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To listen to the two presidents, the new arrangement is the best of all possible non-unions. Boasted Futter: "The agreement reached today is a tremendous triumph for Barnard College." Said Sovern: "I don't see any snakes in this Eden." In the short term, both appeared to be right. For seven years, under contract, the two institutions will continue to cross-register courses and share facilities. (Barnard's library has 150,000 volumes, Columbia University's 5 million.) Barnard will regain control over its own faculty (tenure will be decided by a committee of two Barnard and two Columbia professors, plus one outside scholar). Futter insists that the contract will provide stability and that Barnard's $25 million endowment can support its program. The college emphasizes strong teaching and has a largely female faculty who can serve as role models for students. The policy works: Barnard has seen its pool of applicants increase by 51% in the past four years. Says Elizabeth Kennan, president of Mount Holyoke, another top women's college: "Barnard should not fear competition from a coed Columbia. There is an intense interest among young women today for women's colleges that will put Barnard in a strong position."
Columbia's drawing power, by contrast, has declined in recent years, partly because of its city location. Also it has a faculty heavily oriented toward graduate study and research. The number of Columbia's applicants is well below the competition's. More important, its yield ratio (those who actually attend after being admitted) is near the bottom of the Ivy League. By admitting women, Sovern estimates, Columbia will double the applicant pool from 3,500 to 7,000.
Most of the new applicants will be women, but some will be men, "because there are many men who don't want to go to a male college." Sovern, in fact, predicts a booming future for everyone concerned. Says he: "We now have the complete choice for the young American woman—she can go single-sex at Barnard or coeducational at Columbia. My guess is that Columbia recruiters will find some women who would really rather go to a single-sex college in the city, and they will go to Barnard."