Panel Reflects on Outgoing President Shapiro’s Tenure

When outgoing Barnard president Judith Shapiro was asked whether her time as head of the college was similar to running an institution somewhere between a “faltering corporation and a hotel,” Shapiro said she had a better comparison.

“Being the president of Barnard is more like being the mayor of Brigadoon,” Shapiro said to a packed room.

Faculty, administrators, and alumnae filled the James Room Monday night for a panel discussion honoring Shapiro’s 14 years at Barnard. The event aimed to shed light on the state of women’s education, academic freedom, and leadership in the education realm.

After years of playing host to events organized by the Barnard Center for Research on Women, Shapiro saw the tables turn as she was a panelist in an event entitled “Looking to the Future” and moderated by Barnard Board of Trustees Chair Anna Quindlen. Other panelists included former Wellesley President Diana Chapman Walsh and Alison Bernstein, vice president of the Knowledge, Creativity, and Freedom Program at the Ford Foundation.

The focus of the evening was “what she [Shapiro] has learned from her time in the trenches,” according to the event’s announcement.

“You need a lot of energy. ... You need really to be having a very good time,” Shapiro said of her job.

Shapiro, who Quindlen described as having ushered in a “golden age” at Barnard, examined the need for academic integrity and diversity, and the difficulty of saying things in ways “that can reach different audiences with different views.”

Bernstein applauded Shapiro’s rejection of U.S. News and World Report’s college rankings and her stance that an institution’s strength cannot always be quantified.

Shapiro argued that women’s colleges represent the best possible environment in which to foster gender equality. While many coed institutions, she said, are male-dominated forces that happen to admit women, the boards of all-female colleges consist of integrated cross-sections of men and women on equal footing.

“I see women’s colleges as important because they can be counted on to advance the interest of women and gender equity,” Shapiro said.

Walsh noted that the adage “‘None of us [women’s colleges] is as strong as all of us’ has never been truer. ... I’m convinced that the quality of education is dramatically better than it ever was.”

While the event was attended by mostly faculty and alumni, students and BCRW volunteers said they found Shapiro’s open dialogue to be inspiring and necessary.

“It’s been really important to have a direct dialogue between the president of Barnard and the Women’s Center,” Suzanna Denison, BC ’09, said. “I guess that’s a concern or wish that the next president will have such an open conversation or connection.”

“It shows for President Shapiro—it [dialogue] has really been a priority for her,” Anna Steffens, BC ’10, said. “I’m pretty sure that with the next president it will continue to be a priority.”

While she said her departure would open up new opportunities for both herself and the school, Shapiro expressed concern that she would find herself somewhat aimless after leaving Barnard, and said she saw her future self like “the first George Bush in the supermarket.”

“For some reason, I have a hard time seeing you as the first George Bush in the supermarket,” Quindlen replied.

Instead, Bernstein suggested another career path for Shapiro, a job on National Public Radio.Quindlen agreed, saying Shapiro should be “on a program called ‘All Things Considered, and Then Some,” which was greeted by an audience-worth of applause.

alix.pianin@columbiaspectator.com