Meet the Barnard first-year on the men's rowing team

The Barnard community is shaped by a population of students with diverse talents and backgrounds. Among this year’s Class of 2029 are 14 athletes, including Diya Mullick, who serves as coxswain for Columbia Lightweight Rowing.

Photo by Sherry Chen/The Barnard Bulletin

By Zainab Anwar

November 5, 2025

It was a chilly October evening when I met with Diya Mullick (BC ’29), who had just come from Dodge, donning her “Columbia Rowing” puffer and waving hello. She explained that she had been checking to make sure the towels were clean — a responsibility that falls under her role as a coxswain for Columbia’s lightweight men’s rowing team. “Coxswains have to,” she told me. “We’re in charge of cleaning the towels that the rowers use.”

I was surprised; at first, it seemed like a small, almost mundane task. However, as we talked, it became clear that this attention to detail, whether it is clean towels or steering an eight-person shell — what I learned is a specific term for boats — defines the precision and discipline that rowing demands, and the kind of leadership Mullick has embraced through her position.

The interview started with Mullick illustrating her specific role as a coxswain at Columbia to me. For a coxswain, Mullick explained, rowing is less about physically rowing and more about direction. “We get into boats that vary in size — eight people, four, two, or even singles,” she said. “The eight-rower boats always have a coxswain. The coxswain’s first job is safety — making sure the boat doesn’t crash into anything,” Mullick said. “Then, you steer the boat using strings on either side. You’re the one directing where the team goes.” 

Steering is not all coxswains do, however. They are also crucial strategists and coaches. “Once we have our meeting, the coach tells us the main objective of the day. Then coxswains assume control of practice,” she explained. “It’s half us running it, half our coach. We memorize the plan the night before and make sure the boats have everything they need.”

Although coxswains play a leading role in practices, Mullick made sure to mention how their coach follows along on a “launch” — a small motorized boat that trails behind the rowers — to give feedback and oversee safety. “He has a different perspective than we do,” Mullick said. “We’re steering from the back, using landmarks on shore to keep our point straight.” She emphasized the importance of multiple perspectives when it comes to the sport.

Shifting from her current role on the Columbia team, I asked Mullick about her rowing backstory. Mullick’s rowing experience began during the summer between her seventh and eighth grade, in the thick of the pandemic. “My dad used to scull (a form of rowing with only one person in the boat) before I was born,” she said. “He rowed on the Potomac in D.C. and wanted to get back into it. So he took me to the Anacostia River that summer.”

She recalled the early mornings and clarified that the Anacostia was perfect for beginners because, “It’s not as pretty or clean as the Potomac, but it’s calmer.” She emphasized how calmer waters allowed them to practice proper technique when rowing and get comfortable going out on their own. Together, she and her dad took lessons from a coach, eventually earning their sculling licenses for the more demanding Potomac waters.

By high school, rowing had become a major part of her life. “I joined my school’s crew team in ninth grade,” she said. “At first, I was rowing. Then my coach told me, ‘You’re short, we need a coxswain.’ So I became one.”

Blunt but honest, Mullick shared how she grew to love the coxswain role. She stayed with the sport throughout high school, even through difficult moments of burnout. “At the end of junior year, I didn’t think I’d continue,” she admitted. “The team dynamic wasn’t great, and it was also that I didn’t like the thought of getting close to people who were about to leave.” But encouragement from her coach and friends convinced her to give it another try. “He told me I was valuable to the team. I decided to stay. The first few practices, they were really good, and I felt like I was doing a good job, I felt like I was getting along with the team well,” she said. 

That decision ended up bringing her to Columbia. “So, I [thought], ‘I know it’s very late for recruiting, but why not just give it a shot?’” she said. “So I reached out to Coach Wenk, who’s no longer here, but he was the recruiting coach. He was very kind [and] said that he was looking for a coxswain. So I [thought], ‘Okay, that’s perfect.’”

Now a first-year student balancing academics at Barnard and athletics at Columbia, Mullick’s schedule is packed. “We practice every day except Sunday and Wednesday,” she said. “On Mondays and Wednesdays, we have lifts… [on] Tuesdays and Thursdays, we usually have core.”

She confessed, “I haven’t done core yet. It’s a little crazy.” 

I have to say, I completely understand. She tried to explain the workout to me as someone who is out of commission after a seven-minute YouTube workout. Hearing the things they do? I cannot imagine the core strength the rowing team must have. 

When asked what it is like being an athlete here, she laughed. “I spend a lot more time at Columbia than Barnard,” she admitted. “I don’t have much free time, [but] I do have cool gear.”

Yes, Diya. You are rocking that puffer.

Still, her relationship to Barnard is present, if unconventional. “There’s a lounge for Barnard athletes in Milstein,” she said, though she added that there is not much of a broader community among Barnard athletes. “I don’t really know who else is an athlete,” she said plainly. She spoke on the lack of emphasis on a Barnard athlete community, and when I asked if she wished there were, she shrugged. “No, I’m busy.”

It is a blunt but honest answer — and one that captures a reality for many student athletes. Between classes, practices, and team commitments, it is very difficult to find time for oneself.

Despite the intensity, Mullick says she plans to stay with the team for the long run due to how it has shaped her as a coxswain. “It’s a steep learning curve,” she said. “There’s more responsibility on coxswains here, and the expectations are higher.”

And of course, I had to ask the age-old question: Why do we frequently catch the men’s team in Barnard’s Hewitt Dining Hall? To which she replied, “On [weekends], Hewitt breakfast ends at three. After we get back from practice, we want breakfast, [and] none of the other places have breakfast open that late.”

Mullick is one of many Barnard athletes who participate in the Barnard-Columbia Athletic Consortium, making Barnard the only women’s college where student-athletes compete in Division I. The coxswain role may not be well known, but it is crucial to every rowing team, and it is clear that it has helped make campus a home for Diya; “The one thing that always keeps me coming back is the people on the team,” she said. “Already, I feel like I’ve grown very close to the guys on the team. I want to be there for them.”