Jacquelyn Mattfeld, 1948 - 1980

Jacquelyn Mattfeld became Barnard’s fourth president in 1976, assuming leadership at a moment when the College faced intensifying structural pressures: persistent budget deficits, declining endowment returns, and increasingly fraught relations with Columbia University. A trained musicologist, Mattfeld had held senior administrative positions at Radcliffe, MIT, Sarah Lawrence, and Brown, where she became the Ivy League's highest-ranking woman administrator. Her appointment, following the abrupt dismissal of Martha Peterson, was intended to reassure faculty and trustees while warding off merger pressures from Columbia.

From the outset, Mattfeld’s presidency was shaped by tension. She inherited an institution that was, in many respects, politically and fiscally vulnerable. At Barnard, this meant resisting Columbia’s repeated overtures for deeper integration. During the five-month period between her selection and inauguration, Mattfeld began engaging directly with Columbia officials. Early meetings with President William McGill and Vice President James Young, who led Columbia's team on institutional negotiations, proved contentious. Efforts at inter-institutional collaboration were frequently stalled by mutual distrust, and relations between the two administrations deteriorated over the course of her presidency. Mattfeld rebuffed proposals for faculty merger and rejected the notion that Barnard’s survival required its absorption. She criticized Columbia administrators for their dismissive treatment of Barnard faculty and students, earning her support among some faculty, though heightened tensions with Columbia. Other decisions regarding faculty relations provoked frustration. In 1978, when trustees sidelined her in Columbia negotiations, Mattfeld advised Barnard faculty to cease contact with their Columbia counterparts. This directive, which ignored the collaborative obligations of those teaching graduate courses in shared departments, was widely disregarded and deepened internal tensions.

She focused much of her energy on improving Barnard’s financial health through enrollment expansion and internal reorganization. Applications increased substantially during her term, in part due to a national shift in the demographics of women’s education, but the College lacked sufficient housing infrastructure to accommodate the growth. This shortfall culminated in a housing crisis in 1980 that led to a student sit-in at McIntosh Student Center in the spring. Students were protesting the administration's planning failures and the broader lack of institutional transparency. Though Mattfeld publicly acknowledged student grievances, the episode revealed growing discontent with administrative decision-making and eroded trust in her leadership among undergraduates.Mattfeld kept sustained focus on achieving faculty salary parity with Columbia.

Despite rampant inflation in the late 1970s, she included targeted raises in her budgets each year, bringing assistant professors into parity by 1978–79 and associate professors close behind by 1979–80. A sizable gap remained at the full-professor level, though many senior faculty acknowledged the progress. However, her decision to implement these raises by reallocating anticipated Columbia payments into the operating budget without trustee approval was seen as a breach of fiduciary responsibility, compounding concerns about her management style declining faculty morale, and poor relationships with Columbia leadership. By June 1980, trustee dissatisfaction culminated in her dismissal.

Mattfeld’s tenure underscores the tensions between institutional autonomy and financial dependency, particularly in the context of Barnard’s asymmetrical relationship with Columbia. Efforts to assert independence, improve faculty compensation, and manage internal reform were repeatedly complicated by limited resources, governance conflict, and shifting administrative expectations. The period reflected broader questions facing women’s colleges at the time: how to define and sustain autonomy, equity, and academic distinction in a rapidly changing higher education landscape.