(image via Flickr user sodapop81)

Over the weekend Barnard College bumped New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson from her spot as 2012 commencement speaker for a better offer—the trump card in the commencement bookings game, some might say: President Barack Obama.

It’s surprised no one that President Obama had zeroed in on the Manhattan women’s college for a spring speech. Facing a slate of pro-life GOP rivals and a Congress thrown into old school culture wars over his contraception-mandating health care bill, the President has publicly allied himself with women’s interests groups.

On Friday, he went so far as to personally call and thank Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student Rush Limbaugh called a “slut” and a “prostitute,” following her congressional testimony. (Eight advertisers, including AOL, have since fled Mr. Limbaugh’s show, and even “nappy-headed ho” spotter Don Imus risked hypocrisy to wag a finger.)

But the announcement came off as a particular slight to the co-eds across the street at Columbia College, with whom Barnard College shares professors, facilities, and the Columbia University umbrella. The Columbia commencement speaking gig is traditionally restricted to alumni, which President Obama actually happens to be.

“I find it both interesting and ironic that Obama, a so-called champion of ‘female empowerment’ has actively pushed aside Jill Abramson–one of the country’s most powerful women, and the FIRST woman to hold such an esteemed position–so that he can further his own political aims,” one Columbia student wrote on campus news blog Bwog. “No Barnard women take any issue with this? You’re all a bunch of fucking hypocrites. Get off my campus.”

Another powerful figure in journalism—Harper’s president John “Rick” MacArthur—is currently scheduled to deliver Columbia’s address. At least one senior was eager to get his or her fellow Lions behind him.

"We don’t want OUR once in a lifetime class day to be full of Obama’s election year campaign rhetoric! We want an AUTHENTIC and GENUINE class day speech from someone who actually has CC PRIDE!!!,” they wrote. “John MacArthur seems to be a cool dude with a long career in journalism. In a sense, MacArthur the writer can capture the essence of our COLUMBIA COLLEGE experience more than what Obama the politician can offer!"

Barnard president Debora L. Spar told The New York Times the apparent outburst of sibling rivalry was mostly just “19-year-olds writing at 4:30 in the morning.”

As for Ms. Abramson, when she was originally booked in early February, Ms. Spar said, “From her early days as a reporter to her current post as the paper’s executive editor, she has been unfailing in her convictions and a true inspiration.” Following Saturday’s White House announcement Ms. Spar added in statement that Ms. Abramson “would be happy to speak at Barnard in the future.”

Until then, disappointed students can catch Ms. Abramson at Tina Brown’s Women in the World Summit, hosted by Newsweek and The Daily Beast this week. On Friday, she’ll be providing her personal take on “the future of feminism” in a panel along side Ms. founder Gloria Steinem and Washington Post deputy politics editor Ann Kornblut, moderated by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who addressed the Barnard class of 2011.

This is not a still from 'Sex and the City.'

A Columbia student noshing in the Barnard cafe spotted an incongruous addition yesterday--Sarah Jessica Parker. Campus student centers are not known for their fine cuisine, and our source did not ask Ms. Parker what, exactly, she was doing so far uptown from Barneys. Whether Ms. Parker was researching a "college years" installment of The Carrie Diaries or whether she just really likes a $3 Chobani and that greasy-table ambience is now lost to history.

daddario@observer.com :: @DPD_

"At the age of 82, I'm thinking about where some of these pieces should end up, and I thought Barnard would be the perfect spot for this one."

The bench contains engravings of Holzer's truisms-hard to imagine, perhaps, in the home of any octogenarian beside Ms. Wright. Ms. Wright's granddaughter Ada Potter, who is currently studying Visual Arts at Barnard, called the sculpture "perfect for Barnard, because of its feminist themes and the fact that Jenny Holzer stood for a whole generation of women artists in the seventies."

Ms. Wright, whose daughter and granddaughter are art aficionados as well, witnessed modern art taking shape in the midcentury. "It was an interesting time," Ms. Wright reminisced of her post-college years (she graduated in 1951). "Sidney Janis was representing all the important artists, although my role was the lowest of the low. I was the gallery assistant--I typed letters, opened the mail, answered the phone--definitely not a high-profile job, but it was so interesting to see how the art world worked in those days.

"Contemporary art is hot now, but it wasn't back then. Jackson Pollock and de Kooning were important, but their work wasn't selling. They received critical attention, but no one was collecting them. They would sell for $1,000 to $5,000. It seemed that they were nothing compared to the European modern artists."

And boy, were those artists frustrated! "Jackson Pollock would come to the gallery, and he was often pretty drunk. That was his way. He was kind of angry, and not the kind of person that was easy to approach."

Perhaps Ms. Wright's proximity to the scene inspired her first big art purchase: Then 22 years old and just out of Barnard, she indulged a youthful impulse to buy a Rothko. "I thought maybe I could swing this kind of a purchase, but Rothko didn't sell to just anyone." Ms. Wright reminisces with a mixture of wistfulness for the simpler days, and satisfaction at having had such an eye for art in her 20s. "You had to agree to be interviewed by him. In those artists' minds, it wasn't about money. It was about doing right by their work, having their work go into the right hands. More idealist, and less commercial."

Regarding whether Rothko was as much of a brooder as his works suggest, Ms. Wright says "I think he was difficult, but not toward a 22-year-old girl. It turned out to be a wonderful experience. He was very kind and fun to talk to."

That Rothko painting (#10, pictured here) is now in the Seattle Art Museum, near her home, where Ms. Wright has been on the board for decades.

"Jinny's legacy at Barnard is truly exceptional," said Barnard President Debora Spar in an email. "With her gift of a Jenny Holzer bench--Barnard's first major piece of artwork--she is...helping to establish Barnard's place in New York City's vibrant art culture".

She just returned to New York to attend Barnard's Annual Scholarship Dinner and her granddaughter's graduation in May. The Jenny Holzer sculpture is expected to be installed by then.

ssamuel@observer.com

Nobody raised a hand. From the class’ field research Tuesday surveying voting conditions at 30 polling places in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, wait times weren’t that bad at all—the longest anyone measured for a voter without registration problems was 35 minutes, and most went through in under ten.

Of course, anyone who stood for two hours election day morning waiting to pull the lever knows that’s not how it went. But the students were right, too—they were just assigned to collect their data between the hours of 4:00 and 8:00 p.m., when wait times have polls have traditionally been most crowded.

“It seems like our expectation of voting totally upended itself,” said Smithsimon. “It’s actually a much more resilient system than you’d expect.”

It wasn’t all smooth sailing, however. The 60 young women (and the occasional brave boy) found that at many locations, voters were asked to produce identification—which is not n legal requirement—along with multiple instances of inappropriate electioneering, one poll worker doing coke in the bathroom, and an 87-year-old polling place manager who was “not entirely sane.”

“A guy dropped his ID, and she told him he had dropped his teeth,” a girl said. The students seemed eager to impress their tall and youthful professor, who leaned on the podium, nodding seriously in response.

Smithsimon routinely sends his students out on mass data gathering expeditions, including one last year that found Upper East Siders to be the least altruistic of all New Yorkers when it comes to returning lost wallets. This time, several students will be responsible for synthesizing the results to present a picture of voting patterns around the city.

“We’ve got 10 minutes,” he said at the end of their sharing session. “I can do a nice little lecture on ethnic myth, which I think would be tremendously useful. Or we could talk about the election.”

“That!” a student said.