Moorebid Ball: What really happened?

Posted by Andrew Cantor At 1:15 a.m., on Halloween morning, Campus Safety ended Moorebid Ball 45 minutes early, and Saratoga Hospital was treating 11 students for symptoms of alcohol poisoning. The incident has drawn attention in national media outlets such as AOL News and Fox News, and local newspapers including the Saratogian, Glens Falls Post-Star and the Albany Times-Union.

"This was the one of worst events we've ever had in terms of safety," said Larry Britt, Associate Director of Campus Safety, who attended the event. During the 2008 and 2009 Moorebid Ball, four students were treated for alcohol poisoning, less than half of the students hospitalized in 2010 for the same event.

Campus Safety called ambulances for intoxicated students at Moorebid Ball in Case Center and in residence halls. At least four ambulances and two fire trucks with paramedics were called on Saturday night.

"The students who were transported to the hospital were the only issues [Campus Safety] dealt with," Britt said. "I'd imagine there were countless others who were still unhealthily intoxicated."

Britt described Case Center as "hot and crowded" during the three-hour-long event, and said he witnessed students passed out on couches and vomit in corridors.

Saratoga Springs Police Department Lt. Gregory Veitch, speaking on behalf of the public services used to treat intoxicated students on Saturday night, said "the situation [Moorebid] diverted police resources from downtown. But it wasn't a riot there so it wasn't like other calls weren't being answered."

"In this particular instance it doesn't look like we'll charge anyone criminally," Veitch said. "We spoke with administrators and it seems like they'll take care of any disciplinary actions. We support whatever decision they have."

"Those students who were transported from campus in response to intoxication will have meetings with college administrators to determine the appropriate response to each situation," said Rochelle Calhoun, dean of Student Affairs. "Our responses will be guided by our Alcohol and Other Drugs policy and informed by the particular circumstances of each case."

Britt said rumors were circulating among the administration that some students were getting sick after drinking the caffeinated high-alcohol malt beverage Four Loko, and Campus Safety officers found empty Four Loko cans in the residence halls. Four Loko received national press in October after nine students at Central Washington University were hospitalized after drinking the beverage.

Near the campus, only the Getty convenience store on the corner of Clinton and Church St., and the Stewart's Shop by Route 50 and Route 9 sell Four Loko. Price Chopper and Stewart's Shop in downtown Saratoga Springs, along with Eddy'sBeverage Inc. on Excelsior Ave. do not carry Four Loko, but sell similar, caffeinated high-alcohol malt drinks, such as Joose.

"Four Loko sells much more than beer now," said Narinder Chopra, an employee at the Getty store.

While the 12 percent alcohol Four Loko is popular and more alcoholic than 4 to 5 percent alcohol beer, much higher percentage hard alcohol was involved, according to Campus Safety. Administrators and students believed that not one particular drink, rather the college drinking culture, is to blame for the widespread intoxication on Saturday night.

"I could say, ‘Hey, it was Four Loko,' but it's more like pick your poison," said Daniel Goodman '12, also known as DJ Ramses, who DJ'd Moorebid Ball. "Clearly it wasn't one drink… People get drunk because that's Moorebid"

"The failure of Saturday night was largely attributable to individual irresponsibility," Calhoun said. "We are reviewing logistical issues to address how we might better ensure a safe environment."

"Of course we have our code of conduct and of course we have our penalties and all of that going forward, but how do we change the culture?" said Vice-President for Academic Affairs Susan Kress, who is serving as acting-president with President Philip Glotzbach on sabbatical as of Nov. 1.

"How do we say to people, ‘Take care of your body, take care of your mind, be alive and awake and alert to what's happening. Don't you want to know what's going on? This is your life that's passing before you,'" she said.

"The student culture seems to tolerate and even celebrate horribly excessive consumption of alcohol and the wide variety of negative consequences that go along with that," said Jen Burden, Director of Health Promotions.

From 2 to 6 p.m., Friday, Nov. 12, Burden is holding a "Red Watch Band" training, which will teach students CPR and how to handle alcohol emergencies. Students may register for the event on the Health Promotions website.

Moorebid Ball is an alcohol-free event. Drinking occurred before the event, most likely in the residences. Britt, Calhoun and Burden all said ‘pregaming,' or the act of drinking before an event, was a main reason for the high number of intoxicated students.

Ali Drucker '11, SGA vice president for Residential Affairs, was in charge of organizing Moorebid Ball with the Inner-Hall Board, which consists of residence hall presidents and vice presidents. She said that more resident and unit assistants in the residence halls are needed in future years to prevent drinking before the Moorebid Ball.

Moorebid Ball will not be cancelled in 2011, rather administrators will work on ways to improve safety around the event.

"The college campus won't cancel it," Britt said. "They'll just try to fix what they thought was wrong and it will be a little more controlled."

"The carnival-like atmosphere that is encouraged by Halloween is part of the issue," Calhoun said. "However, given that the point of the Ball is to celebrate Halloween, I think that we will be looking to address larger issues related to students' use and abuse of alcohol on our campus."

Britt said he is considering moving Moorebid Ball to a campus gym, which would have fewer areas for students to go missing or pass out.

While the hospitalizations cast a negative light on the 2010 Moorebid Ball, Britt, Burden and Calhoun saw positives in some student responses on Saturday night.

"I can't thank Campus Safety, Residential Life, Community First Responders and individual students who made the call to get help for their friends enough," Calhoun said.

Drucker spent the past six weeks and around 24 hours of her own time organizing the event with the IHB, and was regretful the event ended early because of the unsafe environment.

"I'm upset with how it ended," Drucker said. "1,000 people showed up and about 1 percent ended up in the hospital… Their decisions impacted everyone else."

"I'm proud of the work that the IHB did," she said. "We're going to work hard at ensuring a safer Junior Ring."

Goodman said that while his DJ set was successful, he saved his best material for the final hour between 1 and 2 a.m. Drucker, under the direction of Britt, told Goodman to stop playing at 1 a.m.

"I started off playing the music everyone wanted to hear, like the top 40's," Goodman said. "I saved my favorite, the more ‘dancy' house stuff' for the end… I put a lot of work into it and they never got to hear it."

Additional reporting by Katie Vallas and Gabe Weintraub

College seeing increasing number of science majors

Posted by Tegan O'Neil

According to mathematics professor Mark Hofmann, 33 percent of this year's seniors are science majors, representing a 66 percent increase in the number of science majors since 2005.

This increase illustrates the success of the 10-year Strategic Plan for the college, implemented in 2005, which includes a resolution to strengthen the sciences and increase enrollment.

The science department is defined by the following nine disciplines: biology, chemistry, computer science, exercise science, geoscience, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, and psychology.

Hofmann is the chairman of a working group that is focused on improving the sciences at Skidmore. "We have been working since 2007 to create a vision statement for the sciences," Hoffman said.

In 2007 the working group convened to discuss what the sciences at Skidmore should look like in the year 2018 and developed four main objectives.

"First of all, we agreed on the importance of scientific literacy," Hofmann said. The other objectives concern the collaborative nature of science, the importance of undergraduate research and interdisciplinary study. "Skidmore has a unique ability to attract students who are interested in integrating the sciences with other disciplines, which is something that we can capitalize on," Hofmann said.

Hoffmann also attributed the increased student interest in science to some of the decisions made by the Admissions Office.

"The size of the student body has grown and therefore we've picked up more science students…we have been working with Admissions to increase the number of science students," Hofmann said.

The college has made an effort to cater to prospective students interested in the sciences by holding science and math open-houses and offering science directed tours in addition to the general campus tour.

Another draw-in is the college's large emphasis on collaborative research. "The number of students working with faculty this summer increased from 15 in 2005 to 62 last summer," Hofmann said.

While the number of science majors is increasing, there are no immediate plans for a new science building to accommodate the swell.

In the master plan, which was formulated earlier than 2005, there is an addition to the science building scheduled for 2018. The working group has contracted with an outside planning firm and has received a preliminary report in terms of infrastructure.

Murphy courted student vote: Congressman unseated despite high-profile Clinton endorsement

Posted by Katie Vallas

Republican candidate Chris Gibson won the Nov. 2 local midterm election after weeks of Democratic incumbent Scott Murphy's, D-Glens Falls, efforts to raise student support for his own candidacy, which culminated in a Nov. 1 rally that included specific appeals to student voters.

Former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand endorsed now - unseated Murphy at the rally, which gathered together about 1,200 members of the local community at the Hall of Springs at the Spa State Park. While Clinton praised Murphy's stance on issues ranging from health care to economic reform, he also spoke directly to the students gathered in the crowd when describing policies that affect students' ability to afford a college education.

Clinton said new college loan policies backed by Murphy will profoundly affect students' ability to stay in college during tough economy times. "From now on, every single solitary man and woman in the United States of America who needs a student loan will be able to pay that loan back," Clinton said. "No one will ever have to drop out of college again."

He said a lack of awareness of these changes provides the chief obstacle in encouraging young voter turnout. "We're going into the polls and people don't know this," he said. "You got a day to tell people about this."

SGA President Alex Stark '11 said this reflected how Murphy's office sought the students' votes especially in this year's election. "They had seemed very interested in having a lot of student attendance at the event. Students were certainly a priority with them," she said.

Clinton's emphasis on student voting reflects Murphy's consistent efforts to mobilize the campus's support for his candidacy, as seen in his Oct. 16 speech in front of Case Center and his presence on campus throughout election day. His focus on the student vote came to a head in the initial planning for the Nov. 1 rally, which coordinators hoped to stage at the campus.

"The Murphy campaign initially contacted the Skidmore administration in hopes of holding the rally at Skidmore," Stark said. But she said the legal status of the college as a tax-exempt not-for-profit private institution prohibits political rallies for individual candidates.

"I worked with the administration and Murphy's campaign team to try to negotiate and bring this amazing opportunity right home to our students," she said. "But while Skidmore was absolutely interested in holding a ‘Get Out the Vote' rally and having Clinton speak to us along the lines of voting, Congressman Murphy and Clinton's teams had the goal of a Murphy rally. Ultimately, that Murphy rally would have gone against the school's policies."

While she said the college's refusal disappointed Murphy's office, Stark worked with rally organizers to encourage a student presence at the Nov. 1 event. "I made sure that they secured student tickets for us and gave us all the information so we could have as many students there as possible," she said. "I know that many students who applied were put on a waitlist for tickets, but we did have a good group in attendance at the actual rally, which was really great to see."

Some local attendees at the Nov. 1 rally disagreed with Murphy's efforts to involve students in the election. "To be frank, I don't think this election should be decided by kids who are only here a few months out of the year," said Chris Kent, a member of the Saratoga Springs community. He was one of about 200 other Gibson supporters who rallied outside the event beginning at 6 a.m.

Contrary to Kent's fears, by the night of Nov. 2, voter turnout among students remained lower than expected. "We actually started our own impromptu ‘Get Out the Vote' campaign," Stark said. "We made camp in the Honors Forum lounge and started calling everyone we could: Government majors, people working in the campaign offices, everyone we thought might be interested."

Their efforts led to almost a doubling of the number of students voting in the election, with a total of 313 students. This represents approximately 60 percent of students registered to vote on campus. "You're always aiming for 100 percent and we did not achieve that this year," Stark said.

She said she was impressed with the number of students who engaged with the election beyond the voting booth. "So many students were interning and volunteering with the campaigns for months," she said. "They were definitely doing important work."

While the election results disappointed those students who assisted the local Democratic campaign, Murphy said he remained proud of the work he did in Congress for the 19 months he was in office. "I have no regrets," he said in his concession speech. "We always knew it was going to be competitive and we had a credible opponent."

Gibson defeated Murphy in nine of the 10 counties of the 20th district, with 55 percent of the vote to Murphy's 45 percent. In his victory speech on Nov. 2, Gibson spoke about his hopes of actualizing the promises he made to his supporters. "This is going to be an exciting time," he said. "Our best days are still in front of us."

College braces for record registration period

Posted by Sarah Barry

The Office of the Registrar has worked to prepare solutions for issues with class registration that stem from the college's historically large student population this year.

Seniors began registering Wednesday, Nov. 3, and the other classes will follow in descending order.

"Within each class year our system allows us to choose a starting letter, it goes alphabetically from there. What we try to do is change that starting letter from semester to semester to make it as fair as possible," Associate Registrar David DeConno said.

During any given semester students will complain of consistently poor timeslots, but DeConno maintains that students are gradually moving toward earlier times if they have had the last timeslot before. "It's an inexact science, but we try to make it as fair as possible," DeConno said.

Additionally, due to the above average first-year and senior class sizes, the office has spent time preparing for potential problems.

"We did feel some pressures in certain areas and we worked very closely with the Dean of Faculty's office. Where possible we've increased cap sizes in small amounts that do not raise the teacher to student ratio. Our curriculum committee, long before this, put together guidelines for increased class sizes," DeConno said.

The cap for 200 level classes has increased from between 20 and 25 to 29, but the Registrar recognizes the issues with increasing class sizes across the board. "We know that it's just not effective to over-enroll a writing, lab or discussion based course," Deconno said.

To accommodate for this, the Registrar has created additional sections, particularly in the science department.

Even the Registrar's attempts to accommodate the increased number of students are not enough to ensure students' getting their first choice schedule. "In any given semester courses are going to fill up and there's going to be waitlist activity. I would go back to encouraging students to be flexible and have many alternative schedules ready to go," DeConno said.

Students are encouraged to add themselves to waitlists and approach the instructor of a course they are interested in.

The Registrar works with the Dean of Faculty's office and the department chairmen to fill gaps and create options for students. "Often if the chairman is aware of the demand for the course he or she may be able to work with the special programs office to make it available during the summer. The summer courses are really built upon demand and the availability of faculty," DeConno said.

The final step, DeConno says, is for students to double check that they've actually been enrolled in the courses they signed up for upon registering. "It's always best to log off and log back on right away and make sure everything's okay with your schedule. Always just double check; stay up for five more minutes and make sure your classes are on your schedule," DeConno said.

While the process may frustrate students, the Registrar is available to answer questions.

"There's a lot of collaboration that goes on behind the scene that students don't see. We try to accommodate students. It's not always going to be easy to register, but we're here to help in any way possible," DeConno said.

Campus Safety responds to student concerns

Posted by Kat Kullman

Tuesday, Nov. 2, about 40 students convened in Davis Auditorium to participate in a conversation with Campus Safety Director Dennis Conway and Dean of Student Affairs Rochelle Calhoun.

The meeting, organized by the Senate of the Student Government Association, was held in response to students' requests for a dialogue between Campus Safety and the students, Calhoun said.

Calhoun began the meeting by explaining that the relationship between the students and the officers is one of collaboration. Conway agreed and described the officers' role on campus. "We've developed a model of working with kids that's a service model, not a law enforcement model. We're providing a service for the community. We don't make the policy, but we enforce it," Conway said.

Conway then invited students to lead the conversation by asking questions.

One of the first questions regarded what sort of sensitivity training the Campus Safety officers receive. "We do close to 40 hours of training in subjects like sexual harassment, diversity and bias response. What I expect of my officers is to be non-judgmental, fair and sensitive; our job is to be objective. But sometimes we need to ask questions that are a little uncomfortable," Conway said. All officers have also attended the New York State Police Sex Defense Seminar.

Conway said he was more than willing to address any complaints about his staff. He asked any student with substantial evidence to back up his or her claims to speak to him privately at any time. He ensured that students would be granted complete anonymity and guaranteed that any complaint with evidence would be investigated.

In this same vein, one student cited several incidents of officers speaking inappropriately to students. Conway ensured that this should never be the case.

"In my opinion, trust is the most important thing. What I'd do in this situation is start an investigation into each of these incidents, but I'd need specific information. If I have an officer who's doing something he or she shouldn't be, I want to be the first to hear about it. I have an open door policy," Conway said.

Another student questioned Campus Safety officers' consistency in terms of checking students for alcohol at programmed events. "It's really hard for us to maintain access control in these events. We're trying to come up with a strategy to make these fun and safe events for you guys. We don't want to cancel them. Right now we're working on a no re-entry policy so that people can't go out, drink and come back. We can't allow that," Conway said. He went on to specify that this is not only in response to Halloween weekend's Moorebid Ball, but to what is going on in the culture at large.

Conway informed students that in the past year and a half, Campus Safety has received calls for about 80 welfare checks, more than 250 escorts to medical facilities, more than 300 noise complaints and about 110 criminal incidents that have resulted in physical danger.

Another student raised the issue of students wanting to call Campus Safety for help with a party or a friend, but shying away for fear that they may receive disciplinary action of getting drawn into a situation that could get them in trouble.

"This is the first year we have a modified amnesty policy. This policy is meant to say to individuals that there will always be a conversation. Any fines or violations come from the conversations. It isn't automatic," Calhoun said. "Regardless of what someone's worried about, a person's health is always the most important thing," Conway said.

Calhoun also mentioned that a student's personal history will be taken into account, as well as the situation that caused the issue. Such issues are not likely to end up on a student's permanent record, she added, so long as the students involved act responsibly by seeking the necessary help.

The final topic of student concern regarded Campus Safety's environmental impact. Students asked if there is any possibility of switching their vehicles to ones that are more eco-friendly.

"We have talked about it, but we have lots of equipment in our vehicles, and we often have people to transport, so by definition we need a large car. But we're looking at hybrids and cars with the best gas mileage," Conway said. He also noted that the officers often ride bikes and horses, both of which are very earth friendly.

Conway ended the discussion by stating that any student wishing to make an anonymous complaint about Campus Safety is encouraged to call 518-580-TIPS.

In other news:

Senate approved a resolution to establish a budget for the Conflict Resolution Club on campus. The club was granted a budget of $5,410 in order to create a mediation training session in the spring semester.

Senate passed a resolution to write-off $1,149 from the Drastic Measures loan. The resolution was passed unanimously.

Additional reporting by Julia Leef

Vandals cause $200,000 in damages: Center for Sex and Gender Relations and Northwoods construction site vandalized

Posted by Rebecca Stern

On the night of Oct. 29, students vandalized the Center for Sex and Gender Relations and the construction site in Northwoods. Although the acts seem unrelated, college property was defaced in both instances.

The destruction at the Center for Sex and Gender Relations was first noticed at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30, when a Peer Advocate went to work in the morning.

The bulletin board, which was designed to inform people about LGBT issues, such as suicide and how to get help, was covered in blue paint, along with a sign that said "Center for Sex and Gender Relations GOT ROBBED."

Additionally, Mariel Martin, who is the LGBQT coordinator on campus, had blue paint thrown on her door. A bulletin board about stress, which also hangs outside of her office, was untouched.

"We don't think it's a coincidence that we [the center] and Mariel Martin were targeted. It's too much. No one else in leadership was attacked," Claire Throckmorton '11 said.

When the Peer Advocate checked the cashbox, about $30 was missing. However, the people who work at the Center do not think the vandalism and robbery are related.

"We're really upset. We provide something really important at Skidmore and it's safe right inside of our office. But right outside our door we get vandalized. And most people don't even know about it," Head Peer Advocate Joe Yanks '11 said.

This act of vandalism is reminiscent of an attack that happened two years ago at the Center. There were bulletin boards up to educate students about domestic assault, on which someone wrote "BITCHES DESERVE IT." Additionally, the door decorations were stripped down and notes such as "dykes work here" were written.

"It's bad to say but, we're used to being targeted and having our posters ripped down. It's a disheartening truth," Throckmorton said.

On the same night another act of vandalism occurred at the Northwoods construction site. The construction site, which has only been in operation for a couple of weeks, suffered severe damage.

Front windshields of two John Deer tractors were smashed in, a padlock was pried off, an ignition key was stolen, a tool box was stolen, a port-a-potty was tipped over and parking signs were thrown onto the ground. A tire iron was found lying near by.

"Things like this are difficult to prevent. We [Campus Safety] do the best we can of regulating the site and checking it out. We are going to check it even more frequently now, but there is only so much we can do," Director of Campus Safety Dennis Conway said.

Skidmore is still waiting to evaluate insurance claims, though the damage is predicted to be close to $200,000.

The Saratoga Springs Police Department is doing a thorough investigation of both acts of vandalism and is looking for any leads.

Call 518–580–TIPS to report information on these incidents.

Students pedal for poverty: James Lyness organizes 30-mile ride to benefit Uganda

Posted by Julia Leef

At 11:45 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 23, 16 Skidmore students and eight volunteers from Saratoga Healthy Transportation Network (SHTN) participated in a 30-mile bike ride from Case Center to the banks of the Hudson River in Schuylerville and back to raise money to buy bicycles for people in northern Uganda

The event, Pedal to the River, was organized by James Lyness '13, Skidmore representative of the BAP (Bicycles Against Poverty) program.

James came up with the idea for Pedal to the River during a personal bike trip to Schuylerville, when he realized that it would be an ideal distance for a group bike ride that would pass one of New York's more prominent landmarks.

"I've been in touch with several members of Saratoga Healthy Transportation Network through email and meetings and they expressed interest in the event, so I went ahead with it," Lyness said.

Lyness spoke to the beauty of the landscape on the designated route, which provided views of the Green Mountains in Vermont, as well as the Adirondacks. "I'm sure it was a great experience for the freshmen and even some of the sophomores to get out and see parts of the area they'd never seen before," Lyness said.

Gabby Stern '13, a participant in the event, said that she enjoyed the ride and was happy to support Lyness, praising his efforts to promote BAP at Skidmore.

"I attended the event because I'm interested in social justice issues and I'm happy to support a cause that is meaningful and proactive. Also, I love to bike ride and didn't want to miss the opportunity to take a beautiful ride to the Hudson on a sunny Saturday," Stern said.

Pedal to the River was an overall success and Lyness is in the process of planning a concert featuring Bailiwick in November. The concert will take place in the Spa and Ugandan food will be provided by BAP members.

The donations from this concert will bring Skidmore's BAP even closer to reaching its goal of $10,000 for the year. These funds will be held at Bucknell University until they are used to purchase more bicycles.

BAP strives to provide bikes for people in Uganda so they can have better access to the market, farms, water and basic services such as health care. According to the organization's website, using bicycle loan agreements will also encourage "responsible money management, community cooperation and creative usage of the bicycle towards economic ends."

Thus far, 300 bicycles have been distributed between 2009 and 2010, which, through community sharing, has impacted more than 1,000 people. BAP has made great strides through its fundraising, a third of which goes to the Gulu Walk Foundation, a program created to benefit and aid Ugandan children who have been impacted by war.

For more information, visit BAP's website at: www.bicyclesagainstpoverty.org

SGA responds to student call for meetign with Campus Safety

Posted by Kat Kullman

Tuesday, Oct. 26, the Senate of the Student Government Association discussed the upcoming meeting with Campus Safety and talked to the Asian Cultural Awareness club about bringing the hip-hop group, Far East Movement, to the college.

At 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 2, Senate will have an open discussion with Campus Safety, during which the officers will respond to any questions or concerns raised by the students.

While Senate is always open for any student to attend, this meeting will be held in a larger venue and all students are encouraged to attend discussion.

"We're hoping to get a really big turnout for this. We've been hearing a lot about Campus Safety, from confusion over parking spaces to unpleasant interactions. We want this talk to be really productive," Alex Stark, SGA president, said.

Senate also heard from two members of ACA who proposed their idea to bring the all Asian-American hip-hop group, Far East Movement, to the college for Spring Fling.

"We want to bring this group to Skidmore because they're really good Asian-American role models. We'd like to have them do a concert, as well as a question and answer session during the weekend," said Allan Wu '11, member of ACA.

The ACA has approached many of Skidmore's clubs and departments and so far has 16 interested in helping to bring the group to campus. ACA has raised about half the money needed, but would require a supplement and a loan from SGA.

The ACA is still in talks with the hip-hop group and is currently fundraising. SGA showed support and urged the group to return once it had more concrete details.

Delineating the Responsible Citizenship Internship Award and looking ahead

Posted by Julia Leef

The purpose of college is to help students prepare for their futures through the divulgence of valuable learning experiences concentrated in a particular area of interest. Many students not only commit themselves to learning during the school year, but also spend their summers doing internships that give them experience and knowledge outside of the college.

Unfortunately, like all things in life, internships cost money, or at least don't pay anything, and so students often find themselves turning down a great opportunity due to financial difficulties. The Student Government Association had that problem in mind when they established the Responsible Citizen Internship Award fund as a way to help students afford unpaid internships.

The RCIA was first proposed by last year's SGA president, Raina Bretan '10, after students voiced their desire for more internship opportunities at several student town hall meetings. "Essentially," Bretan said, "students hated having to sacrifice a worthy internship for a paid retail job." After SGA discovered a significant budget surplus, Bretan suggested using that money to help resolve the issue. "In Senate, I brought up the potential for creating a fund to compensate students for their unpaid internships," she said. "It went over really well—the rest is RCIA history."

The idea moved along quickly, turning into a formal proposal in less than a month. SGA decided to allot $75,000 per-year for the next five years, allowing 30 students to receive $2,500 each.

Other key financial questions that needed to be considered were how much of the surplus funds would be co-invested with the college's funds, how to handle the surplus itself and how to spend it. Jim Welsh '10, last year's vice president of Financial Affairs for SGA, was heavily involved in answering those questions and meeting with administrators from different areas of the college, including Vice President for Finance and Administration Mike West.

"Once it was determined that the co-investment option was the best course of action from a student perspective," Welsh said, "Raina and I asked Mike West to draw up a formal agreement between the college and SGA which could be voted on by the SGA Senate." The proposal for the RCIA and how to fund it passed, according to Welsh, "enthusiastically and overwhelmingly."

Applications came pouring in as soon as the program began, so much so that the numbers became potentially overwhelming. Almost 150 students applied, each with an outstanding application and an exciting potential internship, but with only 30 scholarships to go around.

So how did SGA decide who most deserved the money?

"It was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to sort through," said Associate Government Professor Bob Turner, who was a member of the RCIA selection committee along with Raina and Welsh.

There were applications for programs in places as far away as Tanzania and Indonesia, organizations like the Mote Marine Laboratory and the Outward Bound Center for Peace Building, with jobs that ranged from immigration reform in Washington, caring for sea turtles in Florida and working in museums. "We tried to ensure a broad array of careers were represented," Turner said. In order to fairly select the winners, the SGA selection committee developed a rubric that would help them determine which students deserved the awards. Using this rubric, they graded the application essays submitted by students that explained how the internship would benefit their education, what they would get out of the experience and what their responsibilities would be. Still, the number of great applications exceeded the available funds.

As a partial solution, the program received supplemental finances from the President's Discretionary Fund, which provided $25,000 and allowed the committee to award scholarships to 10 more deserving students.

Geneva Kraus, now a senior, was one of the recipients and had nothing but praise for the program. She was offered an archaeology internship at Klamath National Forest, but was concerned about the financial losses she would suffer in this exciting, but unpaid internship.

"One of my friends back at Skidmore . . . suggested I apply for the RCIA grant," she said, a decision that would have a huge impact on her life. "It was truly a life-changing experience because now I know the job opportunities that are out there for archaeologists and exactly what they entail," Kraus said. "Even better, I know I am capable of succeeding if I ever find myself in one of those positions." The RCIA allowed her to travel across the country without worrying about expenses that could not be accounted for with an unpaid internship.

Katherine Rasche, now a junior, also received the RCIA, and used the money to intern at the Portsmouth Museum of Fine Art in New Hampshire. After the internship she and the other recipients provided feedback about their internships to the RCIA board, as well as evidence that they were making the most of their opportunity.

Rasche said that her internship gave her the experience that she could not have had at Skidmore. "The art classes I take here are amazing," she said, "but I've only ever had experience in the studio, so this internship award gave me the opportunity to pursue an aspect of my major that I don't think I would have been able to at Skidmore."

Assistant Director of Leadership Activities Barbara Schallehn, corresponded during the summer with the award recipients and their supervisors in order to make sure that students received their awards and used them to carry out their responsibilities.

The RCIA has done much to help students along the paths to their future careers, leading to jobs, senior theses, subsequent course work and graduate school. But what lies ahead for the RCIA?

The current program is in place to continue for the next five years after which, according to Welsh, the SGA Senate must review it before it can be renewed. But the people behind the RCIA have high hopes for its future. Turner expressed his wish that the program would cause increased interest in high impact education experiences, and would lead the college to be more deliberate in building upon a student's academic career, possibly taking what is now an individual matter and bringing it onto a systematic level.

Turner said that the goal of the program is "to demonstrate the transformative education potential of these internships and to make it a priority for the college," which would then allow students to follow their interests more intimately and at a younger age. Turner has also asked the department chairs to talk with the recipients about sharing their experience with other majors, something that could benefit those who did not apply or receive the award.

Welsh hopes that the RCIA will prompt students to look into summer internship opportunities that they may not have considered without the possibility of financial backup, and also hopes for additional funding that will expand upon the number of students who will be able to pursue their interests outside of Skidmore.

"One of Raina and my goals with starting this program was to jumpstart the college's efforts and to improve the transition period for students between college and life after college," Welsh said. "I would love to see the program expand to be able to accommodate all of the many qualified applications this program has received and will continue to receive moving forward."

Jonathan Zeidan, the current SGA vice president for Financial Affairs, said that SGA will continue to support the RCIA program and will use the annual interest from its investment with the college to continue to fund the program. "It is my responsibility to ensure that all the other financial operations are appropriately handled so students can continue to benefit from the Responsible Citizen Internship Award," he said.

Bretan, when asked how she thought the RCIA would progress in the years to come, mentioned that, at some schools, the administration provides each student with one summer of funds for unpaid internships, and hoped that one day the same could be said of Skidmore.

"We're starting small, but hopefully one day we can build on this goal," Bretan said.

EAC to compost food in Northwoods and Scribner

Posted by Kat Kullman

On Tuesday, Oct. 19, the Senate of the Student Government Association discussed a proposition from the Environmental Action Club regarding a new Green Initiative, a project involving composting on the college's campus.

Everett Hoffman, '11 and Talia Arnow, '13 spoke to Senate about the new initiative from the Subcommittee on Composting that aims to encourage residents in Northwoods apartments to compost their pre-consumed materials (primarily raw foods).

Houses that expressed an interest would be given a pail for composting by the EAC. The house would then be responsible for returning the pail at the end of the semester.

"We're going to try and get everyone in Northwoods who's interested a pail for composting. We'll also have intermediary compost piles that will be emptied weekly or bi-weekly to make it really easy for everybody to do this and keep it cleaner," Arnow said.

To begin the process the Subcommittee plans to go door-to-door in Northwoods Village and talk to the residents about the plan. They believe that personally meeting with and speaking to students will be more effective than sending an e-mail and will help get people excited about the project.

This movement would start in Northwoods, but would hopefully move to Scribner and potentially even Murray-Aikens Dining Hall.

"We're hoping people will really latch onto this. We even want to talk to Mike West [chairman of the Subcommittee for IPPC Budget and Finance] so that they can have a compost plan in the new buildings," Arnow said.

She also said the movement will be easily recognizable, with a newly designed logo on all the pails and handouts.

Hoffman emphasized how little effort it takes on the part of students to begin the process. "I actually composted a successful amount last year in Scribner. My personal slogan for this is, "Everybody's composting, what's your excuse?" It'll be super easy, and there's no reason you can't do it," he said.

The project will hopefully begin in the next few weeks.

In other news:

The Accents a cappella group was granted a $3,000 supplemental budget in order to record a new CD. The supplement was passed unanimously.

Rep. Scott Murphy campaigns at Skidmore: Congressman to students 'You can have an impact'

Posted by Katie Vallas

On Oct. 19 in front of Case Center approximately 30 members of the college community gathered to listen to Rep. Scott Murphy. Many of the students, dedicated volunteers on his congressional campaign, held up handmade signs to attract the attention of passing classmates.

While Murphy spoke on issues ranging from environmental policies to his fiscal philosophies, his overall message to the students was of his belief in their influence in the local Nov. 2 election. "This is definitely a race where you can have an impact," he said. "I think that won't be true of every other race that comes up, but this is going to be one that's going to be very close."

He reminded the gathered crowd of his narrow margin of victory when he was first elected. "I was elected by 726 votes – the smallest margin of any race in the country," Murphy said. "This is going to be another very close race. We know that."

This year's campaign shows Murphy joined by some of the college's current students and alumni as volunteers, with Michael Cass-Antony '10, Ethan Flum '13 and Emily Owens '11 helping to organize the Oct. 19 event. But Murphy said he believes more help could make the difference in deciding the Nov. 2 results.

"One shift of canvassing from a group the size we have here, and 700 people are impacted, which is the entire outcome of the election," he said. "If any of you are interested in learning more about political campaigns, we'd love to have you involved."

He said his work in the last year included supporting initiatives relevant to students, such health care reform. "One of the things that will most directly impact you as you're going through college and getting out is that you're able to stay on your parents' insurance plan until you're 26-years-old," he said.

Students applauded, as they did when he touched on student loan reform, which cut subsidies paid to banks for offering student loans for a projected 10-year savings of $80 billion. "We took that money and reinvested it in making loans more available, making more Pell grants available, making investments in our community college system and in early childhood education and in also reducing the deficit," Murphy said.

He said such acts' balance of new policies paired with regard for economic security represented his priorities as a congressman. "It's about knowing what you want to do and going about it in a responsible way," Murphy said. "I'm a ‘Blue Dog Democrat,' which means I'm concerned about fiscal responsibility."

This stance stems from his history in business, where Murphy said he became used to managing budgets. "I come from a company where, when we ran out of money, we didn't have anywhere to go. We couldn't pay ourselves. We couldn't pay our bills," he said.

He said he has an eye on long-term economic growth in the district, which would tie in with the energy independence bill now stalled out in the Senate. "New York would come out well ahead, because we've already cleaned up our power," he said. "We're really leaders in next-generation energy technologies."

Murphy also spoke more casually with students on their concerns about future environmental policies, with topics ranging from hydrofracking to cap-and-trade systems. He said dialogues like those on Oct. 19 play a key role in how he communicates with his district.

"I promised when I was running for office that I would go to every one of the towns that I represent, all 137 of them, every year, and do some kind of public meeting," Murphy said.

In a historically contentious district, Murphy said he does not expect universal approval. "If people looked at the something like 1,300 votes I took this year, I'm pretty sure there's no one who would agree with all of them. And if they did, I don't think they were thinking very hard," he said. "But hopefully, most people agree with most of them. That's the way I try to run things."

College celebrates 'Bold Promise

Posted by Maxx Salat & Rebecca Orbach

More than 2,000 guests attended the college's Celebration Weekend Oct. 15-17.

The weekend was a tribute to the success of the "Creative Thought Bold Promise" campaign, which exceeded the College's original $200 million goal, raising $216.5 million. The funds were provided by some 18,000 donors including families, friends, parents and members of the board of trustees.

"It was a very ambitious goal, and we were all very pleased to meet that target and to surpass it. It really shows tremendous support for the Skidmore vision," President Philip Glotzbach said.

The $46 million donation from Arthur Zankel is the largest single donation in the college's history. "Additionally, we had two gifts of $15 million, we had another one of $12 million, a number of gifts in the million-dollar range and thousands of gifts at smaller donations," Glotzbach said.

The celebration of the campaign's success came to fruition in the form of a gala dinner, attended by approximately 500 people, each recognized - individually or by group - for their contributions to "Creative Thought Bold Promise."

Following the dinner was a performance by renowned pianist Emanuel Ax who was a personal friend of Arthur Zankel, trustee and benefactor of the Arthur Zankel Music Center.

"The main performance on Saturday night was Emanuel Ax and the small ensemble and then the Skidmore orchestra, which was amazing. All of us felt bad — I don't know if any of the students got in there. We had to do something with major donors and there are only so many seats, but it was a great event," Glotzbach said

In addition to Ax's performance was the formal dedication of the building to its namesake. The dedication featured detailed reflections of the life and devotion of Zankel.

The co-chairwomen of the committee, Sara Lee Schupf '62, Wilma "Billie" Stein Tisch '48 and Susan Kettering Williamson '59 were each honored and continued to make known the dedication of the current alumni committee. Also honored was the Campaign Executive Committee in its entirety.

Kettering Williamson was also honored by the college during a ceremony on Saturday that dedicated the Sports Center to her.

The 10th anniversary of the Tang Teaching Museum was celebrated with a luncheon featuring speeches by primary benefactor Oscar Tang and Professor Emeritus David Porter.

Included in the anniversary celebration was the dedication of the Tang's Illumination Gallery, named in honor of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. The Illumination Fund recently supplied the College with a $1.2 million grant supporting the learning program available in the Museum.

Hedges asks Americans to give up illusions

Posted by Tegan O'Neil

On Oct. 14 approximately 100 students gathered in Gannett Auditorium to listen to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Christopher Lynn Hedges give a lecture titled "The Empire of Illusion — Is Us." The lecture was an installment of the "Theater of War in a House of Peace" program; a series of events, concerts, exhibits, performances and lectures dedicated to contemplating the effects of war.

Hedges worked as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans for nearly 20 years. He worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, where he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years.

His book, "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" (2002) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. His latest book is titled "The Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle" (2009).

Hedges began the lecture with a comparison of Michael Jackson and the development of American society. "Jackson reflected our own physical and psychological disintegration, especially with many Americans struggling with overwhelming debt, loss of status and deep personal confusion," Hedges said.

Hedges explained how excessive media coverage of celebrities distracts the U.S. from reality and trains us to chase illusions of unachievable fame and happiness. "Celebrity culture has taught us almost unconsciously to generate interior personal screenplays. We have learned ways of speaking and thinking that grossly disfigure the way we relate to the world and those around us," Hedges said.

Tabloid news stories take center stage, while articles with actual substance are pushed to the sidelines. According to Hedges, we are living in an empire of illusion.

"Political candidates are elected in popular votes by citizens, but are ruled by armies of corporate lobbyists in Washington or state capitals," Hedges said.

The government, which is the only institution citizens have to protect their rights, is becoming weaker — a puppet to corporations. "What, for all our faith and hope, has the Obama brand given us?" Hedges asked.

Hedges lamented that the effort to re-inflate the economy has floundered, our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan continues, the for-profit health care industry has prevented Obama from considering single payer not-for-profit health care for all Americans and the country is amassing trillions of dollars in debt, which can never be repaid.

What is most deplorable, Hedges asserts, is that the cost of the empire of illusion is being placed on those who can least afford it. "The cost of our empire of illusion is not being paid for by corporate titans. It is being paid for on the streets of our inner cities, in former manufacturing towns and in depressed rural enclaves," Hedges said.

Nearly 50 million Americans live in poverty and tens of millions of Americans live in a category called near poverty. "There are whole sections of the country that are beginning to resemble the developing world," Hedges said.

Washington has become our Versailles. "Courtiers in face powder deceive us in the name of journalism. Courtiers in our political parties promise to look out for our interests and then pass bill after bill to further corporate fraud and abuse," Hedges said.

He proposed that Americans need an honest debate about what comes next. "In the face of catastrophe, mass culture insists that if we focus on happiness our lives will be harmonious and complete," Hedges said. He maintained that this sort of response is a cultural retreat into illusion.

Replacing Scribner Village: The $42 million project in the making

Posted by Katie Vallas

In 1973, the college built Scribner Village as an experiment to gauge student response to apartment-style on-campus living. Three decades later, the 15 wood-frame apartments still stand. But with the aid of trustee donations and the spur of a rapidly growing student population, members of the college community will soon see the culmination of the college's decades-long advances in on-campus apartment living.

At the helm of the project stands QPK Design, the architecture firm responsible for designing Northwoods Apartments. Contingent on approval by the Board of Trustees and the city of Saratoga Springs, the first phases of the $42 million Scribner Village Replacement Project could begin to appear by next fall.

Trustee donations made the project possible, with a $12 million donation from the Sussman family, who also gave aid to the construction of the Murray-Aikens Dining Hall. An additional $5.5 million donation from an anonymous trustee moved the project forward. "These are what's permitting us to start the project and begin it in a serious way," said Mike West, the college's vice president for Finance and Administration.

With help from a college task force representing the voices of students, faculty and staff, QPK architects created a three-pronged plan that provides short-term solutions to dorm overcrowding and large-scale improvements to on-campus apartment living.

The three phases of their design include additions to Northwoods Apartments, the creation of new slope-side apartments intended as dorm alternatives for sophomores and a complete reconstruction of Scribner Village apartments, with eventual demolition of all of the current structures.

"The major comment we received was to build the maximum number of beds that we could while creating accommodations that could result in the best possible living in Scribner," said Eugenia Brieva, one of QPK's leading architects on the project. Brieva and her colleagues intend to tear down the existing structures and replace them with ones built with an eye toward sustainable planning and long-lasting construction, all without leaving any student without housing during the construction period.

To make this possible, two 56-bed slope-side apartment buildings will house more students outside of Scribner Village. "These are four-story buildings, but the lowest levels are kind of buried into the hillside," architect Paul Vaivoda said. "These are two-unit apartments: one accessed from the low side, and one from the campus side."

With a single bedroom on the first floor of each unit and four more above, the five-person apartments would also include a kitchen, living room and dining area. Based on the responses of about 700 students who participated in a 2008-2009 survey, the architects also included in-building laundry facilities and bicycle racks in their plans. These facilities hold a tentative date of completion for fall of 2012.

In an initial design revealed last fall, the architects discussed more large-scale slope-side apartments. But when they brought their designs before the college, administrators raised aesthetic and environmental concerns.

"The steep slope apartments weren't going to work. We would have demolished so many trees," said Don Hastings, director of Residential Life. "It would have been scorched earth."

QPK went back to the drawing board, presenting a fresh design on a smaller scale. The new concept led administrators and architects to consider how these apartments might serve as alternative living options for sophomore students seeking a little more self-sufficiency.

"These two buildings are really very close to campus and have five-person units, whereas in the rest of the project, we have four-bedroom units," Brieva said. "The idea was to try to complement the sophomore accommodations, in a less-independent living situation than the students who occupy Northwoods and Scribner."

Already, Hastings said his office is considering programming opportunities for these sophomore apartments, with prospective models including a sophomore extension of the First-Year Experience or a return to the pre-FYE structure of "theme houses," based around student commonalities including substance-free housing, multicultural interests or honors designations. Hastings said consideration of an exclusively sophomore apartment complex also raises new logistical concerns surrounding meal plan structures and extensions of the college's alcohol and drug policies.

For the juniors and seniors who will still operate as Scribner Village's primary residents, the QPK architects placed an emphasis on preserving the current apartments' community spirit in the new design. "One of the things that students liked most about the actual Scribner Village is the feeling of social interaction," Brieva said.

For the new plan, the architects disregarded the current units' row organization and instead arranged apartments in a circle, with all entrances feeding out of a central park at the community's center.

"In the nature of bringing these buildings closer together, there's an intimacy and more of a connection with your neighbor," Vaivoda said. "We thought it would only reinforce this sense of community."

As they did in Northwoods Apartments, the architects split the four-person apartments through a mix of ground entrances and entryway stairs. But the new Scribner Village apartments, like those they replace, boast larger kitchen, living and dining areas. In an echo of the current apartments' popular back porches, the new design adds outdoor patios for each townhouse. "We want students to take advantage of the space and use it, not just have it as a view," Brieva said.

The architects' work with the college's task force also led them to try to capture what they perceived as the spirit of the Skidmore student in their new Scribner Village designs. "We recognized that the dynamics of the students are of a very active nature," she said. "Part of the idea is to go away from the concept of a box with holes, that's your house."

They took a creative point of view in their planning with the hope that the designs would then better integrate with the college campus as a whole. "You have a lot of things, architecturally, that give character to the buildings you have on campus – funky windows, special roofs," Brieva said. "So what you see here is an attempt to keep those elements harmonious with what you already have."

With the new Scribner Village projected for completion in fall 2013 and the slope-side apartments anticipated for 2012, the college urged the architects to add an additional solution to combat overcrowding pressures in the dorms. They needed something that could stave off on-campus housing trouble for next year, while still being effective in the long-term.

The architects' original plans included construction of a new residence hall with a mix of single and double rooms, as well as four-bedroom suites, to house increased numbers of freshmen and sophomores. But Hastings said such a plan failed to address administrators' concerns about juniors and seniors moving to off-campus housing. "It didn't do what the project wanted it to do," he said. "It took care of the triple issue, but the dynamics of the project were also that we wanted to become more of a residential college."

In keeping with that goal, the architects instead incorporated plans to construct additional Northwoods structures copied from the already-established QPK designs. "Northwoods has been hugely successful," West said. "We haven't had a vacancy in those buildings since they've been constructed."

The three new apartment buildings will house 114 students in the same mix of groundfloor and stairway entrance accommodations appearing in QPK's original Northwoods Apartments.By building the new apartments in place of two parking lots serving the Northwoods community, the college can expect new housing for students well before the completion of the new Scribner Village apartments.

"The beauty of this concept is that in the previous version of our planning, we couldn't see any new beds on campus until 2012," Brieva said. "We are right now in the process of getting city approval that would allow us to displace these cars and start building these 114 beds as soon as we can."

They tentatively expect to see the new Northwoods buildings completed by fall of the upcoming year, in time to accommodate the housing problems posed by the overcrowded freshman class. "With the class of 2014 alone, we need 100 more beds," Hastings said. "That was the reason behind the push for the three new buildings in Northwoods, because they would alleviate that."

He said he thinks this project will prove to be successful in increasing the number of students who choose to live on campus. "After Northwoods, we only had 250 or 300 students off campus," Hastings said. He said he expects the new Scribner Village to have a similar effect in limiting the number of students who live off-campus.

But even while it awaits confirmation from trustees and Saratoga Springs officials, the project has gathered some donations, but not enough to cover the $42 million cost of construction. "The rest of the funds for this project will come from other gifts we'll be seeking during this time," West said.

Already, administrators look forward to new campus improvements. "This project was holding us up from other things," West said.

With a solid plan for the reconstruction nearly come to completion, he said he expects the college to soon begin on changes in other aspects of campus, including the library and the new admissions building. "And after that there will be a new science building, probably an addition to Dana," he said. "There's no shortage of the projects we want to do."

Other administrators emphasize the role the Scribner Village reconstruction will play in prospective students' perceptions of the college. "When we complete this project, we'll have housing of such a high caliber that we'll be incredibly competitive as an institution," West said.

"These apartments are going to be better than Northwoods," he said. "There are not many campuses where that would be the case."

Saratoga Springs prepares for 31st annual CROP Walk

Posted by MacKenna Lewis

The Church World Service and interdenominational religious groups organize more than 16,000 CROP Walks around the nation each year to raise money to eradicate hunger and poverty and to promote peace and justice.

The service gives assistance around the world and was one of the first groups to respond after Hurricane Katrina.

The CROP Walk is one of the Church World Service's largest events, and the group relies on CROP Walks for approximately $15 million of its $70 million yearly budget.

The 31st annual Saratoga CROP Walk will take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday Oct. 17.

 "The number of people, primarily women and children,?who die each day, world-wide, of starvation, lack of access to clean water and diseases that are?caused by?these conditions, is approximately equal to the population of Saratoga Springs.? So the equivalent of our entire city is being wiped out each day by something that is entirely preventable," said Ken Klotz, former mayor of Saratoga and co-organizer of this year's Saratoga CROP Walk.

Each year in Saratoga between 60 and 150 people attend the two-mile walk down North Broadway. This year, about 30 Skidmore students have signed up to attend.

"The Church World Service tries to raise money for hunger issues. That includes anything from having to walk hours a day to get water to feed your crops, to just straight out starvation because you don't have the means to grow your own food," said Sarah Minney '13, the Benef-Action liaison for this year's CROP Walk.

A quarter of this year's profits will go to the Saratoga County Economy Opportunity Council, the county's anti-poverty agency. Church World Service will distribute the remaining funds around the world.

Benef-Action's goal for this year's CROP Walk is to raise $1,000. The organizers hope that each participant will donate  $10 and will also ask 10 friends to donate the same amount.

"The best way to look at it is instead of buying three cups of coffee a day, only buy two and donate the money you saved during those two weeks. We do need a lot of money, obviously, but people don't realize that even donating $5 does a lot," Minney said.

Skidmore's team will meet for the event at 1 p.m. Oct. 17 by the Spirit of Life statue in Congress Park.

To find out more about the event, search "CROP Walk – Saratoga Springs, NY" on Facebook, or join Benef-Action's team online at www.churchworldservice.org/goto/SkidBenef-ActionMacKenna Lewis

Contributing Writer

The Church World Service and interdenominational religious groups organize more than 16,000 CROP Walks around the nation each year to raise money to eradicate hunger and poverty and to promote peace and justice.

The service gives assistance around the world and was one of the first groups to respond after Hurricane Katrina.

The CROP Walk is one of the Church World Service's largest events, and the group relies on CROP Walks for approximately $15 million of its $70 million yearly budget.

The 31st annual Saratoga CROP Walk will take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday Oct. 17.

"The number of people, primarily women and children,?who die each day, world-wide, of starvation, lack of access to clean water and diseases that are?caused by?these conditions, is approximately equal to the population of Saratoga Springs.? So the equivalent of our entire city is being wiped out each day by something that is entirely preventable," said Ken Klotz, former mayor of Saratoga and co-organizer of this year's Saratoga CROP Walk.

Each year in Saratoga between 60 and 150 people attend the two-mile walk down North Broadway. This year, about 30 Skidmore students have signed up to attend.

"The Church World Service tries to raise money for hunger issues. That includes anything from having to walk hours a day to get water to feed your crops, to just straight out starvation because you don't have the means to grow your own food," said Sarah Minney '13, the Benef-Action liaison for this year's CROP Walk.

A quarter of this year's profits will go to the Saratoga County Economy Opportunity Council, the county's anti-poverty agency. Church World Service will distribute the remaining funds around the world.

Benef-Action's goal for this year's CROP Walk is to raise $1,000. The organizers hope that each participant will donate $10 and will also ask 10 friends to donate the same amount.

"The best way to look at it is instead of buying three cups of coffee a day, only buy two and donate the money you saved during those two weeks. We do need a lot of money, obviously, but people don't realize that even donating $5 does a lot," Minney said.

Skidmore's team will meet for the event at 1 p.m. Oct. 17 by the Spirit of Life statue in Congress Park.

To find out more about the event, search "CROP Walk – Saratoga Springs, NY" on Facebook, or join Benef-Action's team online at www.churchworldservice.org/goto/SkidBenef-Action.

Zankel to be dedicated on Saturday: College celebrates success of "Creative Thought, Bold Promise" fundraiser

Posted by Rebecca Orbach

The college is expecting more than 2,000 guests on campus this weekend to celebrate the completion of its six-year "Creative Thought Bold Promise" campaign, with a full schedule of events taking place on campus.

In May, the College's fundraising campaign surpassed its $200 million goal, raising $216.5 million.

More than 18,000 parents, alumni, friends and Skidmore employees contributed to the campaign.

These contributions more than doubled the total of any of the college's previous fund-raising efforts.

The campaign began in 2004 and was framed by the college's strategic plan, which aimed to increase student academic engagement, intercultural and global understanding and responsible citizenship.

Fundraising was specifically directed toward financial aid, endowment, sustainability initiatives and academic programs.

The new Arthur Zankel Music Center is the largest facility, 54,000 square feet, funded by the campaign.

The building is named after former Skidmore board member and parent Arthur Zankel, whose $46 million donation is the largest gift in the college's history.

Saturday Oct. 16 there will be an invitation-only concert in Zankel that features pianist Emanuel Ax, who will remain on campus from Thursday to Saturday as this year's McCormack Visiting Artist-Scholar.

Zankel has allowed the Music Department classroom and rehearsal space and has provided the region with 600-seat Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall.

Though it has only been opened for eight months, Zankel has already hosted dozens of performances and master classes featuring world-class artists of all genres.

This summer, the facility was home to the Skidmore Flute Institute, the Saratoga Harp Colony, the New York School of Orchestral Studies and the New York State Arts Presenters Symposium.

"This accomplishment is a tribute to the incredible generosity of the extended Skidmore family and represents a remarkable achievement in its own right. But even more importantly, the campaign has enabled us to invest in the life of the college in ways that have made a material and enduring contribution to the quality of the Skidmore experience for our students, to our continuing value to alumni and to our capacity to enhance our region," President Philip A. Glotzbach said.

Other on-campus events this weekend include the dedication of the Susan Kettering Williamson '59 Sports Center, a continuation of events celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery and the annual "Under the Big Top" show presented by the college's a cappella groups and other student performers.

College looks to prevent tragedies

Posted by Maxx Salat

On Sept. 22 Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old freshman at Rutgers College, committed suicide after his roommate used his camera to record an intimate encounter hosted in Clementi's room and streamed it online to a public audience.

This incident is not the first of its kind.

Clementi's suicide was one of seven in the LGBT community in the past month that gained media attention.

There are 1,100 suicides on college campuses each year.

Jennifer Burden, director of Health Services, sent out an email to students expressing her sorrow and disappointment in regard to Clementi's death and the events leading up to it.

"My hope would be that we wouldn't have that sort of thing [Clementi's suicide] happen here. I would hope that our students would know better and basically that if someone were to transmit something like that over the Internet, hopefully our students would not give that an audience," Burden said.

Burden wants to make students aware that regardless of the circumstance, there is always an alternative to suicide.

The Counseling Department offers four full-time counselors and one part-time psychiatrist available for consultation by appointment, or without one in the case of an emergency.

Students can also go to the Counseling Department to learn how to counsel a peer on their own.

Julia Routbort, director of the Counseling Center, described her feelings on the incident in four words: "Outraged. Sad. Horrified. Angry."

The college wants students to understand that depression amongst teenagers is a real issue and that campus recourses will do everything in their power to diagnose and treat it.

For the past year, Health Services has offered screenings for depression as part of the regular paperwork for any injury or illness. If a student scores past a certain threshold, Health Services will offer to take that student to counseling.

There is someone from Counseling and Health Services on call at all times. "If a student is in crisis, feeling unsafe or feeling that he or she really can't get through the day, we can see students that day," Routbort said.

Students can see Counseling Services for up to eight private therapy sessions a year. Past that, students will be referred to an off-campus professional.

In additional to individual counseling, Counseling Services also offers group therapy and classes with the goal of helping students deal with the stress of their academic and social lives.

Counseling services' cost is included in tuition and confidentiality is always maintained; students' identities will never be revealed without their consent.

Scribner architects address Senate

Posted by Kat Kullman

Tuesday, Oct. 12, the Senate of the Student Government Association met to hear the news from the Scribner Village Replacement Committee, which presented the new plans for the dorms on campus.

The Scribner Village Replacement Committee came to Skidmore at this time last year to gain feedback about the new dorms set to be built on campus.

These dorms are intended to eliminate the need for triples in freshman dorms.

Architects of the Committee, Eugenia Brieva and Paul Vaivoda, presented the final plans for the new buildings.

"The biggest criticism we heard from the trustees was to create dorms that appeal to any class, not just to one. So we investigated and decided on townhouses, like Northwoods, all with single bedrooms. The next step was to find where we could find land next to this community, land with no existing buildings on it," Brieva said.

The Committee emphasized the fact that they are doing all they can to appeal to Skidmore students.

The biggest change the Committee is proposing is to utilize the parking lots in Northwoods that are only partially occupied by cars.

Three buildings, with 114 beds, would be created in this space.

Because of the displacement of parking in this area, the Committee is proposing another parking lot for the cars.

The new buildings would also improve some of the issues in Northwoods, such as the poor sound insulation.

"Phase two is the demolition of Scribner Village, once we've already created the other beds. We can't destroy one bed until we've built another. We've also put entrances all on the inside, which creates a park-like neighborhood atmosphere," Vaivoda said.

"People were wondering if these new townhouses would be isolated, but these fit right into the buildings already built. They're like an extension of campus. We're trying to design something for students, and make it funkier for you," Brieva said.

The Committee also stressed the sustainability of the project. The construction will not clear trees excessively. Additionally, the construction will occur primarily on land that has already been developed, an extremely green option.

All of the apartments will have geothermal heating and cooling and the construction materials will have a high content of recycled substances.

The Committee hopes that the first phase of the project will be finished by September 2012.

It is projected that the whole project will be completed in 2013.

In other news:

The Inter-Hall Board was granted a supplemental budget of $1,200 for Moorebid Ball due to the increase of students on campus. The supplemental was passed unanimously.

Re-evaluating the Sexual Assault Policy

Posted by Alex Brehm

Why does anybody rape anybody else?

Why would one Skidmore student rape another?

"I think there are different levels of sexual assault, and I think it's because we have sick people—people who want to cause harm, they get something from that," said Joe Yanks '11, Head Peer Advocate of the Center for Sex and Gender Relations and member of the Sexual Assault Task Force, the committee charged with drafting a new sexual misconduct policy for the college. "We also have a culture of sex, a United States culture that promotes disrespect…and a lack of communication."

"I agree," Dean of Student Affairs Rochelle Calhoun, said. "There are sexual predators on college campuses, likely serial predators."

She described a culture where college men seek out vulnerable women as targets and sexual objects. "We're trying to change the culture. We want to create a dialogue that equalizes responsibility for respect. We want to get to a culture of zero tolerance."

"We know that this happens," said Calhoun, "now let's prevent it as a community."

The Sexual Assault Task Force, the Center for Sex and Gender Relations, Health Promotions, Residential Life, and other campus organizations have all released new programming on the upcoming enforcement of the revised Sexual Misconduct Policy, slated for adoption on Oct. 18. On Wednesday, Oct. 6 there was a discussion between the Task Force and other members of the college community. Calhoun addressed the audience, which was made up of students and a handful of staff members, outlining the recent development of the policy.

In Sept. 2009, the Student Affairs subcommittee of the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee called for a group to review and revise the college's sexual assault policy. The Task Force met every other week for the fall and spring semesters of the 2009-2010 academic year.

In April 2010, an article in the Albany Times Union criticized college policies regarding sexual abuse, and featured the case of a former Skidmore student who was allegedly sexually assaulted on campus during the previous summer.

The news rippled through the campus and the Task Force held an open review of the sexual assault policy with the college community. Students and professors packed Davis auditorium, many voicing rage that the sexual assault policy was re-traumatizing survivors of sexual assault and letting their rapists and abusers go free, holding victims up to a standard of evidence they could not possibly provide.

A few weeks later, students taking a Feminist Theory and Methodology class staged a rally on Case Green calling for more attention to revision of the policy and confrontation of sexual assault on campus.

But if the meeting last Wednesday was any measure, many students have lost passion with the issue. The crowd of 75 students in Gannett looked sparse, and was mostly made up of members of associated organizations—Peer Advocates from the Center for Sex and Gender Relations, mediators from "Fight Club" Conflict Resolution, and members of Pride Alliance.

"How will you track effectiveness, and how will you educate the community?" Fight Club Co-Chair Nick Hara '11 asked the Task Force, "because I don't see everybody here."

The Task Force has a tall order in envisioning a complete college community that is active in preventing and decrying sexual assault. "Certainly the cases from last semester made everyone get out in the streets," Calhoun said, "but the kind of cases where someone did not give effective consent, where someone wasn't willing to have sex and then ended up having it, those don't get people out in the streets. But guess what? That's rape."

"Effective consent" is the dictum students will be seeing in the coming weeks and years, the central idea of the new college policy. Students received cards in their school mailboxes defining effective consent as "freely and actively given, in which both partners are equally informed through mutually-understood words, body language, and actions."

"We like this policy because it no longer takes the victim and asks ‘What did you do to say no?'" says Dr. Julia Routbort, director of the Counseling Center. "Instead it asks the accused ‘What did you hear, to hear a ‘yes?''"

The Task Force expects that the idea of effective consent will not only serve as a disciplinary criterion, but also as a tool for teaching. Effective consent was the message of sexual education programs for students this past summer, has become part of first-year orientation and will continue to spread through programming from campus organizations involved with sexual issues.

Other important changes include the widening of the policy from sexual assault to sexual misconduct, including behavior such as harassment and inappropriate touching under the new policy.

The new policy adds the roles of Advocate and Advisor, aides for alleged victims and perpetrators of sexual misconduct. An Advocate provides support and facilitates options for dealing with the problem of an abuser on campus—changing residence halls, classes, or pursuing a disciplinary hearing about the abuser. The Advisor helps the alleged abuser in navigating the hearing process and other disciplinary issues.

The Task Force also wants to stress the new change in evidentiary requirements. Sexual misconduct cases will no longer be held to the standard of "clear and convincing evidence," as they once were, but "preponderance of the evidence." The phrases are legal terms, and the change means no longer laying a large burden of proof on the victim, but instead relies on a majority of evidence from either party to decide whether an instance of misconduct occurred.

At the discussion, one student asked why there was no clear description in the new policy of punishments for violators. The college refers to punishments as "sanctions" and outlines them in the Student Handbook.

"There's actually a range of possible sanctions in there," said Don Hastings, director of Residential Life and chair of the Sexual Assault Task Force. "It ranges from an apology to expulsion from the school." Students sanctioned for sexual misconduct may be made to write essays about the harm they have caused, perform community service or face temporary suspension.

Yanks added that there is a potential for fraudulent reports. Students who lay false accusations of misconduct will face sanctions.

Other students at the discussion wondered whether an alleged abuser's past accusations and hearings would affect the decision in a new sexual misconduct case. If a student had been accused twice before of sexual assault, would that be allowed as evidence in a new case?

Dean Calhoun explained: "We consider each case independently. Unless those cases are very similar to the case being heard and describe a pattern of behavior, they would not be allowed in as evidence. However, if the panel decides that a violation of the policy has occurred, then there is a sentencing stage of the hearing and those cases would be considered."

The Task Force stressed the two stages of a hearing—evaluating whether an event occurred, and deciding the severity of the punishment. Past accusations, members of the Task Force said, would generally not be necessary to decide whether an instance of misconduct occurred as the complainant described.

Jen Burden of Health Promotions, compiled statistics about assault at Skidmore based on student surveys last semester. Skidmore is an anomaly among colleges in that most incidences of sexual misconduct occur on campus: 80 percent of cases, according to Burden's report.

Burden's statistics estimate that 3.9 percent of Skidmore students have been raped at Skidmore, and 83 percent of them were female. But members of the Task Force emphasized that they consider sexual misconduct and assault a problem that affects people of any sex, gender, and orientation.

"That's why we included gender-neutral language in the policy," said Calhoun. Yanks took particular care in articulating that the Center and the Task Force see sexual abuse as a problem that affects everyone. "It's not just girls getting raped."

There are resources on campus for survivors of rape and sexual misconduct. The Counseling Center, college chaplains, and Health Services are groups that listen and treat cases confidentially. The Center for Sex and Gender Relations' Peer Advocates, "Fight Club" Conflict Resolution, First-Year Experience Peer Mentors, Campus Safety, Residential Life staff, and college faculty are also available for student support.

Request for budget rollover denied

Posted by Kat Kullman

On Tuesday, Oct. 5, the Senate of the Student Government Association discussed a resolution to allocate funding from retained funds to the Drastic Measures a cappella group, as well as a resolution to establish Willingness-to-Serve operating codes.

"The Budget Rollover section of the financial policies states that ‘it is not permissible to roll over revenue if it has been in the club or committee's revenue account for longer than one year...'" Jono Zeiden, vice president for Financial Affairs, said.

However, the Drastic Measures approached the Senate in order to request that the group be given funds it had raised at the end of 2008, but had lost due to an error in a loan and miscommunication with SGA.

The Drastics had earned a total of $1,149 worth of CD sales and fundraising by the end of 2008 and much of that money was intended to pay back a loan it had taken out in order to create the CD. However, the loan was denied at the end of 2008, but the group was never notified of this. It was not until this year that group realized that the money had not gone through to the loan and instead had been absorbed back into SGA.

Bryce Klatsky '11 and Emily Conner-Simons '13 addressed the Senate body to request that the funds be returned to the group despite the SGA policy.

"We're only about $400 short of paying back our loan. We're asking for the money we earned. We understand that this sets a dangerous precedent, but it's important to understand that we applied correctly and that this money was lost due to miscommunications," Klatsky said.

Zeidan spoke to the rationale behind the policy and explained why letting even one club receive a rollover fund is dangerous. "We budget for each year. If we allow rollover, it creates incentive for clubs to save their money instead of spending it and it becomes a slippery slope. This situation isn't about whether the money should be applied to the Drastic's loan or not, it's about whether it fits into our policy," Zeidan said.

After a long discussion about the policy and the situation at hand, the Senate voted to uphold the policy and to deny the Drastic Measures the funds.

"The Drastic Measures request for a budget rollover, albeit of revenue the club raised above its required revenue line, did not comply with the aforementioned financial policy. Consequently, the request was not recommended by the Budget and Finance committee, and ultimately not passed by Senate," Zeidan said.

The group was denied the money by a margin of four votes.

Next, Jenny Snow ‘11, vice president for Communication and Outreach, and Dan DeMartini '11, Northwoods senator, presented a resolution to establish Willingness-to-Serve operating codes. Willingness-to-Serve is an election process that allows students to sit on numerous campus committees after an interview process.

These new operating codes would create a solid set of rules for the process of electing the students and the purpose of Willingness-to-Serve.

"Willingness didn't have a definite role, and we were appointing people without clarification," DeMartini said.

DeMartini hoped that this would help get the student body more involved. "This set of codes will help us not just to advertise for Willingness, but to really reach out to the community," DeMartini said.

"It establishes Willingness-to-Serve as a subcommittee of the Communication and Outreach Committee. My thinking is that freeing up half of Communication and Outreach will help to open things up and allow Willingness to do a lot outside elections. It's nitpicky stuff right now, but it's very necessary," Snow said.

The resolution to establish the operating codes was passed unanimously.