My Friend, the Rapist

Posted by Matt Choi Our daily lives are saturated with bad news, whether it comes from TV, word of mouth or the Internet.  The question most people ask themselves, if they bother to dwell on the news at all, is what if someone I love was there when that mass-shooting/ rape/ armed robbery/ bombing occurred?  Empathy with the victim is the initial reaction to most cases.  A question no one ever asks is what if I knew the perpetrator?  We always wonder what we would do if something bad happened to someone we love, but we rarely ask what happens when someone we love does bad.

Recently, I found out that one of my oldest friends has been accused of rape.   He was the most intelligent and most trustworthy of my friends.  He was one of very few people who I felt comfortable telling my exact emotions to at any one time.  He was also apparently capable of carrying out a heinous crime. I'm still trying to reconcile the person I knew with the person accused.  I don't have many answers but I've since reflected on my attitude towards criminals and anti-social behavior.

I think my change in attitude is best explained by looking at how I used to react to bad news. Last year, I was disheartened by a friend's continued relationship with a guy who had said some terribly racist things.  "Write him off," was basically what I told her. "You cannot, and should not, associate with people who behave like that."  I believed, and still do to a large extent, that when people do something wrong banishment is a suitable punishment.  Having experienced racism at times in my life, my anger stemmed from my natural empathy with the victims.  It bothers me, especially at Skidmore, when people easily assimilate back into everyday life after being guilty of racism, violence, or whatever.  I think people have a responsibility to show that members of a healthy society cannot engage in this behavior and expect to be accepted by others.

But since my friend's accusation I've realized that a lot of this concept is reliant on the belief that criminals, or people who engage in anti-social behavior, are totally separate from the rest of the society. I, and I think most of America, conceptualize criminals as belonging to some far off class of people. This is why we don't worry too much about locking them in our plentiful prison complexes.

But when these people become our loved ones it becomes impossible to hide them away in some other section of society.  Even though my opinion of my friend has changed drastically for the worse, I still feel a lot of the same levels of attachment towards him that I did before his crime.

I care deeply about a rapist.

I'm not condoning the terrible thing he did, but to follow the advice I gave last year and banish him from my life is as impossible as banning my own blood from my veins.  I think punishment and banishment have places as tools of justice, although I now question whether these should be justice's main tools.  Certainly other countries have developed modes of justice that focus on treating the criminal as a part of society.  If this sounds like a nebulous recommendation, it's because I'm still figuring out my feelings and am by no means an expert on criminal justice. I just urge people to think next time you hear some bad news: what if I cared about the criminal rather than the victim?  You may find yourself looking at our attitudes towards justice differently.

The Discovery Tour: are we prioritizing a diverse student body? : The Admissions' funded program that looks to attract under-represented potential student groups

Posted by The Editorial Board

 Diversity: it's a 'hot' word in college campuses and admissions offices. The Princeton Review ranks colleges in terms of "Lots of Race/Class Interaction", "Most Religious Students", and whether or not a school is "LGBT-Friendly" -but carefully avoids using the term diversity. It's ironic then, that colleges are making great efforts to create and advertise campus diversity, when it's a concept impossible to assign a singular definition.

Since the early 90's, the College has hosted the Discovery Tour. It's a three-day, all-expenses paid tour of the Skidmore campus and community. It's goal? To enroll as many underrepresented and underserved students as possible, according to Mary Lou Bates, Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid.

In the past the invite-only program was exclusively for students of color. Since 2012, Admissions has begun to extend the invitation to small quantities of international students as well as white students from low socio-economic backgrounds. In the spring of 2013, approximately 600 students were invited to participate in the tour. Of the 134 attendees, six were from either Puerto Rico or Costa Rica, and four were white students from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Members of the tour attend classes, tour the campus, attend academic and performing art forums and student panels and have dinner with various faculty members. The students are assigned student hosts, which Admissions attempts to select from a variety of student groups on campus (including the Student Government Association, Athletics, and Residential Life). Any student invited who cannot make the tour will be entirely funded by admissions to visit the campus at a different time.

The College's Strategic Action Plan in 2005 aimed for 20% of the student body to be students of color. In 2003, approximately 12% of the student body comprised students of color. Currently, approximately 23% of the student body comprises students of color. Eight percent of the student body is composed of international students.

With 53% of the attendees of the spring 2013 Discovery Tour enrolling in the college, the tour does seem to be contributing to a growing geographically, racially, ethnically, culturally and socioeconomically diverse student body-further distancing the Skidmore student body from its "white from Westchester" stereotype.

But what does the tour mean for our campus community?

In the 2011 Graduating Students of Color Exit Interviews prepared by the Committee on Intercultural and Global Understanding, several students cited that they chose Skidmore after attending the Discovery Tour. Several students also stated that they found the tours to feel segregated and exclusionary, a concern that Bates says Admissions is sensitive to and has worked to address. Other students noted in the survey that the tour offered a false sense of diversity on campus. Bates stated that the tour is not meant to mislead potential students, and that Admissions states at several junctures of the Discovery Tour that the student body is approximately 78% white. The 2013 Graduating Students of Color Exit Interviews is not yet available through The Office of Student Diversity Programs.

The Skidmore News believes a diverse student body enhances the educational and social experiences of a college. It also applauds Admissions recent efforts to fund international students and students specifically from low socio-economic backgrounds. In the future, this paper hopes to see the Admissions office continue to reach out to students geographically and socio-economically diverse.

But it's not enough for Admissions to make the effort to encourage students from diverse backgrounds to enroll in the school. It's an ugly truth, but the Skidmore student body can often feel like it is divided into isolated groups rather than one cohesive unit. If we as Skidmore students place great importance on a dynamic and diverse student body, one way to become involved is through hosting a prospective student on the tour, as the Discovery Tour program is largely dependent upon volunteer student hosts. Being a meaningful member of a college community means working to not only improve the college in the present, but also in the future.

Conversationalist Column: Betty

Posted by Eleanor Rochman

There is something gorgeously comforting about being in the presence of a fellow human who emanates simple sagacity. It is a rare quality to find in academia; a world unstably grounded on pretension and founded by shrewdly analytical fathers. We read Rousseau, study Socrates, and pick apart Plato only to be faced with the same questions that are an innate part of every human's condition regardless of the specificities of one's individual experience. We are all forced to question our identity and what it means to "be ourselves" in this world. And some, I believe, are gifted with an uncomplicated wisdom, which allows them to more easily identify with their individual essence without pretense or desire to brand themselves.

Betty taught me this. Betty is the cleaning lady of North quad's very own McClellen, she has been cleaning at Skidmore for over 25 years and conducts herself with an elegant simplicity of which took time and deliberation to cultivate. I think she knows herself. I think she knows herself so well that little bothers her. I think that little bothers her because, well, she has to clean up after us.

She is a people person, and so (don't worry you guys), she likes us. However, as Betty even describes, the student-staff relationship can be a bit uncomfortable at first if one does not realize that it is based on reciprocity.  If we maintain a certain level of individual cleanliness then Betty will be able to more easily clean the facilities.  However, this concept does not only apply to the immediate scenario; our relationship to humanity also needs to be one that works through a means of cooperation. In the words of Betty, "we work off of each other."

When Betty first started working at Skidmore this relationship was still uncomfortable, this reciprocity had not been realized to its fullest potential by either side. There was a separation between the students and maintenance staff resulting from an associative ambiguity; neither party knew what kind of interaction was appropriate. And I would go as far as to say that this dilemma exists on all levels of interaction.

Over the years Betty has observed this disconnection to stem from a lack of confidence and trust. She says all you have to do is "be yourself" and the more comfortable you feel around someone, the more comfortable they will feel around you. A simple "hi" will most always receive an equal and opposite reaction, so say hi to the world and more than likely, the world will say hi back.

But then I asked Betty, if it is hard to "be yourself" as it is questionable whether or not we can even know exactly who we are? And she said, well yes, it's a "wishy-washy" concept - "it" meaning identity. In fact, it's as wishy washy and complex as the chemicals with which she uses to clean; they are toxic but necessary and similarly, the contemplation of identity is precarious but inherently human.

It was refreshing to be able to have a conversation with a member of our community that is not sucked into the vacuum of academia. Betty understands and remembers what it's like to be young like us. She knows how much of a bubble the Skidmore campus can become - how isolated its functioning is from the grand scheme of general society.

Her answers to my questions were so simple, yet so honest. Betty made me realize that I did not need to read any chapter from one of the "great books" in order to understand that it takes time to feel comfortable with your place amongst humanity. Her wise and pleasant gaze made me realize how far I am from becoming a simple sage and I hope to one day know myself as easily as she seems to identify herself.

Unfortunately, Betty will be leaving us next semester for retirement. She says she can't wait to find a way to get out of the cold, sleep in, garden, and have time to take care of her pets (of which one is a parakeet). Also, she is very much looking forward to the warm summer days when she can kick back, put up her feet and say "here I am," and I'm simply sagacious.

State of Our Unions

Posted by Alex Hodor-Lee

The recent "union battle" has been dramatic. Like me, you probably require a simple explanation.

Some employees at Skidmore-dining hall workers, spa cooks and night shift workers-are part of the SEIU union. Unions have their benefits. Think of it like this: when citizens are too busy to engage in negotiating complex policy issues, they elect representatives to negotiate laws on their behalf. Citizens then pay taxes to keep the government and representatives' salaries a-flowin'.

Unions are similar. Workers pay dues (a la taxes) to a union that represents them in negotiations. In this case, workers are negotiating the terms of their healthcare, pensions and salaries with Skidmore College administrators.

Last spring, a disgruntled Skidmore employee convinced other workers to join a new union, UPSEU. This created a divide among workers at the College. Recognizing the divide, Skidmore administrators encouraged workers to de-unionize so that the College could have greater hiring and firing power, and, in some cases, actually increase benefits to workers they appreciate. While on the one hand this is meritocratic, it also decreases job security for employees. De-unionizing would cost the College more money, but it's a cost their willing to incur if it means a more direct relationship with workers, according to administrators.

Having rejected the notion of de-unionization,workers will vote which union to represent them: SEIU, which has represented them since 1974, or UPSEU, a new but risky choice (such is the nature of change). The vote will take place on Nov. 13.

This is the part that confuses me (and I'm sure many of you). A coalition of students formed the Skidmore Labor Student Alliance (SLSA). A difficult acronym, but you can call them Slizza! SLSA began as a student-led group that stood in solidarity with workers, supporting workers regardless of which union employees preferred. On Sept. 25, they held an impressive silent protest outside of the dining hall to show solidarity for Skidmore workers, who were going through a period of adversity.

It soon appeared the SLSA was providing lip service for SEIU, working closely with Teresa Mack-Piccone, a head SEIU coordinator. When I met with Teresa, she told me of the College's ills: reports of workers that were raped during late night shifts and union negotiations that were surreptitiously pushed to the summer and moved to private locations to evade whistle-blowing students. Phrases like "you didn't hear it from me," or "they're in bed with the mob" were hurled at me. She fed me more and more, watching me furiously scribble her every word on my reporter's pad as I imagined clearing the top shelf of my dorm room bureau for a Pulitzer (the first of many!).

She also told me about an SEIU organizer, Sean Collins, who was escorted off of campus by Campus Safety. According to Teresa, Campus Safety then conspired with the Saratoga Springs Police Department to dispatch a warrant for his arrest-driving him out of town.

My bubble began to burst and a desk at the investigative reporting unit at the New York Times seemed further and further away-many of these allegations were incredulous or even unverifiable. So I tried to confirm the story of Sean Collins. When I spoke to him, he rebuked the College's treatment of labor, but admitted that the story was not true. Later, I learned that negotiations are held every summer and the location, by law, is undisclosed to ensure the integrity of the negotiations.

Then it appeared that the SLSA became disenchanted with its role as SEIU's mouthpiece, too. After all, the goal was to support workers, unconditionally.

But on Oct. 28 there was an ideological shift: the SLSA would now endorse SEIU (the response from the student body was a resounding, collective yawn). Days later they posted a video of SLSA students entering closed negotiations-negotiations overseen by a federal judge-to proudly hand Barbara Beck, the College's head of Human Resources, a 500-signature petition regarding worker's healthcare-as pointless a gesture as it was illegal.

After watching the whole thing go down on video, I began to have Cynthia Carroll flashbacks.

Last year 40 students stormed a faculty meeting to express their disgust that Cynthia Carroll, a distinguished alum, vanguard female leader in the mining industry-a field known for its poor workplace conditions-would be the commencement speaker for the Class of 2013. After one student's staggering diatribe, President Glotzbach calmly asked, "So, what do you want?" There was a silence in the auditorium. The group of students had no answer.

It's unlikely that Barbara Beck read the petition or that it will have any impact on negotiations. Because, frankly, it doesn't matter what the SLSA say or does. The tight seams of a movement, which, in its nascent stages, embraced solidarity and supported workers' rights as sacrosanct, have slowly unraveled, revealing a group of students who have no idea what they're doing.

Last week the Student Government Association Executive Committee released a tepid statement admonishing the SLSA's actions (probably to appease the President's office). In turn, the SLSA retorted with a calm, but seemingly aggravated statement. I sense the aggravation comes from the SLSA's lack of real student support and their inability to navigate through a complex issue, in which their voice is not inherently critical.

I admire their empathic sensibilities, I really do. But like the Cynthia Carroll protesters-which resulted in only a defensive commencement speech, in turn interrupted by the erect bodies of silent protesters, who were yelled at by hockey bros screaming, "Sit down Jack-ass! You're ruining my big day!"-the SLSA gave in to false ideology.

On this campus, it seems many students are conflicted. On the one hand, students unconditionally support liberal ideals and embrace the progressive spirit, but on the other hand, many of them suffer from the guilt of privilege. Like the Cynthia Carroll charade, an angry squad, blinded by their ideals, was enamored with the idea of hastily fighting an establishment symbol. In the end, they began to lose sight of the real cause, taking the opportunity as performance; being seen as expressing moral outrage became more important than their noble instincts.

The exciting narrative of a College administration plagued by corruption and greed, which reinforced systems of oppression, became as compelling as it was casuistic. And eschewed from the SLSA's message was the best way for students to support workers: by carrying out the mundane and less ideologically sexy tasks-practicing cordiality at Spa or putting your silverware in the silverware chute at the dining hall (and not getting so drunk that you puke all over a Case couch-someone has to clean it).

Sadly, a hopeful, responsible movement again devolved into a theater production in self-righteousness. SEIU placated wide-eyed students to maintain their hegemonic grasp over workers, appropriating the voice of buoyant students to try to beat out de-unionization and other union competition that would have cost SEIU its cash stake in union dues. And though the SLSA members became conscious of employee's struggles, their ideology became their opiate, allowing them to believe that their hard work would result in revolutionary change at Skidmore, when really they were always doomed to play deeper into the hand of the elusive, amorphous face of capitalism.

SLSA Response to SGA Official Statement on Labor Negotiations

Posted by Skidmore Labor Student Alliance

Editor's Note: The views expressed below do not necessarily represent the views of The Skidmore News or the Skidmore News editorial board. 

We appreciate the Student Government Association (SGA) statement on labor negotiations as a furthering of dialogue regarding the ongoing negotiations for a contract for SEIU workers on campus. However, we would like to address several issues with the statement and the evident lack of critical thought that went into its release:

We are not sure which of our actions SGA is referring to as "intrusive and inflammatory." The silent demonstration of solidarity with workers on Case Green on September 19th was as quiet, respectful, orderly, and conducive to good faith negotiations as possible. The purpose of the demonstration was to show workers just how many students stand with and support them and to draw the College administration's attention to the students' knowledge and growing concern about negotiations.

If the statement is referring instead to the delivery of the healthcare student body petition during negotiations, there are several points to be made as well. Two representatives from The Skidmore Labor Student Alliance (SLSA) came into negotiations unannounced, but the delivery of the petition process was respectful, brief, and succinct. It demonstrated solidarity and genuine concern for workers' lives and healthcare. In a survey conducted by SEIU, service workers identified their healthcare plan to be the biggest concern during negotiations. We never act without first consulting workers.

The SGA statement announces hope that SLSA's further actions will respect the processes of the NLRB, but it seems the SGA (or at least the members of SGA Executive Committee that put out this statement) has failed to question whether our own administration and human resources department is respecting these processes. Workers have brought it to our attention that Skidmore College is deducting 5% of workers' gross earnings rather than the agreed-upon 5% of the healthcare monthly premium.  This would be a violation of the current union contract.  This violation would be one example of what is eroding 'good faith' negotiations, not a 30-second petition delivery by two students.

The Skidmore College community is made up of many constituencies of diverse and even divergent interests. The College and the workers do NOT have the same interests, and the discontent of the workers and the process of negotiations demonstrate this very clearly. We also look forward to an agreeable outcome to both parties, but we understand that the workers have more at stake. The SLSA stands with workers in their fight for a fair contract, rather than standing with human resources in their effort to cut costs.

We view the SGA's statement and position as highly irresponsible. As we understand it, SGA's statement was written by the 8-member Executive Committee and never approved by the senate. Nevertheless, the statement was printed out and distributed to workers as an "Official SGA Statement on Labor Negotiations." We see this act as a way not only to divide the student body on this issue but also to dishearten and disempower the workers by condemning our actions of solidarity as intrusive. Workers are reaching out to us for our support and thanking us for our past actions, and now a supposed representative of the student body is condemning the only organized solidarity efforts by students to date.

This is where critical thought intersects with life outside the classroom. We encourage everyone to think about the union battle and our workers' struggles in the larger context of the labor movement. We especially encourage the SGA Executive Committee and the Senators, who weren't consulted about the statement, to think carefully about how they can best "support the Skidmore College community in its negotiations between the administration and its union workers." A statement condemning SLSA's actions of solidarity is doing just the opposite.

We, the Skidmore Labor Student Alliance, hope that all students regardless of affiliation with SGA or SLSA will take this issue seriously.  We encourage further dialogue, and we are open to criticism as well as change. All of our meetings are open to students and workers, as we are hoping to create a level of involvement that's never before existed on our campus. It is a particularly contentious time to be doing solidarity work with a body of employees that is so divided, but we hope to create a long-lasting relationship and alliance between the student and working body for years to come. We seek to build a strong, inclusive alliance.

If anyone has concerns or thoughts, please know it is more constructive to share them with us than it is to undermine our efforts of solidarity. If there are any workers reading this statement, we want you to know that SGA's disparaging statement is not going to deter us from standing with you now or in the future.

Feel free to contact us at skidmoreLSA@gmail.com, find information on our website at skidLSA.wordpress.com, or drop by a meeting Sundays 1:00 in the Spa.

Official SGA Statement on Labor Negotiations

Posted by SGA Executive Committee

Editor's Note: The views expressed below do not necessarily represent the views of The Skidmore News or the Skidmore News editorial board. 

Also, the following statement was added to the original article per request of the Executive Committee on Nov. 5:

SGA Executive Committee would like to clarify that Executive Committee was the body that wrote and stands behind the statement. We do not see it as our place to take a side on the parties directly involved in negotiations. Our goal is to support a fair process that includes both parties, the workers and the administration, staying true to the values they profess. 

The Student Government Association supports the Skidmore College community in its negotiations between the administration and its union workers. However, we do not condone the actions taken by the unaffiliated Skidmore Labor Student Alliance (SLSA) as they are intrusive and inflammatory to productive negotiations. Furthermore, the breach of privacy imposed by select students of the SLSA not only violates the confidentiality of negotiations between the administration and the workers it seeks to support, but it also erodes the spirit of good faith negotiations. We hope that further action relating to this matter by any Skidmore community member respects the processes set forth by the National Labor Relations Board and all parties involved. The Student Government Association looks forward to an agreeable outcome for all parties.

A smoke-free campus: it's about time

Posted by The Editorial Board

According to a campus-wide survey conducted by the Office of Health Promotions, approximately four percent of Skidmore students smoke cigarettes on a daily basis. It's a surprisingly small percentage considering the Case Center walkway, the entrances to the Tisch Learning Center and Bolton Hall, and the porch outside of the Lucy Scribner library seem perpetually congested with tobacco smoke.

Among college students, the national rate of reported smokers has grown to 30%. In the spring of 2013, 606 Skidmore students completed a survey conducted by the Office of Health Promotions on alcohol and drug use. According to the survey:

- 171 of the 606 students surveyed had smoked cigarettes within the past year

- 35.4% of these students don't smoke during the week while

- 18.9% of these students smoke on a daily basis

With the national rate of reported smokers growing significantly over the last decade, there has been a nation-wide effort on college campuses to instill smoke-free policies. As of July 2013, there are 1,117 100 percent smoke-free campuses in the United States.

The Student Affairs sub-committee of the Student Government Association is currently revising its proposal to present to the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee, according to Dean of Student Affairs, Rochelle Calhoun. The Student Affairs sub-committee is composed of Calhoun, members of faculty and members of the SGA, including President of SGA Sam Harris '15.

According to Calhoun, the Student Affairs sub-committee plans to propose a phased process to becoming smoke-free. Beginning in the fall of 2014, designated smoking areas would be established as well as a ban on smoking within twenty feet of a building. The committee plans to have a completely smoke-free campus beginning in the fall of 2016.

Following the lead of Amherst College and Westchester Community College, the college plans to enforce the ban using signs and placing smoking receptacles 25 feet away from a building entrance. Calhoun stated that violations of the smoking policy would be treated like other policy violations on campus, meaning multiple violations could result in a referral to the Integrity Board for a conduct hearing.

But do students deserve the right to smoke wherever they want?

Not on a private college campus. Furthermore, there is no "right" to use tobacco under either federal or state law. While The Skidmore News does not condemn students for personally choosing to smoke, smoking is exactly that-a personal decision. The use of tobacco does not belong in a public space, especially because, like any negative externality such as pollution, it inevitably affects any person close by. To state the obvious, tobacco smoke is a danger to one's health and the environment. It's a personal decision that, when made in a public space, affects the nearby and uninvolved.

But would the ban be effective?

In a 2008 study, researchers at Indiana University found that after the instillation of a campus-wide smoking ban, the percentage of students that reported smoking cigarettes dropped from 16.5% to 12.8%.

The Student Affairs sub-committee is proposing a realistic and logical plan to slowly phase out smoking. The Skidmore News believes that two other components of the plan must be added as well to make the ban effective:

1) A tangible disciplinary action, such as a fine, would enforce the ban much more effectively than pure signage and the possibility of disciplinary action. Tulane University slaps offenders of the smoking-ban with a $25 fine. To be frank, if we are serious about eventually having a smoke-free campus, the punishment for violation must be more than a mere slap on the wrist or a BASICS course.

2) If the college is advocating for a smoke-free campus, it only makes sense that programs for smokers who desire to quit are offered by Health Services. If we are creating a campus that is essentially anti-smoking, we must help students who desire to quit and acclimate to this new campus culture.

It's about time Skidmore takes this logical step forward to create a healthier campus environment. It's nonsensical to allow second hand smoke in crowded public areas of an intellectual institution nearly 50 years after the Surgeon General declared tobacco smoke highly detrimental to human health. The smoke-free campus initiative will most likely be largely unpopular and difficult to implement, but in an effort to improve the health of our campus culture it is worth the endeavor.

Are we making space for mental health? : An increasing demand for counseling services on campus is stifled by a lack of space

Posted by The Editorial Board

It's easy to overlook the College's department of Counseling Services. Located in a corner of the first floor of Jonsson Tower, Counseling Services consists of dorm rooms converted into offices and a cramped waiting room that offers a concerning lack of privacy.
The location of Counseling Services is not the only way that the department is overlooked. Mental health issues, as President of the Skidmore chapter of Active Minds, Siena Tugendrajch, told The Skidmore News, are still stigmatized on college campuses.
The New York Times reported in 2010 that the demand for mental health services in college students has steadily grown over the course of the past decade, stating that national surveys demonstrate a 100% increase in the number of students who visit counseling centers that are coping with serious mental illness.
The Skidmore campus has experienced this increase as well. According to the Director of Counseling Services, Dr. Julia Routbort, as of this October there has been a 28 percent increase in the number of students seeking help at the counseling center. The increase spurred the center to request contingency funding from the administration. According to Routbort, the request was authorized within a week, and allows Counseling Services the wherewithal to hire a temporary clinician that will work 15 to 20 hours a week (permanent clinicians at the center work thirty-five-hour weeks, and on average conduct thirty clinical appointments a week, according to Routbort).
The increase for demand has been such that the average waiting period for an appointment has increased from four to five days over the course of this semester. But the problem, says Routbort, is largely spatial rather than financial. Even if Counseling Services had the funds to hire an additional full-time clinician, there is no physical space for the clinician to conduct his or her appointments, Routbort said.
Last year the office of Counseling Services received funding from the administration to hire an architect to re-model the ground floor of Jonsson Tower, which houses Health Services (a department which is notably not handicap-accessible due to its cramped layout), Counseling Services and the Office of Health Promotions. There are plans later this year to move the Office of Health Promotions to Wiecking Hall, freeing up more space on the first floor of Jonsson Tower. Ten years ago, there was a potential plan for a Health and Wellness Building, which was put on the back burner due to financial constraints. What does this say about our campus values? 
Over the last couple of years, the College has made notable renovations to the campus: the construction of the Sussman and North Woods villages, the sustainable geothermal projects and now there are plans for a new science center and the relocation of the admissions building onto campus . While these renovations undoubtedly benefit the student body and increase the College's appeal to potential students, The Skidmore News feels that serious consideration must be given to the expansion of Counseling Services on campus.
Peer mentors, the Office of Residential Life and the Center for Sex and Gender Relations, as well as numerous other groups on campus refer students to the counseling center if they are seeking help. But are we doing anything to help fuel this resource?
Across the Skidmore Campus and nationally, there's been an increase in the demand for mental health services. The frequency of tragic school shootings has illuminated the issue of unaddressed mental health issues among students, yet on our own campus we have not seen permanent growth in the Counseling Services Office in over a decade. Not only has this stagnation in growth imposed an eight-session per academic year limit on students seeking individual psychotherapy, but The Skidmore News believes it reflects a concerning perpetuation of the stigmatization of mental health on our campus. The relocation of Health Services to Wiecking Hall may provide a short-term solution to overcrowding, but as the school pushes forward with renovation plans, namely with Case Center, this newspaper hopes the administration will include generous room for Counseling Services. They need the funds as well as the room to efficiently and thoroughly help our students.

More to consider about Teach For America

Posted by Josh Lauren

When I first arrived in Gallup, N.M., I knew I was a long way from Skidmore but that I'd found a new home. I was starting my first year as a Teach For America corps member as a middle school history and language arts teacher at Thoreau Middle School. Working with students like Aaron, Izzy, and Shelby on World History and Geography, or helping Raymond move from a third grade reading level to a sixth grade reading level-the days were long and hard, but incredibly rewarding. Whether it was in the classroom or on the basketball court with my team of sixth and seventh graders, I was inspired by their ability to overcome the challenges of poverty that stood in their way and the limitless potential I saw in them just waiting to be realized.
As an American Studies major at Skidmore College in the Class of 2007, I didn't see myself building a career in education. But after attending a Teach For America information session, I knew that in the classroom I could make a meaningful impact right away. And six years later, I'm still working alongside fellow educators, families and community members to ensure that students growing up in poverty have the same educational opportunity as their more affluent peers.
Today I work for Achievement First, a network of charter public schools serving families in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, building strong teaching teams for our middle schools. We look for teachers who possess content mastery and excellent classroom management skills, as well as mindsets like persistence, grit, reflectiveness, and a desire to constantly learn and improve.
Because many of these characteristics are aligned with what Teach For America looks for in their candidates, we consider corps members for open positions and hire a number each year. I'm consistently impressed with their firm belief that our students can achieve anything with the right support, which echoes Achievement First's mission to deliver on the promise of equal educational opportunity for all of America's children.
As I read Olivia Frank's recent article about Teach For America, I was struck by two things. First, she shares my deep commitment to ending educational inequity. Second, she has a narrow view of the work that many members of the Teach For America network do. With a network of 11,000 corps members reaching more than 750,000 students and 32,000 alumni, it's a group with a diverse range of backgrounds and perspectives. But, informed by our corps experience, we're united in our commitment to ensure that every child, regardless of his or her zip code or family income, has a shot at a great education. Two-thirds of Teach For America alums work full-time in education like me. One-third are classroom teachers. Others are tackling issues that impact low-income communities from a range of other sectors.
No doubt, teaching is one of the hardest things that I've ever done, but I had many resources to draw on while I developed as a classroom leader. With intensive, hands-on pre-service training, the support of my Teach For America instructional coach throughout my two years in the corps and the guidance of my colleagues at Thoreau, I was able to lead my students to over two years of reading growth. Many other corps members share that experience. A recent independent study by Mathematica Policy Research found that corps members in their first and second year of teaching do as well or better than other teachers. On average, students taught by Teach For America teachers show an additional 2.6 months of learning in math over the course of a year.
In Gallup, like many other rural communities across America, my school district struggled to attract and retain effective teachers. Teach For America provided one critical pipeline of candidates. In other places, the teacher job market is much tighter, but many districts must continue to make new hires for open positions. Teach For America provides one critical source of diverse teaching talent, and school and district officials decide whom to hire for their open positions.
At Skidmore, every first-year learns that creative thought matters. I've taken that charge to the wider world, knowing that it will take fresh, innovative thinking to solve the massive problem of educational inequity, which can seem like an intractable problem. My students showed me every day that, by thinking outside the box and giving just a little more of yourself, you can change the future for our next generation of leaders. All of us in this fight for educational equity must come together in innovative ways, not tear one another down. Let's give kids our best creative thinking.
Josh Lauren is a 2007 graduate of Skidmore College and a 2007 New Mexico Teach For America corps member. He serves as a talent recruiter for Achievement First.

Cosmopolitan: Dear Ladies, Ambition is a Turn-off!

Posted by Alex Hodor-Lee

A recent article in Cosmopolitan Magazine listed Skidmore College as one of the ten worst schools to find single men. 

The article is disturbing on several levels. 

It reinforces our pervasive hetero-normative culture (in the course of researching for this article I learned what "cisgender" means). This type of hetero-normativeness often means that there is no room in the discussion for those with other preferences--a cultural bias that runs rampant in our society. 

It's also clear there's very little science or even research involved in crafting the article (but then again this is Cosmo). The article, written by Jennifer Grose, is unrelentingly anecdotal, citing several women who lamented their woe-is-me single-life plight in New York City, among others. It's clear that the research done for this article (though calling it "research" feels like a violation of my academic sensibilities) was lazy and proximal. A research design that can be likened to a drunk guy looking for his lost car keys under a street light. 

Cosmopolitan offers up a cautionary tale of young women who went to college to meet single men and (drumroll!) failed. Their repugnant solution? Reevaluate what's important to you (casual things like your career path, major or even what city you live in) in hopes of meeting more single men. 

Much like your aunt who grew up in the 1950's, Cosmo warns against the career-oriented woman. Another of Grose's scholarly endeavors entails the creation of a fake J-date profile. Her "experiment" revealed that men don't like women who write more than 500 words in their profile descriptions, or women who mention their careers (admittedly, both a little true: most men are generally intimidated by career-oriented women; and we are too lazy to read more than 500 words).

But Jennifer Grose--known for her musings about how women should speak in the workplace--also cited an interview with an "18-year-old freshman" Skidmore student.

It turns out that "18-year-old freshman," Brianna Barros, is actually a 19-year-old sophomore. She met her boyfriend while touring Skidmore College. Cosmo paints an evergreen account of their relationship. 

Antithetical to Cosmo's theory about men at Skidmore, her boyfriend was unwavering in his courtship. 

They met during a tour before freshman year. "He just kept pursuing. He wouldn't leave me alone." said Barros in an interview with SN. "Then he inboxed me over the summer and I was like 'you know what? I don't want to start off Skidmore being a jerk.' So I was nice, but limited." 

"Then I got to school and I really wanted to enter the business competition and I saw him talking to my marketing professor. I overheard [their conversation] and I was like, 'he really knows what he's talking about.'" said Barros, whose tune begin to change with the raising stakes of the business competition, "I thought, 'I really don't like this kid, but I need a partner...we ended up working together...and he actually ended up being a pretty cool kid." Barros told SN.

The Cosmo article also warns, "You might want to brush up on your coding if you want to go to a school that's majority-male--many of the universities with a predominately male student body tend to have strong engineering, math and computer-science programs." 

Or, women should learn to brush up on coding because they want to. At a time when female representation in STEM fields is scarce, we shouldn't impel women to pursue the hard science because men are there. We should ask them to pursue the field because women aren't there. The author's advice wreaks of the dirty, dangerous and inhibitive scent of phallocentricism.

Just like Brianna Barros, other young women might find dating success if they don't chase men, but instead their dreams.  

"I think the [Cosmo] article is sort of saying to girls 'reconsider these choices...If you go to a school you really need to learn these skills if you want to pick up new men'--because God forbid the ratio's off! I think what should be said is that girls need to be more confident." Barros, who never spoke to the Cosmopolitan writer directly, told SN. 

"You have to be outspoken and pursue what you love and if you meet a guy on the way that's awesome." 

The truth is that ambition is sexy. It's why Brianna and her boyfriend have what they have and why many couples are...couples. Unfortunately, writers of Cosmopolitan Magazine are adept at drawing in their audience, luring out their sexual instincts while simultaneously poking and prodding at their insecurities. All the while they maintain rigid gender binaries and reinforce unhealthy cultural norms. 

Nominating Commencement Speakers: An empty offer?: The administration offered us a voice, but was it just to be ignored?

Posted by Andrew Shi

Correction: In an earlier version, I erroneously claimed that this was the first year that the administration sent an email out to students to solicit nominations. This email is sent out to the junior class and to faculty members every year. I also insinuated that the school pays commencement speakers. This too is not factual although the College may pay for travel expenses and accommodations. Apologies.

During last semester's controversy over the College's selection of Cynthia Carroll as a commencement speaker, this newspaper advocated for the administration to grant the graduating classes a more involved role in choosing their commencement speakers for the future. Two weeks ago, students of the class of 2015 received an email from the Office of the President, soliciting nominations for their commencement speaker.  

The process of selecting a commencement speaker can take up to a year and a half, which is why the Class of 2014 has been foregone. The email came attached with a form in which a student can fill out their nominee's name, occupation, achievements and affiliation with the College.  The form is not limited to commencement speaker, but the email insinuated that the main function of this outreach was to select a commencement speaker.

While I laud the administration for taking the steps to offer students the opportunity to select their own commencement speaker, I find these efforts wanting.

The largest issue is that students can, quite literally, nominate anyone. As such, a consensus for a nomination  will be nearly impossible to achieve unless the class coalesces to nominate the same person. Instead, the Office of Trustee Affairs which is vetting these forms will likely receive a bunch of names that have one vote each. But if by some miraculous effort students did unite behind a single nominee there would be the next obvious problem. These students would never have thought of nominating Cynthia Carroll or David Brooks (last year's commencement speakers), nor would the students nominating unilaterally in their rooms. They're writing down the big names. And as cool as it would be to have President Barack Obama deliver my class's commencement speech, it just won't happen.

A third problem with this system is that there are no guidelines as to how the nominations of students will affect the final decision by the Board of Trustees or the preliminary review by the Committee on Appointments, Promotions, and Tenure (CAPT). Will CAPT take one look at a nomination, realize it was by a student and then toss it out? Does a certain consensus need to be achieved in order for one name proposed by students to pass through CAPT? How much weight is afforded to us, the students?

The process is rudimentary, and needs to be revised. The first step to improving the process would be to increase transparency. If student voices are going to land on deaf ears, they're not going to bother and, unfortunately, President Glotzbach may find himself facing another 40-student protest in the future. My personal recommendation is to offer students their choice of commencement speaker. Historically, Skidmore has had three commencement speakers; designate one of the speakers to be chosen solely by the students as long as the nominee meets certain qualifications. These qualifications will be approved by the administration and this leads to my next suggestion.

There is no way that a class is going to arrive at one person and agree on him or her. Not enough people are going to randomly select the same respectable yet affordable person. Instead, they should be provided a list of potential candidates. Conveniently, the administration is in possession of a list of 40-odd candidates for an honorary degree. This list should be updated and disclosed to the student body every year. Let the class president than open the list up to a vote with a possible run-off until a majority decide on one name. This way, the qualifications of the candidate are already affirmed.

This, I suppose, also creates its own problems. There is undoubtedly a reason the list is kept secret. The administration understandably doesn't wish to offend any candidate by not selecting them, but doesn't a speaker realize that this isn't the first year they were considered and that they have been snubbed before in previous years?

None of this addresses the potential non-response rate of students, which at Skidmore is notoriously low; but in this past fall's SGA election there was an uplifting turnout (about one quarter of the student body). Students will vote, and even if the number is diminutive, the students' votes should still be valid. Assume the students that passed on voting are just deferring to their classmates, just as rightly them as the administration.

My proposal indubitably requires revision of its own, likely there are better ideas altogether on how to fix the current nomination system. But at the moment, the email sent out by the Office of the President delivers little more than an empty offer. The students don't want that, and I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt to the administration and say they're genuinely interested in our opinion. That last remark will have to be justified by action, though. I'll concede it is at this point to late for my class of 2015, but what will be done for next year?

It's kind of a big deal: Danny Brown, Action Bronson, and Misogyny at Big Show

Posted by Nora Grubb

Two weekends ago, Skidmore's Entertainment Company (SEC) answered your Facebook pleas and delivered: Danny Brown and Action Bronson graced us with their presence at Big Show. We didn't want the downright depressing Dirty Projectors serenading the dirty hippies again, did we?

Skid kids came from all circles, bobbing their heads and singing to the music - granted, most of these kids were on some sort of illicit drug and alcohol combination but hey, I don't judge. The turn out alone proved that these artists were talented musicians with formidable stage presence. Yet their misogynistic portrayal of women kept me from fully enjoying the show. Bronson's fondness for the word "bitch" and Brown's lyrics like, "like a cue ball in a pool hall: we all hitten!" and, "these bitches suck my dick like it's a moral incentive!" left me questioning why I was supporting these artists by attending the show in the first place. 

Don't get me wrong - I listen to rap. I even like rap. I appreciate the charisma, the cleverness, the rhyme, the meter, what have you. Yet, two weeks after their performance, I still wonder if it was okay for Skidmore to host artists with such a misogynist agenda. 

Voicing this concern to my friends, most of them wrote Danny Brown and Action Bronson's women-hating lyrics off as purely "entertainment," much more likely to question Danny Brown's hairstyle and than his lyrics. 

I empathized with my friends. I knew they weren't misogynists themselves, they just wanted to enjoy the music for what they thought it was: entertainment. But by writing it off as entertainment, was Skidmore as an institution (one that educated young women before American women could vote) complying with misogyny? By hosting these artists, what is Skidmore subconsciously saying to female students who have been abused, sexually assaulted, raped, used, and degraded?

In an interview with Interview Magazine, Danny Brown said he is "not misogynistic" but was entertained by misogynistic lyrics when he was growing up; therefore, he makes music for his younger self, or the "12-year-old kid in front of my boom box." Action Bronson has not personally commented on the matter, yet his vile album artwork for "Saaab Stories" suggests he promotes and is aroused by the objectivity of women (the cover has Bronson looking carnivorously at the um, assets, of a scantily clad Asian woman while another stands watching in the bathtub).

Even if rappers do not embrace misogynistic attitudes in real life, it doesn't mean their lyrics are any less devoid of meaning. They have truth to them. The truth is that the music industry and society itself complies - even profits - with misogyny.  

I'm not looking to condemn SEC - with several less popular Big Shows before them and looming financial interests, Danny Brown and Action Bronson could be considered SEC's saving grace. And I'm not saying to stop listening to Danny Brown or Action Bronson or any other rapper for that matter. Yet I urge Skidmore - a population of (I hope) curious, intelligent, and egalitarian minded students- to ask themselves what it says about Skidmore as an institution when we invite and attend the performances of artists that profit at the expense of women. Hopefully, by doing so, an open dialogue will be encouraged and we will reconsider inviting like-minded musicians to our campus in the future.

The inherent dysfunctionality of Moorebid Ball

Posted by The Editorial Board

The infamous Moorebid Ball is quickly approaching. Even though Moorebid is the College's largest drinking event and last year, according to Campus Safety Reports, resulted in six hospital transports, the Student Government Association is still attempting to figure out how the event can run smoothly and be a success among students.
According to a statement made by Hannah Degraaf '15, the current Vice President for Student Life, the Committee on Student Life has chosen to hold this year's event in the Spa, after the past two Moorebid Balls were thrown in first the two small gyms and then exclusively the large gym. Degraaf conceded that hosting the event in the large gym last year didn't spark great feedback from students, not to mention was host to the trampling of students in attendance. According to Degraaf the Spa has been chosen in hopes that it will give the ball the feel it once had when the event was hosted in Case Center, but necessitates a 500-ticket ceiling. A three dollar wristband will grant a student entry and re-entry until midnight, and if the space is not at fire capacity by midnight, the event will open up to non-ticket holding students at a cost of five dollars.
Because there are a limited number of tickets, the SGA has also planned to co-host an alcohol-free event in Falstaffs on the same night.
The never-ending necessity to revise Moorebid Ball Suggests that there is something inherently and unavoidably dysfunctional about the school-sanctioned, school-wide event hosted on a holiday. At last year's Fall Fun Day, Campus Safety reported one intoxicated student and zero hospital transports. During Spring Fun Day, an event open to the entire school at no cost, and often drawing students from surrounding colleges, seven intoxicated students were reported by Campus Safety with six total hospital transports. At the Moorebid Ball, an event that capped the ticket sales in 2012 at 800 students-roughly 30% of the student population-approximately eight intoxicated students and six hospital transports were reported by campus safety.
There is clearly something wrong with an event that hosts one-tenth of the student population, yet yields the same number of hospitalizations and intoxicated students as an event open to the entire student body. And despite yearly re-workings of Moorebid, there doesn't seem to be a safe but enjoyable solution for the event.
It's logical that the Moorebid Ball yields the most hospital transports in proportion to the number of students attending the event. Moorebid is well known among students and alumni to be the night when everyone drinks in excess, while Fun Day has traditionally been known as an event when more students use marijuana rather than consume alcohol. Moorebid both comes with the hype of being an enormous, chaotic drinking event and the excitement falling around Halloween time. To state the unfortunately obvious, Moorebid's reputation and timing make it a recipe for campus disaster.

The question is then: why does the administration and the SGA continue to host this event? While it is absolutely a student's personal responsibility to keep themselves safe, the College seems to set up year after year the 'perfect storm' of circumstances for poor decision-making. The Skidmore News does not wish to blame the SGA or the administration for students being unable to responsibly comport themselves at Moorebid, but it is undeniable that they are enabling these students to do just that.

One of the purposes of Fall Fun Day was to reduce the hype and binge-drinking of Moorebid, supposedly by spreading the excitement out. This did not work and Fall Fun Day is no more --although not necessarily for that reason alone. The Big Show is another event that may have been scheduled to mitigate the effects of Moorebid, but like Fun Day, the Big Show has never done the trick. It may just be that Moorebid is too heavily engrained in the minds of students as an event that necessitates craze and the release of all inhibitions that it can never be made safe.

Unfortunately, it is this paper's (most likely unpopular) opinion that Moorebid Ball does not need re-working, but may need to be subjected to the recommendation aired every year after the tumult of Moorebid, and be cancelled entirely. Moorebid is one of the few traditions of Skidmore and a popular event among students, and this newspaper would certainly rather have it succeed than be gone altogether. But it is not in the College's best interest to host an event where a large quantity of students will knowingly be dangerously intoxicated in preparation for the dance, nor is it in the best interest of its students. It is too late to cancel this year's event, but if things do not change then it may be time to reconsider more than where to host Moorebid next year.

In Support of Humans Versus Zombies: Continuing the Discussion: A letter of support from SGA officials

Posted by Addison Bennett, SGA VP for Club Affairs

Note: The opinions expressed in the following letter do not reflect those of SGA but just the select officials involved.

As this semester's Humans Versus Zombies game approaches, we find it appropriate to express our support of this club and their campus event.

We fully support co-curricular life on this campus. As students, we have surely come here to study and  enjoy our academic pursuits, but we have also come to Skidmore to participate, to engage our college community, and to positively contribute to this campus' climate. Skidmore is a residential college, meaning that a large number of students live on campus, signifying the inevitable fusion of academics with social life. Engagement and participation can take many forms, and these are not limited to the classroom. To think otherwise would be to ignore the many benefits of the college experience that do not rely on scholarship. While HvZ does not contribute directly to a student's academic pursuits, the game has many other merits. The most important of them is its ability to  provide a forum for so many students to enjoy a game together. Ultimately, the goal of any club or event, including HvZ, is to foster the kind of environment we all want to live and partake in. Our campus is host to a multitude of clubs, alliances, and groups that range from being academic to cultural to performance to activist. These are available to us to grow individually, socially, and academically. We, as students, are able to thrive best when we feel safe and inclusive within our campus community and the only way to do this is to create those niches for people to belong to. We understand that not everyone feels the same about all the groups our campus has to offer but we must all respect others' decisions to partake in events and activities that best suit our needs. 

HvZ has quickly become a tradition on this campus.  Having recently become a chartered club under the auspices of SGA, HvZ clearly already has the support of this student body and its government. The game has a strong following of students, especially during the larger and longer campus-wide games.  The game has strict regulations, one of them clearly stipulating that the game should never take place inside any buildings. These regulations serve to limit the game to the venues where it is appropriate to be held, outside and away from the classroom, the library, the dorms, Case Center, and other buildings where our scholarly pursuits take place. As any other ongoing campus activity, it may permeate conversations, especially in an academic setting. However, it most likely does not dominate classroom discussions, unless it pertains to the class (such as the American Studies course on Post-Apocalyptic Film and Literature). Professors who do not want the game to enter their classroom have every right to state their wish explicitly, and their students have the responsibility to listen. Classroom etiquette is an integral part of learning in the classroom. We must all respect each other. A co-curricular game should not interfere with the classroom experience. Outside the classroom, however, we students must be free to budget our own time, to play games if we want to, and to enjoy what little time we have on this campus.

Furthermore, the game is also intended only to include those who are actively participating. While others may view this game in the periphery of their campus experience, only those playing are actually engrossed in the game. Those who do not want to be involved do not need to be. It is as simple as that.

 While the game's overlap with the October study day is no longer a conflict since the dates have been changed to early November, the policy on study days is an important issue to address. The SGA plans to fully review the policy on study days in the very near future, and this review will include defining what the purpose of this day is, and who has the authority to plan and approve events on that day. Our current interpretation is this: the October study day gives students an opportunity to budget their time as they see fit, by studying all day if they wish, or by choosing to participate in events with their peers if they so desire.

Other objections raised to the game - namely, the assertion that HvZ turns the campus into a simulated war zone - are valid, but we believe they are also exaggerated. These are conversations we should all have as a campus community. It falls on all of us to look critically at the ways we choose to spend our free time. We look forward to more conversation on this issue.

Ideally, a day off from classes - which, not coincidentally, falls after most professors have given midterms-would include a healthy mix of curricular and co-curricular activity. As of now, many events are not permitted to occur on this day, however this policy is not conducive to fostering a positive atmosphere. College students are not children; we do not need to be told when we must study and when we may play.  

Students, Athletes Again Without Pre-Semester Housing

Posted by Alex Hodor-Lee

For at least the second year running, Skidmore students who came to school early to represent this institution athletically or by way of pre-orientation or peer mentorship, who chose to exercise their right to take residence off-campus, were without housing for the two weeks prior to the start of classes (and I qualify with "at least" because my institutional memory doesn't extend beyond two years).

Last August Dean Rochelle Calhoun held a "meet the dean" seminar in Gannet Auditorium. The meet quickly morphed into an hour-long bashing when students-rightly incandescent at the College's failure to secure pre-semester housing for students whose leases hadn't yet begun-berated Dean Calhoun, decrying the College's indifference.

The issue was raised August 2012 (and again this August). Many students' leases don't begin until the day before classes so that Saratoga landlords can prolong their extortionate rent fees to horse-fanatics "summering" in Saratoga. For athletes, who travel to compete and train for up to four hours a day under the summer sun, this adds another level of anxiety because they're without housing during the two-week gap.

This also affects peer mentors who undergo training. During the fiery meeting, one of the nearly 150 students present yelled out, "I was forced to live out of my car for a week!" Unfortunately, she found no sympathy from a very idle Don Hastings, who minimized the College's responsibility for a student sleeping in her sedan during pre-o.

That students who commit to the College should have to live out of their cars is deplorable and indefensible. The school's apathetic responses might evince several unsavory qualities about this institution: firstly, students choosing to live off-campus to avoid the exorbitantly high costs of campus living are met with indifference by school administrators. Secondly, that the school does not care about athletes or have much consideration for their performance. Thirdly, that it does not behoove upperclassmen to come back early and train to become peer mentors (presumably, they urge their mentees not to participate in the peer mentor program unless they're cool with being homeless by their junior or senior year). Finally, that as your time goes on at Skidmore, you are less appreciated.

It's not an easily solved logistical problem, but it is solvable. Speaking candidly, I have no solution to the problem. But I will offer this: if at Don Hasting's Skidmore College there are no rooms for hard-working student ambassadors, then at our Skidmore College there should be no room for Don Hastings.

Consider Before Applying To Teach For America

Posted by Olivia Frank

As autumn emerges it signals blooming foliage, a Riggi mansion decked out for Halloween, and, last but not least, Teach for America (TFA) applications. This year a friend and I started a Skidmore College chapter of an organization called Students United for Public Education (SUPE).
At the national level, SUPE is about to release a campaign called "Resisting Teach for America." I hesitate to become fully involved because my stance does not reach the same level of opposition as other SUPE leaders. However, I do think that joining TFA is a very loaded commitment and would like to offer some food for thought to anyone considering an application.
    Since Teach for America's founding in 1990, the organization has cultivated national praise, billions of dollars in funding and an increasingly elite pool of applications. TFA's pearly reputation has successfully rooted itself in American minds- my own included. Over the years I have learned about admirable graduates volunteering to take on the public school trenches, including the toughest working conditions and most challenging students throughout our country. TFA corps members seemed to epitomize noble and good intentions. But that very statement-their pure intentions-marks the beginning of a very unfortunate and necessary critique of this "superhero" program.
    As compassionate as TFA recruits may be, their goals need to be less idealistic and more broad-sighted. If the long-term consequences of TFA were more closely examined, optimistic potential corps members would realize they were about to participate in a harmful system. The prospect of bonding with some struggling students just may lose its allure.
    Why do so many college seniors apply for this prestigious program in the first place? Perhaps it looks good on a resume. Perhaps they don't know what else to do after graduation, so a short teaching gig seems like a nice move. Or perhaps they want to earn their teaching certification in an alternative way (I am quite guilty of this consideration myself). Realistically, these motives are all understandable, but it needs to be more widely understood that the two years of the program do not only impact the lives of the corps members.
    The students in each placement are very real kids that college grads should not be using for the above devices. They are not guinea pigs deserving to be toyed with by a group of enthusiastic yet inexperienced novices. Everyone knows that a teacher's first experience is never the most successful; they need years of trials and errors to get into their groove. In the case of TFA, those errors are inflicted upon the highest-needs students in our nation. These kids need the best professional educators in the field, carrying far more than five weeks of TFA training under their belts.
    In my own public school years, any troublesome teachers had their negative effects balanced and assuaged by the high quality teachers to follow. The same cannot often be said for students in low-income districts, where quality teachers are dissuaded from applying to work because of the frustrating conditions.
    Even if well-practiced "career" teachers (those who teach by long-term profession, rather than using teaching as a stepping stone) do enter the struggling school scene, they are increasingly laid off with tightening school budgets. In the "Resisting Teach for America" campaign, SUPE founder Stephanie Rivera, in an interview, explains TFA's affiliation with this problem, "In many of the same school districts where experienced teachers have been laid off, TFA recruits have come in to replace them" Moreover, Rivera observes, "Since most TFA teachers do not stay in their schools beyond their two-year commitment, they are far less likely to demand the higher pay and benefits, and thus stand as an attractive alternative, from the districts' perspective, to career teachers and their unions."
    This observation was blatantly demonstrated in July, when the Chicago Public School district laid off over a thousand teachers and committed to hiring over three hundred new TFA recruits. In this way, TFA isn't just following its mission to fill the voids of teachers in undesired schools; it is helping to create these voids.
           Thus a cycle emerges, as is always the case with social issues. Students who need the most help - those who have fallen behind their affluent counterparts since the early differences of pre-school - are bound to detrimental teaching from which they cannot recover. Their achievement decreases. Harsh evaluations are implemented to hold their teachers accountable for these results. The best teachers stay far away from this powerless, degrading scenario. Instead, hopeful, well-intentioned college grads are called in to "save the day."

Unconditional Love: U.S. Foreign Assistance to Egypt

Posted by Jeremy Ritter-Wiseman

Egypt's not doing so hot. 

Earlier in July, Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected leader in over half a century, was subjected to a military coup. Since then, the military has ruled as an authoritarian regime characterized by massacres of protestors, arrests of pro-Morsi supporters and a ban on Morsi's political party, the  Muslim Brotherhood. However, despite the military's volatile and condemnable behavior, one thing remains resolute: the U.S.'s seemingly unconditional $1.5 billion of aid, 85% of which is allocated to the military. 

There is a reason that the Obama administration has not yet labeled the events in Egypt as a military coup. Section 7008 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012 prohibits foreign assistance to a country whose head of government was deposed by a military coup or decree. If Morsi's ousting was to be labeled a military coup by the administration, all aid that falls under the parameters of Section 7008 would have to cease immediately. The administration cannot afford to do this for fear of losing its aid-based leverage.

Leverage is one of the advantages that comes with foreign assistance to Egypt. Aid can always be suspended or cut off to incentivize progress towards establishing democratic institutions and addressing humanitarian issues; however, this leverage has yet to be utilized despite threats to those two very things. From a severe crackdown on NGOs to a military coup and a massacre of civilians, suspending aid has been delayed repeatedly for more dire occasions. What develops is a boy-who-cried-wolf scenario: the repeated threats to suspend aid are losing credibility and, with it, the U.S.'s ability to influence developments in Egypt. 

Here lies the primary weakness in the administration's policy towards Egypt. Unconditional support of what is essentially an autocratic military dictator in General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has not, and will not, help  Egypt move towards consolidated democracy. The U.S. must progress towards incentivized aid and revert less to blind funding. The administration failed to procure political support for the Middle East and North Africa Incentive Fund, which was perhaps the best chance of establishing incentivized aid this past fiscal year. Thus, the funding in Egypt is left largely up to congressional discretion. 

In 1978, the U.S. pledged annual aid to both Israel and Egypt as part of the peace treaty between the two historically warring nations. But it begs the question: are those same motives for aid still relevant? If the U.S. were to cut aid to Egypt, would the Egyptian government throw out the peace treaty with Israel and reignite a thirty-year old conflict? It seems unlikely, and therefore the foreign assistance to Egypt, if leverage remains unexploited, becomes both antiquated and impracticable. 

For the administration to take full advantage, military aid should be suspended immediately (with exception to operations in the Sinai Peninsula) and a message must be sent to the interim government that aid will be restored when the political roadmap established by the military is achieved. A new constitution and legitimate elections must precede further aid to Egypt in order to abide by the Consolidated Appropriations Act and to set the standard for countries enduring similar circumstances across the region. 

The disappearance of the inter-departmental major

Posted by The Editorial Board

The number of interdepartmental majors offered at Skidmore College is rapidly decreasing. The College previously offered 13 interdepartmental majors and, according to the 2013-2014 College Catalogue, the Curriculum Committee has approved two of these degree programs for phase-out. Furthermore, the Curriculum Committee and the New York State Department of Education have approved four additional degree programs for phase-out.
 The interdepartmental major allows a student to pursue two majors by completing, on average, a 15-class workload that draws from courses in both departments. However, as has been the reasoning behind many of the departments' decisions to phase out the interdepartmental degree program, this option essentially requires the workload of two minors (the average minor program consists of six to eight courses), and little guidance is offered on how student can best build their knowledge in ways that span across these courses and departments.
The Editorial Board finds the decision to slowly phase-out the interdepartmental major programs offered at the College in the best interest of the students. While Skidmore is a liberal arts college that encourages interdisciplinary learning across the departments, the purpose of a college degree is to demonstrate that a student has achieved an in-depth specialization in a certain field of study. When a student delves deep into a specific subject, it allows them to master it, building up the knowledge obtained through the numerous previous courses taken.,.It is not how many subjects one student "masters" during their undergraduate that will prepare them for a successful future, but the mastery of a subject itself that is important, something that an interdepartmental major just can't achieve with its low course-load standards.
The College also boasts a slew of interdisciplinary programs, which pull from five or six different departments to create a single major. The difference between the interdisciplinary major and the interdepartmental major is the inherently diverse nature of the interdisciplinary major. While interdepartmental majors can be split up so that students focus on the individual subjects but with half the work load for each, interdisciplinary majors require the inclusion of courses from different departments under a full course load.
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact purpose of a liberal arts education, which is undoubtedly a highly individualized experience for each student. There is certainly a large difference between a liberal arts education and the education a student would receive at a trade school or a technical institute. At a liberal arts school, students should be able to study as many fields of knowledge they wish, and the interdepartmental majors facilitated that goal, but at the cost of disadvantaging the students by teaching more subjects but less of each. In the Board's opinion, the strength of Skidmore College is that it allows students to both specialize in an area while giving them the freedom to explore other departments and subjects of study. This way they are prepared for the careers that apply to their specialized fields of study, but still receive the well-rounded education they desire.

A Fresh Look : Chronicling the Skidmore first-year experience

Posted by Blair Warren

The purpose of this column is to express honestly what it's like to be a first-year and what college is all about in my "newbie" opinion. I believe the freshman experience should be shared. Hopefully, it will give other freshmen a sense of comfort and give upperclassmen a sense of nostalgia for their initial innocence and naivety. This is why I'm writing this column bi-weekly to share my awkward moments and hope that my struggles are somewhat relatable.

I've met so many fascinating, diverse people here and it's only the beginning of my first year. Honestly, it's inspiring how truly creative and thoughtful everyone is. Creative Thought Matters, am I right? Before I came here I was expecting college to be a difficult transition. I thought I would be homesick and feel out of place but Skidmore has been so welcoming that it hardly even feels like a transition. Of course, it's obvious that I'm a freshman. You can probably tell by how we confusingly look up at Tisch and wonder if it's Bolton or how lost we look in the dining hall, standing near the pizza when all we want is a bowl of cereal. It's definitely noticeable, but I'm okay with that. It gives me an excuse to mess up. If I forget where my class is, I can just say, "Oh, whoops. I'm a freshman!" As my years continue here, though, I'll probably have forgetful moments and I'll have to admit that I'm no longer a freshman and that I should probably get the hang of things already. A lot of unexpected things have happened to me so far. On one of my first few nights here, my fellow freshmen and I decided to scope out the party scene. Considering our year, we figured it would be harder to get into these upperclassmen parties so we went first to Uncommon Grounds and picked up a few free bags of day-old bagels. We thought this would be a good bargaining chip. As we got closer to the party, my friends started to second-guess the bagels but I marched right up to the senior at the door, lifted the bags in the air and said, "We have bagels!" They practically begged us to come to their party. One of the best decisions I've made at Skidmore, for sure. As a way to meet people, my friends and I thought it would be funny to yell "Marco!" in the dorms and see if anyone responded with "Polo!" Unfortunately, all anyone ever said was, "Sorry, I'm not Marco," or "Who?" One night, we dared my friend to knock on a stranger's dorm room door and ask for soap. I don't know why, but we thought this would be entertaining. A few moments later, she came back with soap and said, "It's Marco's soap! I have Marco's soap!" We thought this was hilarious and decided to stop yelling Marco in the dorms after that (if you're reading this Marco, sorry about that). Overall though, the first few weeks here have been wonderful, confusing and certainly entertaining. I am looking forward to sharing more of my random freshman experiences with you all in this column as I stumble my way through the life of a newbie here at Skidmore College!

How do we demonstrate solidarity?

Posted by The Editorial Board

In early June, Skidmore received notice from the National Labor Relations Board(NLRB) that The United Public Service Employees Union Local 1222 (UPSEU) was seeking to represent Skidmore employees represented by The Service Employees International Union(SEIU).

In order for an election to take place, 45 workers under SEIU signed UPSEU membership cards. Various Skidmore employees claimed they were tricked into signing these membership cards, told otherwise they would be without union representation.

Between the period of June 1, 2010 through May 31, 2013, 150 Skidmore employees (working in the dining hall, with facilities services, the post office or the stables) were represented by SEIU Local 200 United, as outlined in Article XIV of the contract between Skidmore and SEIU.

In a letter to SEIU members on July 29, President Philip A. Glotzbach urged voters to go non-union, citing financial and service challenges with the pension and healthcare plans offered by SEIU. If voters decided to go non-union or be represented by UPSEU, they would be exiting their pension funds with SEIU prematurely. Skidmore would have to pay its share of unfunded liability to the pension fund, an estimated $4,000,000, according to The Saratogian.

The NLRB conducted an election on Aug. 1 among Skidmore employees. Employees had three options: UPSEU, SEIU or to go non-union. UPSEU received 66 votes, SEIU received 52 votes, and there were 20 votes cast to go non-union. Without a clear majority in the elections, the College must wait to hear from the NLRB regarding a runoff election, according to The Saratogian.

Richard Lipitz, the President of the Western New York Area Labor Federation sent a letter on Sept. 3 to members of SEIU, expressing their concern over UPSEU's alleged attempts to pull members away from SEIU. In the letter, the President described UPSEU as a "rogue" group with "divisive tactics." UPSEU is in fact not recognized by two major labor organizations, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win.

On Sept. 19,students gathered on Case Green for a silent stand the Skidmore Labor Student Alliance (SLSA) described as a demonstration of solidarity with Skidmore service workers. The demonstration was organized around the claim that the administration would be negotiating with SEIU on Thursday morning, and students' desire to make the administration aware that they were conscious of the situation.

While Skidmore service employees absolutely deserve our respect and support, and while several demonstrators expressed the sentiment that through demonstrating they were not taking any sides, it is difficult if not impossible to organize a demonstration that does not (purposely or not) take an accusatory stance towards a certain group. In this case, the stand was meant to make the administration aware that students were "watching" (as posted on SkidmoreUnofficial.com) and aware of the renegotiations between the College and SEIU. These discussions, which have been taking place since March, occur every three years when each union contract expires.

It seems unfair and impulsive to assume that the administration is reprehensively attempting to negotiate and exploit Skidmore employees. While it is absolutely healthy and necessary to be critical of administrative decisions, in this specific case the College currently has no power to determine the fate of Skidmore employees. The decision of whether to be represented by one of the two unions, or to forego representation at all, will be decided democratically (as it should be) by workers in a future runoff election.

Students should absolutely be informed about on-campus matters, such as unionization decisions. The SLSA hosted an open meeting with current Skidmore employees on Sept. 17, encouraging dialogue within our community. At the same time, this is a decision to be made solely by Skidmore employees. Since the College is awaiting the results of the runoff election, Skidmore is uninvolved in any decisions. Therefore, it seems unproductive to demonstrate to the College that students are "watching" the renegotiations with the College. Union contract renegotiations routinely occur every three years when the contract expires, and it is standard practice for the details of the negotiation to be disclosed until a final decision of representation has been made.

There is no question that Skidmore workers deserve our respect and we applaud students standing in solidarity with our workers, but it seems off that this is the first time in recent memory that a group of students have demonstrated such support for our workers and that the party identified as threatening the security of the workers' livelihoods isn't much of a threat at all. The Skidmore News believes the best way we can support our workers is to be more mindful members of our community and respect our campus and its facilities which Skidmore employees work hard to maintain.