2025 College Rankings

Barnard College, one of the original Seven Sisters, was founded as a women’s counterpart to Columbia University. It remains affiliated with Columbia, and the culture of the larger institution continues to influence it—though, in recent years, that influence has often been negative.

Among the many campuses disrupted by radical anti-Semitic activism during the 2023–24 school year, Barnard was arguably hit the hardest. Student protesters joined Columbia’s much-publicized—and, at times, violent—demonstrations, and Barnard hosted its own encampment that lasted nearly two weeks. The extremism has continued to manifest itself. In spring 2024, another wave of radical protests erupted, culminating in a bomb threat that drew a police response to one of Barnard’s buildings. This year, the federal government announced an investigation into whether Barnard’s administration failed to address the situation adequately.

Barnard’s administration has failed its students in other ways, too. The school filed an amicus brief in support of affirmative action during the Students for Fair Admissions case at the Supreme Court, a disappointing sign that the administration values diversity over merit. The school also maintains a small Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy, and more than 20 percent of faculty job postings require a diversity statement. To its credit, the school adopted institutional neutrality last year, committing its administration to sit on the sidelines in matters of public controversy.

Barnard does little to protect free speech. Only 8 percent of students told the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) that it is “very” or “extremely” clear that the administration values free expression. In the event of a controversy, 63 percent said that it was not likely that the administration would defend a speaker’s right to express herself. FIRE gives Barnard a “yellow” speech code rating, indicating that its policies could easily be used to suppress speech.

Barnard’s faculty leans heavily to the left. Students rate their professors at 2.5 on a 1-to-7 ideological scale, where 1 is “very liberal” and 7 is “very conservative.” Nearly 100 percent of faculty campaign donations in the 2023–24 election cycle went to liberal or Democratic causes.

The student body is similarly unbalanced—and often intolerant of dissenting views. For every conservative student, there are roughly nine liberals. More than 70 percent report self-censoring on campus at least once a month. Nearly half say that shouting down a controversial speaker is “sometimes” or “always” acceptable, and only 46 percent say that it is “never” acceptable to block others from attending a campus event.

The curriculum at Barnard needs reform. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) gives the school a D in its What Will They Learn? ratings, which assign letter grades based on how many of seven core subjects are required in the core curriculum or general education program. The school does not force students to take DEI-focused courses to graduate, but it also doesn’t mandate that they complete classes in history or government.

Barnard does not give students much of a boost in their careers. Median annual earnings ten years after initial enrollment underperform expectations, based on data from SAT scores and Pell Grant recipients, by nearly $13,000. It takes, on average, 3.3 years to pay back the cost of education, well over our 2.3-year average.