well. Global equities, particularly in emerging markets, performed well during the first two months of this fiscal year.”

Spar is thankful that the markets have calmed and that this semester is shaping up to be less eventful—and less stressful—than her first two. “Where I am this year as relative to where I was last year, things feel a lot more under control,” she said.

“Is the endowment as big as it was 14 months ago? No. But is it tanking every day? No. So that feels really good,” Spar said. “Last year at this time, I think everyone in the city was waking up every day wondering if the world was turned upside down,” she said. “The macro picture affects all of us, and it feels a lot more stable.”

But recession or otherwise, Barnard’s endowment is relatively tiny, and Spar said one of her priorities is increasing it beyond crisis recovery. “It’s just too small,” she said.

Spar attributed the endowment’s size to a lack of alumnae donations—she noted that alumnae give at an annual rate of 30 percent—and misconceptions about the donation process to Columbia University or Barnard College.

Barnard Provost Elizabeth Boylan added that Barnard has historically had sub-par development practices. Over the last two presidencies, some steps have been made to fix this, such as Barnard’s work to compile a comprehensive alumnae database. But Boylan said that recent efforts “don’t make up for the last hundred years.”

Spar added that she is “planning to start thinking about the timing” of a capital campaign to grow the endowment.

Despite the relative calm of the moment, Spar has a lot on her plate—launching the Athena Center for Leadership Studies, the opening of the Diana, overseeing the execution of administrative shuffling, and dealing with the school’s commencement conundrum.

“The Diana is going to happen. Now that you can see it is very reassuring. I go out every day to make sure it’s still there,” Spar said, referring to Barnard’s new student center—a glass building that lies atop a construction site previously flanked by a sign that said, “Imagine the Nexus.”

Beyond the Diana, Spar has instituted administrative changes in Milbank, including creating the position of vice president for information technology and consolidating all diversity initiatives under the College Activities Office. Spar said the changes are going “quite well” and brushed off flack for creating posts among Barnard’s upper ranks that may make the school sound business-like. “It’s a title—companies don’t usually have chiefs of staff,” she said.

As for students’ gripes about graduating in Levien Gymnasium, Spar said the issue is back open. The Student Government Association has circulated a survey, and Spar is waiting to hear what students want before making a decision.