Ruth Simmons, scholar, author, and former university and college president will deliver Barnard’s 2024 Commencement address, Barnard President Laura Rosenbury announced in a Monday email to the senior class. Simmons will also receive the Barnard Medal of Distinction, the college’s highest honor.

Barnard held its annual gala on April 15 at Cipriani 42nd Street, honoring trustee Francine A. LeFrak and alumna Helene D. Gayle, BC ’76. The event, titled “A Celebration of Wellness,” raised $3.4 million for financial aid.

The Institute of Global Politics’ Women’s Initiative convened on Tuesday for “The State of Child Care in New York City,” the first event since the initiative’s launch summit on March 4.

Nightline Peer Listening, a student-run anonymous peer-listening service, will close its lines for the remainder of the spring semester beginning on April 11, directors and staff announced in a Friday Instagram post.

The Barnard Student Government Association published a petition alleging “Discrimination and Harmful Behavior at Nightline Peer Listening” in a March 26 Instagram post. Staffers at Nightline—a student-run anonymous listening service—had brought concerns to the attention of the council a month earlier.

Columbia’s new on-campus medication abortion service, which the University rolled out on March 18, is the product of months of planning at Columbia Health and Student Health on Haven at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Columbia began offering on-campus medication abortion on Monday, becoming one of the first private universities in the United States to do so.

Barnard students and faculty are expressing concerns for conditions of freedom of speech and expression on campus following the college’s new policy mandating that students remove decorations from their suite and dorm doors, the latest catalyst for such worries at Barnard.

Barnard was recognized as a Fulbright Top Producing Institution by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with 14 fellowship recipients, the college announced in a Feb. 13 press release. The 2023-24 academic year is the seventh year in a row that Barnard has earned the recognition.