Convocation at the historic Riverside Church on September 8 launched a year of festivities marking the College’s 125th anniversary. Hundreds of students, faculty, staff, and alumnae attended, filling the magnificent neo-Gothic building, the tallest church in the United States, with Barnard spirit. As the convocation opened, a procession of presidents from each class, going back to 1938, proudly carried class banners down the center aisle; all were met with hearty cheers from students.
As the keynote, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and board of trustees chair emerita Anna Quindlen ’74 told the audience, “The changes in the lives of women over the last 125 years mean women’s colleges are as important and as relevant today as when Barnard was founded.” Students wore colorful class t-shirts and everyone waved a Barnard pennant for this special aerial photo shot from the church gallery. After the ceremony, the crowd adjourned to Lehman Lawn for a reception under a Barnard-blue, cloudless sky.
