In what trustee emerita Helene Kaplan BC ’53 called “one of the best parties Barnard has ever had,” trustee Judith S. Kaye BC ’58 and outgoing board of trustees chair Anna Quindlen BC ’74 were honored at Barnard’s annual Scholarship Dinner and Auction Tuesday night.
Barnard alumnae and supporters gathered at the Plaza Hotel for the event, which featured a live, silent, and online auction. The evening’s festivities raised $1,635,000 for Barnard’s financial aid program.
The event’s success, Barnard President Debora Spar said in her introduction, was important to “give young women of promise a chance to succeed.”
Vice President of Development and Alumnae Affairs Roberta Mark said that the auction had received more support this year, particularly from current students and parents. “This is part of our effort to get parents involved not just the first year, but for all four years of their daughters’ time at Barnard,” she said.
Auction-goers had the chance to bid on a book club session with Quindlen, who is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling novelist. Quindlen’s sixth novel, Every Last One , was released last week. Competition for the opportunity yielded a $10,000 bid for the session—and a promise from Quindlen to hold two additional sessions for matching bids.
In an interview before the auction, Quindlen said she wasn’t “entirely comfortable with the idea of being honored at the event,” but noted that “if it gets more money, I’m all for it.”
Quindlen said she was looking forward to her future after her time leading the trustees, but would continue to devote herself to fundraising for financial aid at her alma mater. “I told Jolyne [Caruso-Fitzgerald] and Deb [Spar] I’d be more than happy to help in the future in any way. Whether they need me to ask for money or make a speech, I’m there,” she said.
Quindlen said her last year as chair has been “spectacular,” crediting the success to the opening of the Diana. “It’s very rare that you turn out happier when a building is completed than you are during the planning stage of the process,” she said. “I love to watch how the students have taken to the building and made it their own.”
She was honored alongside Kaye, the first woman to be appointed to the New York State Court of Appeals. While accepting the award, Kaye recognized her Barnard education as a source of an “ultimate bond” that lent her “pride, creativity, and commitment.” To those in the crowd who had the “misfortune of not being Barnard graduates,” Kaye asked, “Don’t you wish you were Barnard graduates, too?”
Quindlen echoed a similar respect for her alma mater in her acceptance speech, saying, “I owe Barnard my entire life … At Barnard, I got far more than I’ve ever been able to give.”
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