Bloomberg To Speak At Barnard Class Day

Barnard’s 116th Commencement ceremony, which will be held at Columbia due to Nexus construction, will feature an address by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. New Yorker editor David Remnick, tennis player Billie Jean King, and Harlem activist and Head Start program organizer Thelma Davidson Adair will also be present to receive Medals of Distinction, Barnard’s highest honor.

A committee of trustees, faculty, administrators, and students annually selects Barnard’s Commencement speaker. According to a Barnard communications press release, the committee chooses honorees whose achievements are related to Barnard’s mission as a women’s college in New York City.

Before running for mayor as a Republican in 2001, Bloomberg—reported to be worth $11.5 billion by Forbes in 2007—made his fortune founding financial news company Bloomberg, L.P. As mayor, he declines to receive a salary, and has put his own money into various city programs. Recently, Bloomberg’s name was passed around as a potential independent presidential candidate, but he quashed such rumors in a New York Times article.

“Mayor Bloomberg’s achievements and intellect perfectly reflect the ambitions of our students and the accomplishments of our alumnae,” Anna Quindlen, BC ’74 and chair of the Board of Trustees, said in a press release. “And as the father of two successful daughters, he is ideally positioned to speak from the heart to members of the class of 2008.”

The committee found Bloomberg suitable as an advocate for women, citing in the release his commitment to the New York City Commission on Women’s Issues. The commission is partnering with Barnard to conduct a survey on women in the workplace.

“Both Mayor Bloomberg and Barnard College embody the best of New York. As members of what is not only [a] New York City’s women’s college, but the college for all New York City women, we admire what he has done for the city we care about so deeply,” Barnard President Judith Shapiro said in the release. “We are honored that he is with us to help send another 600 bright, spirited, and energetic young women out to lead and change the world.”

Barnard students had mixed reactions to the announcement. “Bloomberg is speaking at Barnard? I think that’s atrocious,” Svati Lelyveld, BC ’08 said. “First, it’s a women’s college. Second, under Bloomberg, jail construction has gone up ... there have been all sorts of criminal injustices—criminal justice injustices. I don’t think he has anything this women’s college needs except for money.”

The invitation of a male speaker to the graduation of a proudly female college caused many students to blanche.

“I think it’s weird that he’s not a woman,” Laura Zellerbach, BC ’08, said, “but it’s cool that Barnard got such a big name.”

“I think it’s awesome, and I’m definitely going to go see him speak,” Aja Hazelhoff, BC ’09, agreed. “It’s a good thing for Judith Shapiro’s exiting graduation, and it’ll be good publicity for Barnard.”

New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, CC ’67, who works under Bloomberg, will speak at Columbia College’s Class Day.

Shapiro, who is retiring, will bestow the Medals of Distinction onto the honorees for the last time after 14 years of leadership. Remnick’s experience in journalism includes a stint as a Moscow correspondent for the Washington Post, and his book Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire earned him a Pulitzer Prize. King has won many Grand Slam titles, and in 1981 became the first prominent, openly gay American athlete. Adair specializes in early childhood education and was the first African-American moderator of the Presbyterian Church.

Laura Stoffel, SGA President, did not return calls for comment Wednesday evening.
Maggie Astor and Lien Hoang contributed reporting to this article.

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