In the recent years, diversity and inclusion have become integral parts of any institution. To create positive change for a more inclusive world, many different groups and committees are formed to accelerate this change. STEMpathy is doing just that.
How Are Our Clubs Still Adding Color?
Already disadvantaged at Skidmore, OSDP clubs have worked and worried on being supportive and entertaining. Now, they worry about their clubs’ survival. OSDP clubs’ role as an asylum for diverse populations necessitates that they pass something down to future students and that it still exists. Because they lose the opportunity to meet with underclassmen, COVID threatens the future as much as the present. The prospect of failure is scary. None of them want to fail because of the enormous duty that their club has. Many of them wonder if the best they can do is good enough. Nevertheless, it’s astounding how they persevere. Without fail, each club expressed existing plans for next year. How do they still add color? In any way that they can.
Read moreThe Myth of Liberal America
In Saratoga, and across imperial nations, aesthetics of inclusion often mask the continued exploitation of the world’s most vulnerable populations.
Read moreCollege’s Hidden Curriculum with Dr. Anthony Abraham Jack
At their kitchen counter, on their last afternoon together, sat two students who look the same, who inspire the same polite caution, and who might be championed under the same racial statistical umbrella. Yet, something crucial separates the two.
Read moreBreaking Through Boundaries: Dr Yusef Salaam Addresses the Skidmore Community
One of the younger boys that was wrongfully convicted for six and a half years, Yusef Salaam, spoke to Skidmore students this past Thursday, March 6th, hosting both a student workshop in the afternoon and a live Q&A later at night. Given how far-reaching Salaam’s story is, it was an honor to hear him speak about his commitment to advocacy and education regarding police brutality, misconduct, and racial bias in the American criminal justice system.
Read moreWhy Mental Health Matters Now More Than Ever
When you get sick or scrape your knee, the immediate reaction is to take medicine or grab a bandage. But what about when you are having a mental health day; when your anxiety or depression is making you feel worse than a cold or a scraped knee could? The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our lives more than any other time in history. Quarantine became the new norm and, for months on end, our mental health has paid the price.
Read moreSpeech at Skidmore: A Conversation with Dr. Sigal Ben-Porath About the Role of Free Speech on Campus
On the morning of a tumultuous and uncertain election day, I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Sigal Ben-Porath, who gave the keynote address at this year's “Skidmore Speaks” lecture series. In response to the incidents of doxing over the semester, Skidmore virtually brought to campus Dr. Ben-Porath and experts on social media safety to inform students on how to protect themselves online and foster a discussion about free speech on campus.
Read moreA Guide to Protecting Yourself Online
On Wednesay October 28th, Skidmore partnered with PEN America and the Freedom of the Press Foundation to deliver a digital safety self defense workshop as an installment of the second annual Skidmore Speaks event. With this in mind, I created the following guide to protecting yourself online, in the hopes of relaying the knowledgeable advice of Vilk and Holmes.
“Conversation” with President Conner: A Recap
Watchful eyes from all over searched their emails or their feeds for a chance to watch Monday’s inaugural “Conversation with Conner”, where President Conner aimed to devote time to speak with the community. Many of the Skidmore student body, previously indifferent, may have found recent interest in President Conner’s address due to the troubling events of Halloweekend. A normal conversation was now seemingly colored by the effects of the outside world.
Read moreA Plastic Free Campus? Not Just Yet
In this unprecedented time of COVID, there have been many changes to all of our lives. From different ways of learning, to daily tests, to increased use of plastic. To ensure the safety of everyone, these changes are necessary, but could some cause more harm than good?
Read more2020 Presidential Election: A Conversation with Professor Christopher Mann
The virus, combined with an array of variables, including a polarizing political divide, have made the 2020 Presidential Election incredibly extraordinary. Or, as Professor Mann puts it, “incredibly volatile,” marking it as one of the most unprecedented in recent history.
Read moreUnderstanding Skidmore’s Intergroup Relations Department
Over the past few weeks, I had the pleasure of speaking with faculty and students in the Intergroup Relations (IGR) department to learn more about the critical conversations they are engaging in both online and in the classroom. With a strong emphasis placed on dialogue-based learning, the department creates a space where students discuss topics around race, social justice, gender, sexuality, class, religion, and nationality.
Read moreHow to Have "Safe" Fun at Skidmore This Semester
With our seniors feeling nostalgic of fun memories of the past and our new freshman possibly feeling uneasy with this new college culture, Skidmore must provide new ways for students to make the most of their time on campus! Here are ten ways to have "safe" fun on or off campus:
Read moreTips and Tricks for First-Years (COVID-Edition)
Being a first-year is difficult. Let’s face it, you have to navigate a whole new area, get accustomed to living on your own, and meet new people all while juggling school. But, doing all of this during a world-wide pandemic? That seems almost impossible. Of course none of us have lived through college in a pandemic before, but here are a senior’s tips and tricks to help you get through this tumultuous time while also living your college years to the fullest.
Read moreIntroducing SGA President Rachael Borthwick
On a Tuesday afternoon in early August, I had the pleasure of speaking with new SGA president Rachael Borthwick ‘21.
Read moreReparations, Redistribution & Justice: Pass The Mic’s Black Mutual Aid Fund
Pass The Mic functions as a space on campus that aims to amplify the unfiltered experiences of Skidmore students whose voices are underrepresented in other spaces. To Black community members: Pass the Mic is currently accepting fund requests! Please visit the “BLACK MUTUAL AID FUND” link within https://linktr.ee/passthemicskid
401 Years and Counting: The Story of Modern Slavery in America
The thirteenth amendment to the US constitution states that slavery and involuntary servitude be abolished, “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” This one phrase is what allows for slavery to legally continue in United States prisons, and is what makes it possible for people to continue to profit off of slavery today.
Read moreAmplifying BIPOC Voices
Skidmore is an overwhelmingly white college, and most of us have never experienced racism and never will. We are the ones that have taken part and benefitted from the deeply rooted racism in our country. The resources are already out there, and have been for a while. White folks need to take responsibility, listen and learn, and do the research to become anti-racist individuals. It is hard. it is uncomfortable. We must do it anyway.
Read moreTo Zoom or Not to Zoom: How Students and Faculty Have Adapted to Online Learning
The sudden rush of remote learning is coming to an end as we enter our fourth week of online classes, and also the end of this spring semester. Although it seems as though things are going wrong, Zoom is here to give us some sense of normalcy while also not losing valuable class time.
Read moreHow Clubs Are Reacting to a Remote Learning Semester
Club Executive Boards (e-boards) are always faced with the challenge of keeping their communities united and engaged throughout the semester, but how are they supposed to keep up now that their members are scattered across the globe?
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