BOSS and Legacies of Student Activism

Note: Barnard Archives staff (Sarah Barlow-Ochshorn (‘20), Tirzah Anderson (‘21), Kaya Alim (‘22), and Martha Tenney) wrote these vignettes about Barnard’s history in the summer of 2020, following an invitation from then Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Ariana Gonzalez-Stokas to create a brief orientation to the evolution of Barnard’s history focusing on exclusions, inclusions, and major milestones. Because of COVID lockdowns, staff focused on readily accessible sources for Barnard history, including digitized publications and secondary sources. Eve Glazier ’23 updated links and edited these in 2023. To suggest edits to any of these posts, or to set up a research appointment, please email archives@barnard.edu.

Barnard students have a history of working together in activism to fight back against discrimination and injustice. A lot of this organizing against racism, anti-Blackness, transphobia, homophobia, and anti-union practices has come in the form of student groups, clubs, and publications. These include groups such as The Barnard Organization of Soul and Solidarity (B.O.S.S.), Lesbians and Bisexuals In Action (L.A.B.I.A., previously Lesbians at Barnard, later Club Q), and Divest Barnard. 

In the early years of the College, Barnard students formed clubs around a variety of radical and socialist issues. The Intercollegiate Socialist Society started in 1908, and continued through the aughts and 1910s. In the late 1920s, the “Norman Thomas for Mayor Club” formed, soon transforming in the 1930s into the Socialist Club. Other political student organizations in the 1930s included the Social Science Forum, Young Communist League, and the Marxist Study Club. Students also organized anti-war strikes and demonstrations to fight for peace and against fascism.  

Student activism continued in the mid-twentieth century, as Barnard students participated in the 1968 protests at Columbia against the Vietnam war and the University’s gentrification of Harlem. In 1970, the Barnard Strike Coalition joined the National Student Strike, and published “Why We Strike.” In 1969, B.O.S.S. started as an idea in Frances Sadler’s (class of 1972) dorm room, with help from Sherry Suttles (class of 1969) and other Black Barnard students. Clara Hayler, Alma Kinney, and Carmen Martinez came together to form the steering committee, and with support from their staff ally Lemoine Callender, the Assistant to the Dean of Faculty and Director of Human Resources, they took action. In 1969, B.O.S.S. delivered a set of demands to President Martha Peterson with their calls to action to end the institutionalized racism at Barnard. They secured an office and a lounge space in Reid Hall, prompted the hiring of three Black faculty members, and incited academic shifts as well. They have continued to advocate over the years, speaking out against racism and sexism and celebrating Black womanhood. 

LGBTQ+ activists have a storied history at and adjacent to Barnard as well. Prior to L.A.B.I.A, the Student Homophile League and Columbia Queer Alliance (CQA) organized for queer students at Barnard and Columbia. In addition, Barnard students and community members have been historically active in the LGBTQ+ rights movement off campus. Barnard alum Karla Jay was at the Stonewall uprising on June 28, 1968. Martha Shelley, an administrative assistant at Barnard in the 1960s, also witnessed Stonewall, and was a New York spokeswoman for Daughters of Bilitis (a civil rights organization for Lesbians). More recently, Club Q released QZine to support the queer community on Barnard’s campus, and Students for a Trans-Inclusive Barnard formed in 2014 to fight for acceptance of transgender students at Barnard.

Other student activist groups have used varied strategies and tactics in their activism. Harkening back to the movement on Barnard’s and Columbia’s campuses to divest from Apartheid in South Africa, Barnard students have a strong  tradition of holding Barnard accountable for its financial investments. In 2017, students successfully demanded that Barnard divest from fossil fuel companies that deny climate change. In  2018, Columbia University Apartheid Divest held a referendum in which students voted for the college to divest from companies profiting from violence against Palestinians, though Barnard rejected the students’ vote. The group Student-Worker-Solidarity (SWS) has been a strong supporter of Local 2110 and the BCF-UAW, hosting protests and creating a zine to mark the history of labor unions at Barnard. Barnard students had active involvement in the Columbia graduate workers strike of 2021-22. Student labor organizing continued as the Barnard RAs resoundingly voted to unionize in the Fall of 2022. Take Back the Night has held an annual march and speak out to fight against sexual violence and assault. In 2020, a group of Barnard students and alumni called upon the college to defund police on campus. Today, the Barnard/Columbia Abolition Collective continues the work to abolish campus police at Barnard and Columbia. Each year, Students from Barnard and Columbia co-write the Disorientation guide to combat institutionalized histories and amplify activism on campus. Many activist groups host teach-ins and workshops to spread information across campus as well.