Letter to the Editors: Former AABC Reunion Chair Rona Wilk (BC '91) on Barnard Alumnae Reunion 2026

Rona Wilk (BC '91), the Reunion Chair of the Alumnae Association of Barnard College (AABC) from 2019 to 2022, responds to President Laura Rosenbury's statement on alumni engagement.

Photo by Haley Scull/The Barnard Bulletin

By Rona Wilk

April 26, 2026

Dear Editors,

As a former Alumnae Association of Barnard College (AABC) Reunion Chair from 2019 to 2022, I would like to respond to this quote from President Rosenbury in The Bulletin’s article “President Rosenbury and Barnard administrators address Epstein files, campus security, and financial transparency” published on March 31, 2026:

“President Rosenbury acknowledged that previous alumni reunions had ‘relatively low turnout,’ referring to the 2023 reunion as an example. ‘This is something that we needed to work on even before world events made things more complicated,’ she said."

If the College administration is committed to raising the profile of Reunion and working on increasing attendance, why has communication around Reunion 2026 been so scattered and minimal? Normally, outreach to milestone classes starts in September; this year, we didn’t have our first meeting until December. There is usually a Save-the-Date card that goes out early in the academic year; this year, it also was late. If they want to encourage people to come, why have they initiated a new, higher, and more complicated ticketing scale this year? Housing is always an issue for attendees; why not ask Residential Life to assist Alumnae Relations so that dorm space might be used, without Alumnae Relations needing to both run Reunion and housing, which is what has made it prohibitive? There are myriad ways that the administration could be supporting Reunion and supporting it now, not just in the future.

Reunion remains one of the best ways for the alum community to reconnect, to each other and to the College. It should be celebrated and uplifted, not damned with faint praise, as President Rosenbury appears to do in this quotation, which also does not articulate what she feels adequate attendance should be. 

This year, Reunion 2026 is May 28 to May 30. The alumnae community stands ready and able to assist in making Reunion a success, if the administration would only consider us partners and take the time to effectively reach out, to begin to mend the broken trust that has occurred over the past two and a half years, to create excitement around Reunion, and consult us on what makes a successful Reunion.

I speak from my experience as my class’s longtime president, involved in all of our Reunions since 2006, as well as someone who attends Reunion on a yearly basis, whether it is my milestone year or not. This, by the way, is something I believe is unique to Barnard — because we have so many alums in the NYC area, many do come back to campus even in “off” years to partake in the festivities. It is one of the joys of Reunion at Barnard. Making the pricing higher for individual events, and pushing “package” pricing, as the administration has done this year, does not take this into consideration and suggests that the administration is not familiar with — or does not care — what the norms for our community are.

Moreover, I have seen the power of Reunion to bring the alum community together in difficult moments. I was Reunion Chair during the COVID-19 pandemic and oversaw the first all-virtual Reunions, called Reunion Reimagined, in 2020 and 2021. Given all the stress on people during that terrible time, we had what we considered an exceptional turn out for Reunion Reimagined — 900 registrants in 2020 and 1,170 in 2021.

Moreover, a number of classes saw attendance from classmates who may not have been able to attend in person, due to financial constraints, mobility issues, or just life commitments. Then, in 2022, while some people were not comfortable traveling, we still had a vibrant and enthusiastic turnout that filled the campus with Barnard joy and vitality. According to the Barnard Magazine, Reunion 2022 brought over 1,000 attendees, slightly below what we might get in a normal year — in 2019, over 1,200 alums came to Reunion — but still excellent given the continued uncertainty around the illness and travel. 

The same, best I could tell, happened at Reunion 2023, which I attended as just an alum — not in an official capacity — and would consider another “rebuilding” year post-COVID. Then, the College canceled Reunion 2024 in the wake of campus protests, although Columbia went ahead with their Reunion, thus causing confusion as to why Barnard felt it had to cancel if Columbia did not. It was not my reunion year, so I did not have direct experience with the cancellation, but anecdotally, friends have said it was communicated badly — one more example of the communication issues that have plagued this administration. It also seems inevitable that people would be more reluctant in 2025 to commit to coming if they thought Reunion might be canceled again at short notice, leading to lower numbers. 

Alumnae value the opportunity to come back to campus, we value spending time with other Barnard alums, we value the chance to learn something new at Reunion and to reconnect to the energy that is Barnard College. 

I hope my fellow alumnae will support Reunion 2026 — even just by registering for the free online activities — and show the administration that we do care, despite the obstacles put in place in recent years. There is, indeed, work to do to get Reunion back to pre-pandemic numbers, but it will only be accomplished if we all work together. 

In Barnard spirit, 

Rona Wilk (BC ’91)