Barnard unveils new LeFrak Center for Well-Being

Following months of construction and anticipation from the student body, the LeFrak Center finally opened its doors, promising a thorough dive into the 3 primary facets of health: mental, physical, and financial.

Photograhpy by Emma-Caroline Avery/The Barnard Bulletin

By Nilla Wahab

December 22, 2024

On October 30, Barnard Hall found itself complete with the opening of the highly anticipated Francine A. LeFrak Foundation Center for Well-Being. Alongside Columbia’s Dodge Gym across the street, Barnard students and faculty have sole access to the 4,000-square-foot facility, equipped with new machinery and an accompanying locker room, the new Ethel S. LeFrak ’41 and Samuel J. LeFrak Theatre, and conference rooms staffed with student ambassadors who tackle discussions from financial wellness to emotional exploration. 

The new center aims to make mental, physical, and financial health tools available to Barnard students and faculty in a manner that commits to its core themes of sustainability, inclusion, equity, and community.

“We tried to be very intentional with every decision that went into making this,” April Autry, the Francine A. LeFrak Center Executive Director, said. “We really want to make sure that everything that happens in this space adds to the environment that we want to create at Barnard.”

Pieces of the original Barnard gym, including the previous floors and lockers, were preserved and repainted to make up the new space. This revamp, along with locally sourced snacks and fruit juices soon to be available in the Center’s new vending machine, intends to provide students with a healthy experience for the body and the planet.

To ensure the space was available for all students and faculty, precautions during construction were taken to ensure entryways to rooms were wheelchair accessible, audio-listening devices (ALDs) were made available in the new theatre, and appropriate seating was provided for people of all body types.

To celebrate the long-anticipated opening of the Center on its first night, the Barnard community was invited to explore the offerings of each of the three primary health spaces. 

Across the various conference rooms, fall and spring semester weekly classes in financial literacy are available to students interested in learning about gaining credit, taking out loans, and budgeting alongside guest speakers and panels. For Barnumbia student-athletes, dedicated spaces can be found in the downstairs locker room as Barnard's physical education courses continue upstairs. There is also a space for students to take advantage of Barnard’s plentiful mental health initiatives: the Wellness Spot, featuring peer educators that offer guidance on emotional well-being, Being Barnard, a program focused on the education on and prevention of sexual violence, and the Denise LeFrak Alcohol and Substance Awareness program.

“I really like the wellness spaces, especially for the mental health area,” said Shivani Patel (BC ‘26). “There’s so much seating and it’s like a quiet space to do your work or just to relax. It’s a nice little getaway from the chaos of Barnard.”

The Center also boasts a cycle of community in the heart of campus. It employs students as LeFrak ambassadors within the three cornerstones of wellness (financial, physical, and mental) to educate their peers, who later can become ambassadors themselves in the facets of wellness that interest them.

“This [physical wellness] was just something I really cared about,” Charlotte Weinstein (BC ’26), a student ambassador focusing on physical wellness, said. “I met the team and it’s such a group of people who care about the Barnard community.”

This cycle also ingrains itself within initiatives that students can look forward to in the future. “I’m really excited about feminist self-defense workshops,” Autry said. “[We are] not only [holding] classes that people can attend, but we’re also going to do a train-the-trainer model so students can sign up to learn how to be a teacher and teach others.”

In addition to these opportunities, students can expect discussions on current events and topics like radical empathy, as well as clothing swaps that hope to encourage sustainable practices while providing access to attire for disadvantaged students.

Following years of construction, this opening symbolizes new beginnings for much of the Barnard community. “It’s felt like the campus has been under construction for so long,” Delaney Baker (BC ’26) said. “So I’m really just excited that new students will be able to see Barnard as it was meant to be constructed.”