Updated April 20th at 11:19AM

Barnard College will be pausing the operations of its Slavic Department after failing to renew its sole remaining faculty position held by John Wright (GSAS ’05, GSAS ’08, GSAS ’11) since 2023. An article in the Columbia Spectator by staff writer Mutashma Shaaf gathers the reaction of Columbia’s broader Slavic studies community and details the impact the pause will have on Barnard and Columbia students alike.

Although the initial version of the Spectator article framed the failure to renew the sole faculty position as a “closure,” a Barnard spokesperson reached out to the Spectator to clarify that it is rather “pausing courses in Slavic literature” with the intent to review its “curricular needs.”

According to the article, with the department on pause, Barnard students interested in Slavic studies will be largely reliant on the offerings at Columbia University. However, a new Barnard policy requires that first year Barnard students fill their schedules with Barnard-based courses, making it more difficult for prospective Slavic majors from Columbia’s sister school to engage in the subjects that interest them most. The article stresses that “this timing is particularly significant for language study, as the sequential coursework required to achieve fluency makes it difficult to become proficient in the language if students only start learning a language as sophomores.”

Alexandar Bošković (Senior Lecturer in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian at Columbia) laments that “entire intellectual traditions may become less visible within Barnard’s academic environment.”

Photo Credit: Lynn Fu / Columbia Spectator Staff Photographer

Correction: The headline of this posting, and the included summary, have been updated to reflect a series of corrections issued by Mutashma Shaaf and the Columbia Spectator. An earlier version of the Columbia Spectator article framed the failure to renew John Wright’s position as a closure.  A Barnard spokesperson reached out to the Spectator to clarify that it is rather “pausing courses in Slavic literature.”