Barnard Slavic to Close after Barnard Eliminates Sole Faculty Position

Barnard College will be shuttering its Slavic Department after eliminating its sole remaining faculty position held by John Wight (GSAS ’05, GSAS ’08, GSAS ’11) since 2023. A new article in the Columbia Spectator by staff writer Mutashma Shaaf gathers the reaction of Columbia’s broader Slavic studies community and details the impact the closure will have on Barnard and Columbia students alike.

With the department’s closure, Barnard students interested in Slavic studies will have to rely on the offerings at Columbia University. However, due to a new policy requiring that first year Barnard students fill their schedules with a majority of Barnard-based courses, prospective Slavic majors from Columbia’s sister school will initially be kept from the subjects that interest them most. The article stresses that “this timing is particularly significant for language study, as the sequential coursework required to achieve fluency makes it difficult to become proficient in the language if students only start learning a language as sophomores.”

The closure raises questions about whether it will be practically feasible for Barnard students – forced to tolerate what amounts to a one-year delay – to major in Slavic studies at all.

The closure also creates logistical challenges for Columbia’s Slavic Department given that several required courses for the Slavic major, as well as the senior seminar, have been traditionally housed within Barnard.

Alexandar Bošković (Senior Lecturer in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian at Columbia) laments that “entire intellectual traditions may become less visible within Barnard’s academic environment.”

Full article here

Photo Credit: Lynn Fu / Columbia Spectator Staff Photographer