Barnard College celebrates the Class of 2026 at 134th Commencement ceremony
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For the third year in a row, graduates openly expressed their frustration with College administrators.
Photo by Gabriela Valentin/The Barnard Bulletin
May 28, 2026
On Tuesday, May 19, Barnard College celebrated its graduating seniors at the 134th annual Commencement ceremony held at Radio City Music Hall. The Class of 2026 consists of over 800 students representing over 30 different fields of study. Students come from 29 countries, and around 20 percent were the first in their families to receive an undergraduate degree.
Beginning promptly at 4 p.m., graduates, trustees, and distinguished speakers and honorees were welcomed into the theater to thunderous applause. Barnard President Laura Rosenbury opened the ceremony, but was immediately met with boos from the audience.
President Rosenbury began her tenure as Barnard’s president in 2023, during the graduating Class of 2026’s sophomore year. Since then, she has faced significant criticism for her treatment and response to student protests against the war in Gaza, including by suspending, expelling, and initiating the arrest of students on Barnard’s campus.
Rebecca Walkowitz, Provost and Dean of the Faculty, followed Rosenbury’s opening with a greeting on behalf of faculty. Walkowitz cited Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway,” by asking the audience, “how do we sustain thinking in anxious times?” She emphasized community, friendships, and curiosity, which was a sentiment that was echoed by many of the following speakers.
The ceremony continued with the presentation of several awards, both to students and distinguished guests. Co-interim Dean Holly Tedder presented the Frank Gilbert Bryson Prize to Senior Class President Tiferet Grossman. The prize honors a senior who "has made the greatest contribution to Barnard during [their] college years." Bria Dominici, the Student Government Association Vice President, received the Alicia L. Lawrence Memorial Award, presented by Co-interim Vice Dean of Campus Life Nikki Youngblood Giles.
Grossman then addressed her fellow graduates, reminiscing on the small moments during her time at Barnard. However, she also expressed her disappointment in her peers, criticizing them for their lack of “curiosity," citing the January 2024 Day of Dialogue organized by President Rosenbury as an example. The event was “designed to address our challenges” amid conflicting opinions during the Israel-Hamas war. Many pro-Palestinian student organizations boycotted the programming.
Grossman expressed her concerns that the disinterest in and protest against the programming reflected a broader unwillingness among students to engage with viewpoints different from their own. She stated her hope that graduates would “recover the endless curiosity that brought [them] to Barnard.”
Next, Senior Class Vice President Xuannuo Chen delivered the presentation of the senior gift, a combined total of $2,097 raised for Access Barnard, the College’s initiative dedicated to supporting low-income, first-generation, and international students.
Photo by Gabriela Valentin/The Barnard Bulletin
Rosenbury took the stage again to deliver her remarks to graduates by thanking parents and faculty, as well as the impact of women’s colleges and reflected at length about the recent death of alumna and interfaith activist Rita Semel (BC ’41).
Throughout the entirety of Rosenbury’s speech, members of the senior class elicited boos and jeers at her and Barnard administrators. Students repeatedly chanted “shame,” a refrain that has been present during many protests against Columbia and Barnard administrations.
“Please embrace the joy in this room,” Rosenbury stated amid the continuous jeering, “This Barnard joy will be with you every step of the way.”
Photo by Gabriela Valentin/The Barnard Bulletin
Laughter and a cacophony of booing followed this statement, with one voice from the crowd shouting, “you suspend your students!”
Rosenbury left the podium to a mix of booing and applause. Her speech was followed by the presentation of the Barnard College Medal of Distinction, which honored a group of accomplished alumnae and distinguished figures in literature, sports, education, and activism. Recipients included Ottessa Moshfegh (BC ’02), Erinn Smart (BC ’01), Shuly Rubin Schwartz (BC ’74), Diana T. Vagelos (BC ’55), and keynote speaker Jennifer Finney Boylan.
Boylan, the author of 18 books, is currently a professor of English and the Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence at Barnard. She began her speech by presenting the Class of 2026 with a pre-recorded personalized message from Bernie Wagenblast, the voice of the New York City Subway: “The Barnard Class of 2026 is now approaching graduation, please stand away from the platform edge.”
Photo by Gabriela Valentin/The Barnard Bulletin
Boylan, who is transgender, often incorporates LGBTQ+ activism into her writing. She stated that her intention for her speech was to discuss metamorphosis, diversity, and equality. Telling the story of her own coming out to her mother, she invoked Corinthians, which her mother had recited to her, “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Boylan acknowledged the difficulty of the current political climate, saying that the “cause of trouble” is a shortage of compassion and imagination. She quoted David Bowie’s “Changes,” compelling students to “turn and face the strange changes.”
“This world, our world, has no shortage of strange and wonderful things to turn and face: the blue lobster and the Venus fly trap, the night-blooming cereus, and the duck-billed platypus,” Boylan said. “Surely, if there is room under the sun for all of these things, there is room in it for me, and there is room in it for you.”
After Boylan’s speech received a standing ovation, the presentation of degree candidates began. The Class of 2026 walked across the stage as their names were called. Similar to the Commencement ceremonies for the Classes of 2025 and 2024, many graduates refused to shake the hand of President Rosenbury.
As graduates walked across the stage, several opted to not shake Rosenbury’s hand, instead pumping their fists to cheer on friends and family, showing their decorated graduation caps to the audience, or expressing their disapproval with administrators by gesturing with a thumbs down or pulling their hand away after extending it to Rosenbury.
Photos by Gabriela Valentin/The Barnard Bulletin
The disappointment and frustration with Barnard’s administration was evident and vocal among the Class of 2026. However, Boylan’s closing words offered a counterpoint to the tone of the evening, a reminder of the possibility of the most powerful thing in the world, love:
“May love in your lives prevail forever.”
