It’s easy to pass off Saratoga Springs as a fun evening destination to spend time with friends, especially considering that Skidmore College is an insular community in itself. However, a larger Saratoga community rests outside the college, made up of long-time residents, small business owners, and families. Currently, these residents are struggling with affordable housing or lack thereof. One group in particular – residents of the Saratoga Lakeview Mobile Home Park – are in jeopardy of eviction.
Read moreA Q&A With Freirich Entrepreneurship Competition Winner
The Kenneth A. Freirich Entrepreneurship Competition was founded by Ken Freirich, ‘90, in 2010 to encourage interest in business and entrepreneurship at Skidmore. Dylan Telano, ‘23, received the first-place prize of $20,000 for his online writing platform, VoyceMe. I interviewed him over Zoom for a Q&A session about himself and his project. Following are edited excerpts from that conversation.
Read moreSaratoga Springs Constitutional Crisis: What the Final City Council Meeting on Police Reform Revealed
Saratoga Springs finds itself in political turmoil as the city council held another open dialogue on police reform on March 31 on zoom. This meeting was the last open dialogue held before the city council voted to adopt the 50-point plan on police reform created by the Saratoga Springs Police Reform Task Force (SSPRTF). The SSPRTF created the 50-point plan to address Saratoga’s reform of the Saratoga Springs Police Department (SSPD). The proposal has been met with reluctance by the Saratoga city council and open hostility from the SSPD. However, the third draft proposed by the city council was passed with only one member in opposition.
Read moreThe Question of Statehood: Can Washington D.C. Become a State?
Updates on the Saratoga Police Reform Task Force Dialogue Ahead of City Council Vote
Earlier this month, the city council published its first resolution to adopt Saratoga Springs Police Reform Task Force’s recommendations for police reform into city policy. Shortly after, they published another. Residents and activists were dissatisfied with the language used in the resolution, which prompted the council to reissue their response last week.
Read moreCreating Our Future Campaign: Thoughts From the Skidmore Community
With such a successful campaign, Skidmore students should understand how the funding will be used to advance college programs and improve campus facilities. In this article, I will detail each of the six Creating Our Future campaign priorities: building the Center for Integrated Science, scholarships and financial aid, the Tang, the Career Development Center, athletics, and the Skidmore Fund. I also reached out to students, faculty, and staff to gather their thoughts and opinions on the college’s funding distribution.
Read moreGovernor Cuomo Faces Scandals on the Eve of the 2022 Election
Over the past few months, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 press briefing heroics have been fading into the past, and he is currently amidst multiple scandals.
Read moreSpring Covid Precautions Yield Increased Plastic Waste
Skidmore’s 2020 Fall semester proved just how different college during a pandemic would look and feel. One seemingly small but significant change is the use of plastic to-go containers in the dining hall. When students returned to campus at the end of January, this waste-producing routine was only exacerbated by the safe shelter mode that defined our first week on campus.
Read moreTexas Winter Storms Incite a State Crisis
During the winter season in Saratoga Springs, it is normal to experience one or two Nor’easters. Students don heavy coats and boots, classes continue, and life carries on. As the national news reports, however, other parts of the country have been affected severely by strong winter storms this year. Over the past two weeks, Texas – a state not known for having much snow – has been hit by two heavy winter storms.
Read moreSaratoga Police Reform Task Force Meeting: An Update to the Skidmore Community
Earlier this month, members of the Skidmore community gathered virtually to hear from Professors Winston Grady-Willis and Terry Diggory along with Jason Golub, one of the Co-Chairs of the task force. The task force, composed of 13 members – 8 of whom identify as people of color – is charged with reviewing the policies of the Saratoga Springs Police Department (SSPD).
Read moreClimate Change, Fire, and Skidmore: An Account from the North Woods Steward
On the afternoon of Wednesday, September 23rd, a fire broke out in the Skidmore North Woods. Fall had just begun, and it was a dry, hot day. Just off the orange trail, a visitor of the woods noticed the distinct smell of smoke and called campus safety. Other visitors smelled it while they were trail running, hiking, and walking their dogs. The fire department was called, and they promptly arrived, found the small fire, and put it out.
Read moreWest Coast Wildfires Cause Hazy Skies in Upstate New York
The smoke from the West Coast wildfires has traveled thousands of miles to New York – and if you looked up at the sky from campus last week, you may have seen a sunset-like haze that didn’t go down that night.
Read moreVote on Retaining Student Evaluations Divides Faculty at Oct. 2 Faculty Meeting
Over 200 faculty members voted on whether to retain or remove student evaluations for the Fall 2020 semester, during the college’s monthly faculty meeting held on October 2nd. This meeting, and particularly, the results from this vote sought to put to rest circling unease surrounding the administering of Student Ratings and Feedback surveys and their inclusion in hiring decisions.
Read moreCOVID's Impacts on On-Campus Work Study
Now that we are over five weeks into the semester, Skidmore continues to invest in preventing the spread of COVID within the community in the hopes that we will have a successful semester of low cases. However, preventing the spread of the Coronavirus comes with the decline of job opportunities on campus.
Read moreBack to the Streets: Dalton, What Side Are You On?
The leaves may be turning and the nights may be getting chillier, but the fight for racial justice in the Capital Region is not dwindling. This past Friday, September 25th, a crowd gathered in Congress Park in downtown Saratoga to gear up for an organized march through the town’s streets in order to advocate for Robin Dalton’s resignation and the defunding of the SSPD (Saratoga Springs Police Department).
Read moreNew to Broadway: Darling Doughnuts
According to the Glens Falls Chronicle, Natascha Peal-Mansman, the founder of Darling Doughnuts, started her business when she had her first child and would bake for fun while out of work. She then started selling her doughnuts in various popup locations, mainly in the Glens Falls area. Her delicious and imaginative yeast-raised doughnuts took off, and in July of 2020, Darling Doughnuts opened their shop in downtown Saratoga Springs.
Read moreSeven Years Later, A Light Shone for Darryl Mount
On Monday evening, in High Rock Park, Saratoga Springs community members gathered in remembrance of Darryl Mount on the seven year anniversary of his ultimately fatal attack at the hands of the Saratoga Springs Police Department (SSPD).
Read moreSkidmore Students March: A Recap of the First Day Protest
On the first day of classes, several hundred Skidmore students gathered outside of Palamountain Hall to protest the lack of action from Skidmore’s administration in protecting BIPOC students.
Read moreBlack Residents’ Concerns about Systemic Racism Met by Disregard during Saratoga Springs Community Forum
A virtual community forum hosted on Wednesday evening by the Saratoga Springs Police Department and city Public Safety Commissioner Robin Dalton, has garnered deep frustration from the community members in attendance.
Read moreSkidmore Reviews Latest Reforms to National Title IX Regulations
On May 6th, 2020, the Department of Education led by Betsy DeVos, sent out their long awaited proposal for new changes to the Title IX regulations in schools. This marked the first time the policy has been changed since 1975, creating a historic shift for the set of regulations originally implemented to protect students’ wellbeing. While some notice that the changes are less broad than they have been, others are citing that they are less comprehensive and could bring more lee-way to sexual assault cases. Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Lorri Riggs, and Title IX Deputy Coordinator in Student Affairs, Gabriella Melillo, held virtual information sessions detailing the new policy changes and how Skidmore will act on them.
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