SGA de-charters the Wombats: Ultimate Frisbee team breaks Skidmore Honor Code resulting in one-year hiatus

Posted by Jean-Ann Kubler

On Dec. 7, 2010 the Executive Board of the SGA officially de-charted the Skidmore Wombats.

The Wombats, the college's Ultimate Frisbee team, would have celebrated their 20-year anniversary this year.

The Executive Board is comprised of SGA President Alex Stark ‘11, the SGA Executive Committee, Honor Code Commissioner Aaron Shifreen ‘13, class presidents and two senators.

During the fall semester, the SGA Executive Committee received information regarding alleged misconduct by the Wombats.

In November, college administrators met with members of the team and warned them that they were under investigation.

The Executive Board held a private meeting on Dec. 5, 2010. The captains were encouraged to speak on behalf of the Wombats and the allegations made against the team. ?

The five Wombat captains attended the Dec. 5 meeting. ?Following the meeting, the Executive Board deliberated and decided to disband the team.

According to the official statement from the SGA, "The Board deliberated and found that the club violated the Skidmore Honor Code on multiple counts — an agreement they were bound to uphold by signing the standard club renewal form. The sanction assigned for this violation was the de-chartering of the Skidmore Wombats."

Due to the confidentiality of Executive Board deliberations, it is unknown what sections of the honor code the Wombats violated.

Rumors regarding the disbandment have been focused on allegations of first-year hazing, the presence of beer kegs at Friday practices and misbehavior during a Frisbee tournament at Hampshire College.

In early November, the captains of the Hampshire Frisbee team, the Red Scare, wrote a letter to Skidmore Dean of Student Affairs Rochelle Calhoun regarding the alleged incident.

The letter, which Calhoun forwarded to the SGA Executive Committee, claimed that the presence of the Wombats on Hampshire's campus had resulted in multiple complaints from students, faculty and campus safety.

"We thought it necessary to bring to your attention the behavior of some of the Skidmore Frisbee team members while on our campus this past weekend, November 5th and 6th, in order to make you aware of how your institution is being represented," the Red Scare captains said in the letter.

The Red Scare's letter described alleged incidences of members of the Wombats unlocking bicycles and taking them for joy rides, trying to break into the Hampshire swimming pool and urinating in public.

However, the incident that the Hampshire team found most troubling, according to the letter, was the disturbance several members of the Wombats caused in the Hampshire residences.

The members of the Wombats were apparently invited to stay in an on-campus apartment, but were found in residences they were specifically told not to enter.

"Several male [Wombats] were heard in the early morning attempting to open the doors to the rooms of female residents while muttering phrases that were construed to be sexual in nature (‘There is no way I'm not going to get laid tonight' is what one of the female residents heard as someone tried to open her locked door)," the Red Scare captains said.

A report filed by a Hampshire Campus Safety officer claims that four Skidmore students, three males and one female, were found in a residence that they were not allowed to be in.

The report says the names of the four students were determined when officers asked for identification.

The students' names are listed in the report. All students listed are members of the class of 2013.

Two male Skidmore students were purportedly found in an all-female residence and were asked to leave by a female Hampshire student.

Another female student filed a report with Hampshire Campus Safety claiming that upon entering her room she found two Wombats — one male and one female.

"She further stated that it appeared that they had been sleeping in her roommate's bed ‘because the bed was unmade,'" according to the report.

The letter from the Red Scare captains also included allegations of Wombat team members having sex in the stairwell of a Hampshire apartment complex.

"In addition, they were told not to go through [a door between apartments] when they first arrived at the apartment [they were staying in]. Once inside the adjacent apartment, the students once again began checking for open doors and, upon finding some, entered the bedroom and had sex in their beds," the Red Scare captains said.

It is unclear whether the events described by the captains of the Red Scare are the same as the events in the Hampshire Campus Safety report.

The letter also describes an incident at a Frisbee tournament in Georgia last spring during which the Wombats allegedly started a prank war with the Red Scare that escalated to lit fireworks being thrown at members of the Hampshire team.

Additionally, the Red Scare claims the Wombats threw the team's furniture into a pool and broke into the house Hampshire students rented.

The Womabts allegedly vandalized and stole their property.

The former Wombat captains, commented jointly on the allegations of misconduct at Hampshire College and the disbanding of the team.

"A misunderstanding during a tournament at Hampshire College led to allegations against the Skidmore Wombats. Although we felt we behaved appropriately on their campus, the actions of some individuals were misconstrued as inappropriate when they were in fact accidental," the captains said.

The captains said the de-chartering saddened the entire Wombat community.

"We feel it is a disservice to the Skidmore community to deny an outlet for the Ultimate Frisbee sport and to deny this loving community to its current and future members."

In response to the disbanding, the Wombats attempted to appeal the decision.

"The team appealed the Board's decision to a Senate Ad-Hoc Investigation Review Committee. The Review Committee found no adequate grounds for appeal and voted to uphold the Executive Board's decision," according to the SGA statement.

An Ultimate Frisbee team cannot reapply to charter a club for one year, according to SGA policy.

Though their appeal was unsuccessful, several members of the former Wombats have continued to practice.

"Though we are no longer acknowledged by the college as a club, the Wombat family lives on through the memories and friendships it has forged and its dedication to the ideals of Ultimate Frisbee," the captain's statement concluded.

Senate hears proposal for coupon website

Posted by Kat Kullman

On Tuesday, Feb. 1, the SGA Senate convened for the first time this semester to view a presentation on a potential new website associated with the college.

Jacques Ward '11 and Senator Dan DeMartini '11 are the creators of the new website, which they brought to Senate for feedback.

The site, called ‘Skrounge.com,' boasts a squirrel as its logo and provides Skidmore students access to deals and offers from local Saratoga merchants.

The available discounts and coupons from the shops are all consolidated onto the one website to help save students money.

"We were missing something on campus life in terms of websites," DeMartini said. "We wanted to enhance your time on campus as a community. The site helps you find the discounts on everything from food and transportation to storage lockers and hotels when your parents visit."

The site will also allow for a message board, which provides an outlet for students to give away or sell belongings at the end of the year.

Local merchants and vendors will be able to buy a spot on the website that will make the coupons available at any point in the semester.

The site will also offer "hot deals," which are discounts that last only for a few hours or for a set number of students.

In order to communicate easily with the site members, the creators are in the process of developing an iPhone application for Skrounge.com.

In order to become a member of the site, a verified Skidmore email address will be required.

The intention is to give the moderators a degree of control and protection and uphold the communal feeling of the site.

The site will also have a social media aspect to it, with a member picture and a message board to help students communicate easily.

Ward and DeMartini said they hope the website is a success at Skidmore because they hope to be able to look for other schools that might be interested in the concept.

"We wanted to start with Skidmore," DeMartini said. "Ultimately, our goal is to move to some other schools with the same sort of tight-knit communities in town settings."

"It's taking all we love in Case Center ads and putting them together in one place," DeMartini said. "We're making it greener." Ward and DeMartini hope to have the website up and running by March of this year.

In other news:

The Senate unanimously approved a supplemental for students from the Asian Cultural Awareness club to attend the East Coast Asian American Student Union Conference.

Mock draft produces mixed results

Posted by Andrew Cantor

Men please report to these tables, ladies go right on through," Duke Fisher, a conflict mediator, said to students entering the atrium of the Murray-Aikins Dining Hall on the evening of Jan. 31.

He proceeded to direct male students to a "Selective Service" table and women into the dining hall.

Four volunteers with laptop computers took the male students' names and class years, then handed each student a "draft card" designating their "Selective Service Classification."

The classifications informed the male students that they were "1-A… IMMEDIATELY ELIGIBLE for the DRAFT and military deployment," "2-S… deferred [from the draft] because of college study," "1-A-O... a conscientious objector… assigned to noncombatant military service" or "4-F… not acceptable for military service under the established physical mental or moral standards."

After receiving the "Selective Service Classification," the volunteers directed the male students to a second station where a volunteer handed out another card, providing further information about the "military draft."

"This has been a mock military draft simulation. In the event of an actual draft, you would have been mandated to serve your country through military service," the card said.

Director of Religious and Spiritual Life Rick Chrisman planned the mock military draft as part of his year-long "Theater of War in a House of Peace" program.

The program attempts to foster campus-wide reflections on war through various art mediums.

Chrisman enlisted the help of Fisher to coordinate the staged military draft, as Fisher has experience in role-playing and live-acting.

A Campus Safety officer stepped into the atrium briefly to direct male students to the draft table, adding more reality to the event.

Student response to the theatrical event ranged from fear and alarm to laughter.

"I wouldn't support a military draft… it's a negative thing," Ross Croffi '12 said after receiving a "1-A-O" card, meaning he would have to serve noncombatant military service in the event of a real draft.

"I suppose if it was real I would be really pissed," Ross Waldron '14 said after receiving a "1-A" card, which would make him immediately eligible for military service. "This really made me think… the plausibility of a draft is real. I think this was a successful event."

"When I walked in the d-hall [Duke] said women should go right in. I'm doing this reading for a gender studies class, so it was sort of funny to watch this," Ariel Branden '14 said. "They just repealed the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, but no one's thinking about women."

According to Melissa Bennett '13, a volunteer in the simulation, several students received the first card, were alarmed that they were just "drafted," and left the atrium without receiving the second card.

Volunteers then had to chase down those students to tell them the draft was fake.

"It was more powerful than I expected it to be," Bennett said. "It was interesting to see the responses of the students… When some students received a card saying they weren't eligible for the draft, they would ask why. If they got a regular draft card, meaning they are eligible, no questions were asked."

"President Obama in the State of the Union address said campuses should be more open for drafters to come on campus and do these things," she said.

"[Chrisman] wanted to show on the Skidmore campus that we are a nation at war and not a lot of people recognize that… The possibility of a draft doesn't receive as much attention as some other social movements on campus," Bennett said.

Chrisman supports a Universal National Service that would require all citizens from the ages of 18 to 22 to serve in "violence prevention, hospital service, urban education, homeless shelters, Peace Corps, Vista, Teach for America, the military" and more.

He said he believes a Universal National Service would alleviate the burden of war that befalls a small portion of the population.

"This country is in a war right now," Chrisman said. "We're involved in a mortal endeavor, and not many people realize that… This is our country and we need to have a physical stake in it."

Hate crime assault charges reduced: Additional witness testimony indicates slur was not racially charged

Posted by Alex Brehm & Jean-Ann Kubler

At approximately 5:30 a.m on Dec. 18, 2010, four Skidmore students were charged with the assault of a Saratoga man at Compton's Restaurant on Broadway.

Though one student, Justin Tavarez '13, was originally charged with a felony hate crime assault, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal mischief, on Feb. 1 he pleaded guilty in exchange for a reduced charge.

In the spring Tavarez will face sentencing for third-degree assault, a misdemeanor.

The other three students, Sakhile Sithole '13, Elijah Johnston '14 and Korvin Vicente '13, were all charged with third-degree assault.

According to the Saratoga Police Department, the four students allegedly targeted two men eating together at the diner, one white and one black, with racial slurs.

Tavarez allegedly smashed a plate over the white customer's head, and punched and kicked him, according to witnesses.

The hate crime charges were dropped when new witness testimony confirmed that the use of the word "nigger" was not racially charged.

The original accusation of a hate crime prompted strong responses from the Saratoga and Skidmore communities.

Acting President Susan Kress pointed out in a campus-wide email, and again in an interview, that comments on websites and discussion boards were posted that were highly critical of students and college programs.

In her email to the campus, Kress reminded readers that the accused were to be presumed innocent until proven guilty of the alleged hate crime.

According to Dean of Student Affairs Rochelle Calhoun, when a student is charged with a felony, it has been college practice to provisionally suspend the student until the resolution of the charge in court.

Afterward, the student may be subject to a hearing before the school Integrity Board.

When a student is charged with a misdemeanor, the student is more commonly allowed to remain on campus while the charges are resolved in court, but this case may vary, Calhoun said.

Students also responded to the alleged biased nature of the assault. Danny Pforte '13 published a letter in the Saratogian critical of the nature of the initial report of the incident.

Similar to Kress, Pforte pointed out issues of bias.

In his letter, Pforte argued that the paper reinforced racial and urban stereotypes with the line, "the four men charged with assault are all black or Hispanic," and listing three of the students as being from New York City.

To address town-gown relations in the wake of the incident and in general, Pforte is planning a public dialogue between leaders of the city and leaders of the college.

Members of Campus Safety declined to comment for this article.

Scribner Library to house new Dining Services caf??

Posted by Tegan O'Neil

By the end of February, coffee and pastries will be available on the first floor of the Lucy Scribner Library. A new café, formally known as "Lucy's", will serve Green Mountain Coffee, tea, juices, an assortment of bottled beverages, yogurt, fresh fruit, and freshly baked cookies, muffins, croissants, scones and donuts.

?The newest dining location will be open between 8 a.m. and noon Monday through Friday and 8 p.m. and midnight Sunday through Thursday.

"Students have been asking for a café in the library forever," Director of Dining Services Bill Canney said.

According to Canney, the decision to add the café was partially influenced by a Skidmore News editorial, "Make library competitive," published on Dec. 3, 2010.

"The library might even consider installing options for refreshments – be they as exciting as a late-night coffee bar or as mundane as a vending machine – to accommodate the hundreds of students studying late into the night," read the editorial.

Belson Design Architects designed the 160 square foot space that previously housed the copy and fax machines.

The copy room has been relocated to the ground floor of the library.?

College Librarian Ruth Copans said she is thrilled about the project.

"I am beside myself with happiness and glee because I know this will make students really happy.? It will be tiny, but it will be a little jewel," she said.?

Copans said that she had wanted a small, convenient café in the library for a long time but never thought it was going to happen.?

"It came down to a question of redundancy. Burgess is located close by and students have three other dining locations in a relatively close proximity," Copans said.

Bill Canney said he is confident that the new location will be serving a campus need. "I expect a steady flow of students," he said.

Leah Shorser '14 said, "Seeing that I'm there until one in the morning quite often, I think it is a good thing.? I am always going to Burgess and that can be a pain when it's cold outside and I don't want to leave the library.? It will certainly be convenient."?

Other students expressed concerns about the increase in traffic and noise level on the first floor of the library.?

"I think it will make the already noisy and crowded first floor even more noisy and crowded.? I'm not opposed to it, but I can't see the major upside," Margaret Myers '13 said.

Dining Services has anticipated this concern and has decided to brew coffee using a Keurig single cup brewing system as a way to reduce the noise level. ?

Student workers will staff the café.? Sharon Foley, retail supervisor for Dining Services, said that students who have worked in Burgess Café will be most eligible to work in the new café.

Foley also said that upperclassmen will have priority and that she will determine which dining services workers will work in the library café based on their previous performance.?

The library café will have a soft opening in order to "work out the kinks," Canney said.?

After the first week, Dining Services will start marketing that the café is open by sending out e-mails and posting signs around campus.

So far, the space has been painted, fitted with a door and windows and is covered in slate flooring.? "We are excited about it.? We think it will be a positive move," Canney said.

SGA grants Treblemakers charter

Posted by Kat Kullman On Tuesday, Dec. 7, The Treblemakers, an all-inclusive a cappella group, were granted a charter by the SGA senate.

The group appeared before Senate last year in an attempt to gain club status, but was denied. This year, the group applied to be an unbudgeted club, meaning it will not ask for money from SGA.

All 34 members came to Senate to show support and to perform a rendition of the song "Kiss the Girl" for the Senators. Club President Sara Hickey ‘12, Musical Director Alissa Belcastro ‘12 and Tucker Costello ‘12 answered Senate's questions.

"Our group is meant to be an outlet for singing, just to have fun. We're much more like the Skidmore Chorus than one of the a cappella groups on campus," Costello said.

The club accepts anyone, regardless of musical experience, and does not use sheet music. The club relies instead on auditory learning. The members are welcome to attend as frequently, or infrequently, as they wish.

In order to make rehearsals more efficient, the group created a subset of ‘teachers' who are more musically inclined and whose job it is to help the other members learn the music. This avoids creating a hierarchical structure within the group. Every member of the group votes on who will become a ‘teacher'.

"If the Treblemakers ever get invited to perform, it's always everyone. The teachers never perform on their own. It's always all-inclusive. That's what we're always about," Belcastro said.

The Treblemakers are not as focused on performing as the other singing groups on campus. With the limited amount of performance space on campus, and five a cappella groups already in existence, the Senate was concerned that another a cappella group would cause strain when planning events.

"We're pretty relaxed. We want to go to the dining hall, Case, even all-halls, and just sing. We're not being competitive about space because we're not a classic a cappella group," Costello said.

"We're going for the people singing in their showers or cars, the people who may not even want to sing in front of other people," Belcastro said.

The resolution to charter the Treblemakers a cappella group was passed almost unanimously.

In other news:

Senate unanimously passed a supplemental of $820 for the Environmental Action Club's composting project. The club plans to order 40 bins to start for each Scribner or Northwoods house that wants to try composting. The group also plans to order large garbage bins to be placed around the student housing that can then be relocated to a compost pile.

First-year thought matters: FYE students exhibit projects a semester in-the-making

Posted by Andrew Cantor

In May, the college admissions office notified the First Year Experience program that there would be more than one hundred unanticipated extra first-year students attending the college in the fall.

Beau Breslin, director of First-Year Experience, managed to enroll every first-year student into one of the 46 intimate Scribner Seminars, while other classes were forced to over-enroll or deny additional students.

The Scribner Seminar, a required first-year program which evolved from the Liberal Studies 1: Human Dilemmas course, has an enrollment cap of 16 students, and this year, only five seminars were over-enrolled with one extra student.  Breslin decided to add one more seminar this year, teaching it himself, to keep class sizes near the desired cap of 16 students.

The Scribner Seminars are four credit hours, with three credit hours dedicated to interdisciplinary study and "creative thought," and the other credit hour left open-ended for each professor to help acclimate his or her students to college life.

Breslin said the college is the only liberal-arts school in the area that offers an intimate, interdisciplinary experience like the Scribner Seminar.

With the most diverse sampling of seminars available in college history, the professors along with their students and peer mentors, made use of the unique academic and social freedoms afforded this year.

Each professor, with an initial $500 budget, took their students outside of the classroom and into the larger community for a practical application of the ubiquitous college maxim of "creative thought."

BUZZ – The Visual and Material Culture of Caffeine

Professor Mimi Hellman

"This seminar infiltrated my life," Layla Durrani '14 said. "I was in Burgess [Café], getting a cup of tea that was called Victorian English Breakfast, and it started off a memory. Why is there a picture of a cottage on the wrapper? When I bought this $1 tea, I was participating in a larger event."

The "larger event" Durrani is referring to is a critical "reading" of the visual design of caffeinated foods and beverages. In the BUZZ seminar, students studied the history of caffeinated product design, from 18th century Victorian tea sets to the modern Flash-based Starbucks website.

"Tea is sold through associations with a generalized, exoticized image of Asia that ignores cultural differences; an M&Ms campaign attempts humor through an ahistorical mash-up of communist imagery; Coke makes a pitch for xenophobic patriotism and traditional gender roles," Mimi Hellman, professor of the seminar, said. "Most consumers do not recognize these attitudes… You have to learn how to look."

The semester culminated with the class designing and curating an exhibit in the Scribner Library, where groups analyzed four case studies on the visual presentation of caffeine.

"My group studied Coca-Cola ads in the '40s during the war," Joe Marto '14 said.  "We skimmed through an archive of old ads, and then had Media Services reproduce them for the exhibit. It was very professional."

The Music Between Us: The Culture of Musical Creation and Consumption

Professor Gordon Thompson

Veteran Music department Professor Gordon Thompson has taught "The Music Between Us" Scribner Seminar twice before.  Thompson's seminar previously surveyed a wide range of genres and the way music affects individual personality and culture. This year, he added an element of arts administration to the syllabus, and had his class produce the annual campus-wide Beatles tribute concert in November, Beatlemore Skidmania, held for the first time this year in the new Arthur Zankel Music Center.

Thompson's students decided to donate ticket profits to Skidmore Cares, a college-based charity that donates food, money and school supplies in the local community during the holiday season.

"Skidmore Cares usually only raises a few hundred dollars, but we were able to raise a few thousand in ticket and T-shirt sales," Cody DeFalco '14 said. "[It] gave me perspective on the [music] industry… It was completely new to me."

The course texts included Thompson's own book on the infrastructure behind the ‘60s British pop industry and essays on "a rave club in Detroit, ‘tween females referencing Britney Spears in their personality formation, jazz clubs in Kansas City and Chicago, music festivals and karaoke," which gave his students a comprehensive review of popular music culture.

"I'm always experimenting with my pedagogy, adjusting with different students and learning from what works and what does not," Thompson said.

Thompson's pedagogical method this semester proved successful as his seminar produced by far the largest Beatlemore in the events' 10-year history, along with a considerable donation to charity.

Ways of Seeing: Image, Text, Illumination

Professor Michelle Rhee

"The seminar changed the way I view museums after we had to curate our own small gallery," Kate Jestin Taylor '14 said. "I realized every little detail has a purpose… it was so difficult, but also rewarding."

Professor Michelle Rhee's seminar studied the delicate relationship between text and image, which her students then applied at the end of the semester in curating an exhibit in the Tang Teaching Museum.

"It's a power dynamic we're in. Both text and image seem to be perpetually vying for your attention," Rhee said.

Rhee's assigned reading included the cult classic word and image publication  "The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects," by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore, along with Art Spiegelman's graphic novel, "Maus."

With the $500 budget provided by the FYE, the class took a field trip to the Museum of Modern Art in New York and received a private tour on text and image artwork. The seminar also picked pieces from the Tang's collection, and then curated their own exhibit in the Winter Gallery.

Human Dilemmas

Professors Sheldon Solomon and Sue Layden

The college offers 11 Human Dilemmas Scribner Seminars, and professors Sheldon Solomon and Sue Layden are taking advantage of its shared curriculum and large student group to mentor and guide inner-city high school students.

Arisleyda Urena '96, principal at the Academy for Language and Technology in the Bronx, approached Breslin around a year ago to create a partnership between the college and the public high school to connect her students to a college-prospective program. The majority of students at the school are first generation Americans, recent immigrants or English language learners, who do not necessarily have the resources or education for college.

In October, the high school students took a bus to the college, read the same texts as the Human Dilemmas course, attended a lecture by Solomon and ate lunch with Human Dilemmas students.

Professor Janet Casey also video conferenced a lecture to the high school students back in New York about activism.

"We spoke with Arisleyda right after the lecture. All the students were very inspired," Layden said. "They took the activism very seriously."

Layden and Solomon plan on continuing the partnership between the high school and college in future.

Faculty votes to accept online transfer credits

Posted by Alex Brehm

On Friday, Dec. 3 the faculty discussed and voted on new policies, including the acceptance of online classes in transfer credit.

Acting President Susan Kress began the meeting by reporting on recent social activities on campus, such as the recent Beatlemore Skidmania concerts, which raised more than $3,000 in funds to local food pantries.

Dean of Academic Affairs Rochelle Calhoun spoke about the success of several athletic teams, including women's field hockey, which competed in the national competition, the men's basketball, which played a record-setting game with seven overtimes against Southern Vermont, and swimming, which beat Vassar College for the first time in Skidmore history.

The faculty voted to confer degrees and honors on 20 students who will graduate at the end of the fall semester.

The faculty eliminated the sociology-anthropology interdepartmental major from the college catalog.

The college has been systematically eliminating interdepartmental majors for months under the rationale that students are better served with a major and minor in the two associated departments, or a double major.

The faculty turned to the question of whether or not the college should accept credits from online classes for transfer students.

Proponents said that transcripts from other schools do not note whether or not a class was taken online, making a policy of denying online classes unenforceable.

A professor said schools using online classes are usually large universities or state institutions, and denying credit to students from these schools could harm the diversity of transfer students the college could expect in the future.

Opponents of the new policy said that online classes are not in keeping with the tradition of a small college that values close interaction with professors.

One faculty member said that the acceptance of online transfer credits would create a chain of events that would make online Skidmore classes more acceptable in the future, which would ultimately diminish the college educational experience. Despite criticisms, the measure passed.

The faculty will not meet for another general meeting until Feb. 4 in the spring semester.

Saisselin renovations to increase group work

Posted by Julia Leef

The Saisselin Art Building is currently undergoing renovations that will increase and reallocate classrooms.

"The faculty prioritized our needs, and having more space for classrooms is really, really important," Chairwoman of the Art Department Kate Leavitt said.

Art students will benefit from the additional classroom studio space, which will be built in the extra space above the downstairs studios. An extra seminar room will resolve schedule conflicts, allowing professors more flexibility when trying to reserve the room for classes.

"The extra seminar room would really help me out as far as my schedule goes," said Ariel Strobel, '14, a current art student in the Visual Concepts class, "that way I don't have to worry about it being full when I need to use it."

Renovations will move the jewelry and metals studio, which currently resides on the second floor, downstairs with sculpture and ceramics, while the communication design and electronic media studios will be moved upstairs.

"The move of all digital areas to one area will increase the efficiency of the computer areas. These will include a single server and tech support. Additionally, the digital areas can begin to collaborate and possibly avoid overlapping technical needs," Leavitt said.

Leavitt said the second floor would provide a clean environment for the computers, one without the dust and mess from studios like ceramics and sculpture.

Another phase of the renovations involves installing a new geo-thermal heating and ventilation system, like the one in the Arthur Zankel Music Center.

The Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) is an ideal replacement for the current system, as many materials in the art building require specific settings. Leavitt said that getting an HVAC was made possible by a matching grant between the college and the state.

Renovation plans began about seven years ago. The proposal has altered over the course of time and has been financed by the state grant.

Art professors hope the renovations will create additional office and studio space for the faculty members.

"Our faculty have no place to do their work. Studio space would provide a lot of opportunity to work with students and provide a much more collaborative environment," Leavitt said.  

New studios would allow professors to show students their own work process. "We are expected as faculty members to be active scholars, and students look to us as models after whom they can pattern their own form of intellectual engagement," Leavitt said.

The faculty said they are pleased with the changes being made, as they will benefit students and the department as a whole.

The renovations, which are being done in stages to accommodate classes, are expected to be completed no earlier than 2013.

Renovations will be accomplished through a series of temporary builds and moves, which will allow classes to continue as normally as possible.

Senate approves new Foundry Club

Posted by Kat Kullman

Charlie Engelman '11 and Jasper Goodrich '11 approached the Senate of the Student Government Association to charter the Foundry Club, a club dedicated to the casting of metal and non-metal materials.

The goal of the club is to teach students to cast metal and to expand the college's art scene and involvement in the larger art community.

Students at the college only cast once a year and need official club status to go forward.

The club would sponsor both on-campus and off-campus events, from visits to local casting venues to extra critiques from Skidmore professors out of class. During its trial period, the club has already attracted 30 regular members.

"We're trying to get people more interested in casting, but we also want to attract artists of different mediums. This would close the gaps between those in the art department. We need more dialogue in the art world, both here and off-campus," Goodrich said.

Goodrich and Engelman said they hope that this club will raise awareness about the casting process and bring a larger sense of community to the campus.

Goodrich and Engelman will hold a session in which students can cast with chocolate.

After a vote, the Senate unanimously approved the club's charter.

In other news:

The Senate unanimously approved a resolution to allocate funding from Falstaff's Operating Committee to Program Support. The money was transferred to Program Support, where it can benefit the entire school.

Admins assess ride policy: Students share opinions on safety concerns

Posted by Sarah Barry

Students have a wide array of opinions regarding the safety and effectiveness of the revised Free Ride Policy and the administration is in the process of assessing its effectiveness.

The Free Ride Policy with Saratoga Taxi became ineffective on Sept. 5, 2010 in favor of free rides back to campus courtesy of CDTA.

"The current plan is to assess the late night bus program in the spring semester and make a determination at that time. We will, once again, look for student input in the assessment," Dean of Student Affairs Rochelle Calhoun said.

From Sunday to Wednesday students can take a free cab back to campus as long as they are within the designated downtown areas, which Saratoga Taxi identifies as locations between Skidmore College and Crescent Street, East Ave and West Ave, the Wilton Mall, Skidmore College Boathouse and Skidmore College Stables.

From Thursday to Saturday night the CDTA bus system runs a night loop back to the college from 9 p.m. to 4:15 a.m. the next morning.

The college made the change to the bus system due to environmental and economical concerns.

"The free taxi ride program…was not supporting our efforts to be a more ‘green' campus. Additionally, the change to the late night bus saved the College approximately $20,000 annually," Calhoun said.

Despite the positive effects of the modified Free Ride Policy, many students still yearn for the old policy.

"I think that Skidmore is jeopardizing our safety to save money. Bus stops aren't always safe to wait at, especially late at night, and the route is pretty limited," Ellen Andiorio '12 said.

Other students have alternative concerns regarding student safety. "I think free cabs really cut down on student drinking and driving. I think that the school can be naïve about how prevalent drunk driving is," Kyle Perry '11 said.

Despite these concerns, some students say that it is important to have some form of free transportation, be it by taxis or the bus.

"I prefer the taxi system; I think it's easier only because there isn't a wait, but as long as there's some form of transportation I think it's fine," Lauren Parra '13 said.

The number of students using the late bus fluctuates, but oftentimes the buses transport large numbers of students back to campus.

"CDTA averages about 150 students a night, and some nights the buses carry as many as 350 students. The students are generally well behaved with no major incidents occurring between students and operators," Margo Janack from CDTA said.

Thus far neither the college nor the CTDA bus system has encountered any problems from the new late night rides. Students have utilized the system without abuse thus far.

"CDTA's decision to operate Route #473 Jefferson Street later at night in Saratoga has worked out very well so far. Skidmore students are taking advantage of the expanded service hours and are very appreciative of our service," Janack said.

The school is working to smooth out any issues with the new system and plans to gather student feedback and suggestions during the spring semester.

"I haven't had any formal feedback from students. When I check in informally, students seem to think that things are going fine. However, it will be an important part of our assessment next semester to get student feedback," Calhoun said.

Junior Ring planners emphasize safety: Campus Safety to officers enfornce increased security, no re-entry

Posted by Audrey Nelson & Bradley Morris

From Dec. 1 to Dec. 5 the Junior Class Council will host a Disney themed Junior Ring Week. The week's events will lead up to the main event, the semiformal dance, which will be held in the big gymnasium in the Sports Center on Saturday, Dec. 4.

"Our slogan for this year's Junior Ring is ‘Junior Ring 2010: Where the Magic Happens,'" Junior Class President Melvis Langyintuo said.

Events began on Dec. 1 with the Tree Lighting Ceremony, where several of the college's a capella groups performed.

Continuing with the Disney theme, the Swimming and Diving team's meet against Union College on Dec. 3 was dubbed Finding Nemo. The men's hockey match against Bowdoin, which also took place on Dec. 3 was called Ice Princes.

In response to the events that occurred at Moorebid Ball on Halloween, Director of Campus Safety Dennis Conway said that Campus Safety officers are collaborating on ways to make the semiformal a safer event. "We are going to increase the presence of security officers," Conway said.

The administration and Campus Safety have made efforts to relocate social events to locations that promote increased security. "We are not going to have anymore events in Case Center. Any event like Moorebid Ball will be moved to the Sports Center, as the layout [of Case Center] makes it harder for security," Conway said.

Conway did not disclose the number of officers that would patrol the semiformal dance.

An ambulance will be stationed outside the Sports Center in case there is a need for immediate medical attention.

This year's semiformal will also instate several restrictions, including a no re-entry policy, to monitor student alcohol consumption.

Campus Safety officers will confiscate any packages, bags or bottles, and there will be a mandatory coat check on the main floor.

"We had a meeting with a group of people from my staff. We're going to have student workers and several of our officers at the event. EMS will be on-site for this event in case anyone gets exhausted," Conway said.

Drinks and snacks will be provided inside. There will also be a beer garden to serve those of age with a campus-event card and a proper state ID.

Hrbek premieres new writing

Posted by Julia Leef

At 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 17 in Davis Auditorium more than 140 students gathered to hear faculty member Greg Hrbek read an excerpt from his soon to be published collection of short stories, "Destroy All Monsters."

Hrbek has written many novels and short stories and has won several awards for his works, including the James Jones First Novel Award and the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction.

Earlier this year he received the U.S. Japan Creative Artists Fellowship and plans to spend several months next year working on a novel while living in Japan.

"Destroy All Monsters" is based on the 1965 Japanese monster movie, "Great Monster War," known in the U.S. as "Godzilla vs. Monster Zero."

The novel tells the stories of the real-life people involved in the making of the movie. The Japanese film was played in the background while he read from his book.

The story is written from the perspectives of six different characters: the director Ishiro Honda, Nick Adams, translator Miriam Schuman, an original character who survived the atomic bomb in Nagasaki, special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya and the mixed viewpoint of Monster Zero and the actor inside the costume, Haruo Nakajima.

The short story portrayed the thoughts and actions of these six people when the camera wasn't rolling. Hrbek took these figures, most of whom were real-life figures, and gave them fictional stories to tell.

Such stories ranged from the director's dinners with the famous Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, to Adams's awkward encounter with Marlon Brando in the men's restroom.

Hrbek described "Destroy All Monsters" as a humorous tale that combines fiction and reality to entertain its readers.

College IT works on consolidating resources

Posted by Julia Leef

The college is planning renovations to Scribner Library and Dana Science Center to create a more collaborative environment for students and faculty, and to facilitate studies and projects by combining technological and academic resources.

Plans are currently in the proposal stage.

The first set of planned renovations involves combining the four separate IT units in Bolton Hall, Harder Hall, the GIS Center and the Library into a single location in Scribner Library.

The renovations will facilitate more high-tech classrooms in Scribner Library, which will "better support the work of faculty and students and library staff," said Muriel Poston, acting vice-president for Academic Affairs.

"We anticipate having additional technology-enabled study and meeting spaces for use, capitalize on synergies between librarians and technologists as we explore emerging technology and information resources and allow the rest of the IT department to be closer to the IT Helpdesk, which has existed on the first floor of the Library for some time," Chief of Technology Justin Sipher said.

Sipher and Head Librarian Ruth Copans collaborated on the idea to combine the IT units and create more workspaces. "This is a partnership between administration and academic services," Poston said.

"The purpose behind this is multi-faceted, however it begins with the belief that together we can provide better service to the faculty and students of Skidmore College if our two organizations [the technology office and the library] are co-located," Sipher said.

Poston hopes the planning phase will be finished by the end of the semester.

The project proposal will be submitted through the Capital Project Planning Process, beginning with the President's Cabinet and Acting President Susan Kress who, together, will decide what within the project proposal will be carried out.

Sipher said that changes will most likely occur over several years in order to minimize disruption in Scribner Library during the academic year.

Renovations will also be made to Dana Science Center.

Poston said these renovations are aimed at enhancing science literature for students, strengthening the disciplinary and interdisciplinary structure to help science majors and analyzing the intersection of sciences, arts, humanities and social sciences at the college.

Poston said combining the equipment of various departments and creating an animal facility to house the rats and mice used in lab courses are examples of the ways in which these goals may be accomplished.

As of now there is no set plan for renovations to the building.

Poston attributed the premature plans to the Dana Science Center to the lack of knowledge about what changes are necessary to strengthen the science department.

Poston said students in the Life Sciences, Neuroscience, Human Physiology and Chemistry Departments all use similar equipment. These resources, however, are divided among the departments.

There are separate housing locations for rodents used in Neuroscience labs and those used in Biology labs.

Poston is working with Professor Mark Hofmann to combine these recourses.

The college has hired an outside consultant to determine what renovations need to be done to both buildings in order to promote the sharing of resources.

"We have great hopes that we'll be able to move from program planning to design, which is the next step," Poston said.

Students share opinions on alcohol: SGA holds open forum in response to recent alcohol related incidents

Posted by Kat Kullman

At 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday Nov. 16, 50 students, faculty and administrators gathered with the Student Government Association Senate to discuss the drinking culture on the college's campus.

Rochelle Calhoun, dean of Student Affairs, called the meeting in response to the recent incidents on campus involving excessive alcohol consumption. The administration, concerned for both students' safety and the college's public image, hopes changes can be made with regard to the attitude toward drinking on campus.

Beginning the discussion, Calhoun reinforced the idea that the college is a community and, as such, individuals need to take personal responsibility for themselves.

"The goal of this evening is to have an authentic conversation and to listen respectfully to each other," she said. "The administrators and faculty aren't here to judge. We want to hear you speak honestly."

In this vein, Calhoun asked the room to briefly break into small groups of faculty and students to discuss excessive drinking, safety issues and strategies for making alcohol consumption safer.

One of the primary concerns of the meeting's attendees was the mixed messages that previously came from the administration with regard to drinking. As one student said, people at the college get both the message to drink slowly, but also not to drink at all.

It creates a contradiction that ultimately makes alcohol use hard to control. "How can the administration teach us responsibility about alcohol if it's forbidden?" another student asked.

Many student comments raised the notion that because drinking is illegal for most under, and many upperclassmen, it becomes more enticing.

"I'm worried that because drinking has been driven underground, people stop worrying about the consequences because they're not in public," one student said. "If we were drinking in a public environment we would be more aware of our actions."

However, because the legal drinking age in the U.S. is still 21, administrators said there is little the college can do to create more lax regulations with regard to underage drinking.

Calhoun said no matter what the administration felt about the drinking age, they operate in the state of New York and therefore have to abide by state laws. Legally, the college cannot just become a more open drinking environment.

Many students at the event placed emphasis on dorm life as the biggest problem. Students said that there is a definite shift in the drinking culture upon moving to Scribner, Northwoods or off-campus.

One student said that it was obvious the issues were mostly coming from the dorms. "In the later years, you aren't pre-gaming, you're relaxing," she said. "But the dorm culture is one of drinking as fast as you can so you can get out."

It was also noted that the lack of fraternities and sororities sets the college apart in an adverse way. Not having a place to go means students do not drink for a purpose, and this causes students to drink more than they intended.

One student agreed about the problems with the underclassmen living situation and said that by making the dorms substance-free, the college instead guaranteed that they would not be.

"All the residence halls have people drinking even though they're ‘substance free,' but I think that making separate and truly ‘substance free' dorms would be really helpful," he said.

Some students said that such changes would cause non-drinkers to be targeted negatively. Instead, others said, the college should host school-sponsored parties specifically for non-drinkers.

"The problem is the culture on our campus, but also in America," one student said. "And I think the change starts with informed citizenship. We all need to create a support system here for each other so this sort of thing stops happening. It's about growing up. How do we make people look out for each other?"

Students offered solutions such as employing more peer advocates, creating more scheduled events and placing RAs in the position of allies, not enemies.

Calhoun said she listened carefully to all the suggestions and comments.

"Whether we choose it or not, we are representatives of this community. Whatever I do, as much as I may want it to be anonymous, it is about us at Skidmore. We need to always remember that," Calhoun said.

Vice-President Susan Kress fills in for President Glotzbach during sabbatical

Posted by Gabe Weintraub

As of Nov. 1, President Philip Glotzbach is on a six-month sabbatical. In his absence, Vice-President for Academic Affairs Susan Kress is serving as acting president.

Kress has been at the college since 1975, teaching English and eventually chairing the department. While still a member of the English department, she became vice-president for Academic Affairs five years ago.

Kress is originally from England – she still has a faint English accent – and received her education at the universities of Manchester and Cambridge. "I had all of my education in one country, and I had never met a liberal arts college before I came to Skidmore," she said. "Of course, I immediately fell in love with this particular method of education, which was very, very new to me. I found a home at Skidmore." Before Skidmore, Kress taught at Cornell, CUNY Queens College and SUNY Albany.

Glotzbach's sabbatical comes at approximately the halfway-point in the college's 10-year Strategic Plan for Engaged Liberal Learning, which he has overseen since becoming president in 2003. He has numerous goals for the sabbatical but, above all else, he says it will be an opportunity to evaluate the success of the Strategic Plan, and to consider its future. "The luxury of this sabbatical is just having time to concentrate," Glotzbach said. "We spent all of last year thinking about, ‘OK, what have we done so far in the Strategic Plan?'" Kress said, continuing, "What do we still have left to do? What do we really want to be focused on?"

The next question, she said, and the question that Glotzbach will be contemplating during his absence is, "What about the next strategic plan? Where do we want to be, not five years from now but 10 to 15 years from now? What comes next? What are our next aspirations? What are the next things we would like to do as an institution, as a community?"

The sabbatical will be Glotzbach's first since the fall of 1991, when he was a professor at Denison University. While there may be some travel involved, Glotzbach's time away will be mainly a stay-at-home sabbatical, in part because his wife, theater department professor Marie Glotzbach, while teaching a reduced course load, will not be on an official sabbatical. He will return at the start of May, in order to be able to preside over commencement for the class of 2011.

"I do have his telephone number," Kress said, "but I'm going to try not to bother him. We will try not to encroach upon his time away. We're trying to pretend he's on another planet. But if we do need to take that rocket ship we can. It's a short rocket trip."

In the meantime, Kress,as vice-president for Academic Affairs, inherits the duties of the president. The order of succession is dictated by the college's bylaws, which stipulates that the VPAA serves as the acting-president in the president's absence. While she does have presidential discretion, her responsibility is primarily to maintain agenda items already set in motion.

"What we normally do," she explained, "is over the course of the spring and the summer, we set in motion our plans for the following academic year. So those plans are in motion and really it will be my job to be sure that we continue our program on the action agenda items that we said we would be working on. I don't expect there will be major new initiatives that come up in [Glotzbach's] absence."

Among the capital initiatives this year are the new Scribner Village and changes to the college's IT facilities. Kress has just released this years action agenda, which is available on the website of the Office of the President.

"I hope we'll make some progress on various other initiatives in Academic Affairs and so on," she elaborated. "So I think what I'd like is that when he comes back he'll some of the things he knows are on the agenda moving forward. And not too many big surprises; I'm trying not to move the furniture in his office."

One of her goals for her time as acting-president is to make herself readily available to students. She plans to have an office hour every Wednesday, starting Dec. 1, when she will be available from 4-5 p.m., in her office on the fourth floor of Palamountain Hall.

"As vice-president for Academic Affairs, I routinely met with the SGA vice-president for Academic Affairs," Kress said, "and in this position I will routinely meet with the SGA president, so that's a way for me definitely to keep in touch with what's on the minds of students with respect to SGA. SGA of course doesn't cover everything that people are interested in or want to talk about so I did want to keep some time for those other things."

While no longer a teacher, at least not in the classroom, she hopes the office hour can be educational, for herself and her visitors, and hopefully just as valuable as time in the classroom.

"This is a learning community, so the learning goes on inside the classroom, but you don't just close the door when you come out," Kress said. "There's learning going on all the time. Whether you're having coffee with friends or competing on the athletics field, you learn a terrific amount from being in a community and working with other people…

"For me, it's all part of a learning experience, that when you leave here in four years you say ‘I learned these things, not just because of my major but because I met people, because I made friendships that taught me something about how different people live and the different places they come from and their different perspectives. ' And who's to give what value to what?"

Khan, Exum discuss American role in Mideast

Posted by Julia Leef

?Approximately 60 students gathered at 8 p.m. Nov. 9 in Davis Auditorium to hear two guests, Amil Khan and Adrew Exum, speak about the current wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan and how America's involvement has affected those countries.

Andrew Exum is the author of "This Man's Army: A Soldier's Story from the Frontlines of the War on Terror" and is a fellow with the Center for a New American Security. He served in the U.S. Army from 2000 to 2004 on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and as an advisor to the CENTCOM Assessment Team. Exum is also the founder of the counter-insurgency blog "Abu Muqawama."

Amil Khan, who works in Pakistan for Radical Middle Way and writes about terrorism and extremism as Londonstani on the Abu Muqawama blog, has also written a book about the development of extremism titled "The Long Struggle," which will be published later in the year.

Exum began the discussion by explaining his take on the U.S. policy toward Afghanistan, focusing on the new policy established by the Obama administration in March 2009.

Exum said the announcement of a withdrawal period in the future will make it more difficult for people to commit to a stance on the war and work out negotiations.

Khan continued with a brief discussion of predatory governments and the view of many Pakistanis that extremist attacks were not an issue prior to American involvement. Khan added that this is not historically true and pressed the need for America to be more careful about delegating aid money. "In these times of constraint what we need to look at is not how much we spend, but how we spend it," he said.

One student questioned the possibility of flipping the less extreme fighters as a strategy, which Exum said would theoretically be ideal. However, as the presence of American troops has now become temporary, it would be difficult for America to establish the kind of control needed to initiate that switch.

Another student asked about a future in which American troops would finally withdraw and what would happen to these countries. Problems would either continue or become worse, with the positive result being that Pakistan may realize it "needs to sort this out for itself, for its future," Khan said.

Finally, another student asked what Americans have learned from Afghanistan and how it might be applied in future wars. Although Exum said we have learned how things work on an operational level, he added that we need to learn more on the political level concerning the reactions of Americans to events and how exactly citizens should respond to them.

Khan and Exum referenced their knowledge and experiences when answering questions and informed students and community members about a topic of worldwide concern.

Faculty discusses transfer credits, student goals

Posted by Alex Brehm

Skidmore faculty and administrators convened for the third faculty meeting of the fall semester Nov. 5. Acting President Susan Kress, vice president of student affairs, officiated the meeting. President Philip Glotzbach is on sabbatical.

The college announced plans to expand acceptance of transfer credit for first-year students. Under current policy, first-years may enroll with up to 16 transfer credits, either earned with college Advanced Placement credit, International Baccalaureate classes or classes taken at another college. However, administrators announced plans to raise that number in the future.

Additionally, the college plans to begin accepting credit from online classes taken with accredited institutions. As more schools, particularly large universities, use video and other internet resources to teach classes, the college expects to find more transfer students requesting such classes count for credit in their application.

In another vote, faculty continued clearing the list of interdepartmental majors. By affirmation, the faculty voted to remove the Biology-Philosophy major from the catalogue. Meanwhile, Anthropology-Sociology was flagged for a similar vote next month. The college believes interdepartmental majors generally lack the structure of more conventional majors and instead provide the equivalent of two minors.

The faculty heard a report on information gained from the National Survey of Student Engagement, which has the stated purpose of evaluating students' activities and estimating their gains while in college.

The survey asks incoming first-year students if they intend to pursue an extracurricular research project while in school, if they intend to perform community service and other similar topics. The survey asks graduating classes whether or not those expectations were fulfilled.

Overall, incoming students over the years have reported increasing expectations to pursue research, community service and other projects. Graduating classes report an increase in carrying out such projects. However, for most categories there is a gap showing that generally not all students who enter school expecting to take on such projects end up achieving those goals while in school.

A report was also given on the results of the "Creative Thought, Bold Promise" fundraising campaign. The goal of the campaign was to raise $200 million from June 21, 2004 to May 31, 2010. Exceeding the goal, the college raised $216.5 million.

Such donations included more than $100 million from trustees, nearly $100 million from alumni and the more than $40 million donation to building the Arthur Zankel music center.

Additionally, faculty gave $4.2 million to the school, with 76 percent of faculty providing donations.

Other institutions similar to Skidmore often achieve faculty donation rates of about 30 percent.

A spokesman from the Office of Advancement commented that such a high giving rate speaks to the community fostered on the campus. The faculty thanked the Office of Advancement for a successful campaign with a standing ovation.

Senate considers IT issues

Posted by Kat Kullman

Tuesday, Nov. 9, the Senate of the Student Government Association met with Justin Sipher, the Chief Technology Officer of Information Technology, to discuss the most common technological problems students experience on campus.

Sipher spoke primarily about the issues with the new wireless Internet in the residence halls. After renewing their contract with Time Warner Cable last year, the college decided to create a wireless system for the residence halls.

While the college planned to have the wireless Internet ready by the end of August, students are still experiencing problems with the new Internet system.

"Many people enabled personal wireless ports, which was fine when our wireless wasn't working. But now they may be interfering with our wireless. We also know that our service isn't the strongest. Tower is so high, and some of the materials used to build Northwoods make it hard to get a signal," Sipher said.

"We did a test recently where everyone in Wiecking at 9 a.m. turned off their personal WiFi systems and as a consequence the school wireless improved dramatically," Sipher said. IT plans to do two more tests, one in Northwoods and one on the 10th floor of Jonsson Tower,

One of the Senators attributed the campus's frustration with the inconsistent wireless at the start of the year came to a lack of information and communication between IT and the students.

"We love advice on how best to reach students. But we want to always wait a bit until we're sure we're not telling people the wrong thing. What you haven't seen in results doesn't mean we're not doing anything. Most of the progress has been behind-the-scenes. We're asking you to bear with us," Sipher said.

Sipher also spoke to Senate about potentially installing a new e-mail web browser for the school.

Upon installment, IT would transfer students' old mail into the new system, however IT is uncertain how long it would take for the new mail to catch up with the old.

Sipher initially insinuated that the transfer would be done during the school year. "We thought doing something while you were away would be worse because you're farther from support," Sipher said.

The Senate disagreed, however, preferring for the switch to occur over a break when academics were not a concern.

Sipher noted the Senate's request and said that any student with a technology problem should go to the IT Help Desk on the first floor of the library.

Swedish professor lectures on role of class, age, religion in racism

Posted by Tegan O'Neill

About 60 students gathered Nov. 8 in Davis Auditorium to listen to Michael Hjerm deliver his lecture titled "Prejudice: A Decade of Research -- Knows, Don't Knows and Should Knows."

Hjerm is a professor of sociology at Umea University in Sweden. He presented research that he has gathered within the last decade that analyzes who is and is not prejudiced.

Hjerm created seven classifications to address who is prejudiced.

The first category he identified was education. Hjerm said that people with a higher level of education tend to be less prejudiced than people with a lower level of education.

Age was the second category he mentioned. Older people, he said, especially people above the age of 65, tend to be more prejudiced than younger people.

Whether this phenomenon can be attributed to the fact that older people were raised in a more prejudiced era, or whether people become more prejudiced as they age, remains unclear.

Hjerm also said he was concerned with socioeconomic position. He said that people in a higher socioeconomic class tend to be less prejudiced than those at a lower socioeconomic class.

People with friends from a variety of ethnic groups tend to be less prejudiced than those who only have friends in their own ethnic group, he said.

Hjerm admitted that this raises the question of whether or not people have friends in more ethnic groups because they are less prejudiced, or if they are less prejudiced because they have friends in more ethnic groups.

Hjerm's fifth category was based on significant others. He says that people who are surrounded by others who are prejudiced tend to be more prejudiced than those who are surrounded by people who are unprejudiced.

Attitudes and ideologies composed the sixth category. For example, he said, religious fundamentalists tend to be more prejudiced than those who lean liberally concerning religion.

Lastly, the seventh category was based on psychological predispositions. People who are naturally predisposed to be agreeable and open to new experiences tend to be less prejudiced than their more closed counterparts.

Hjerm then explained that prejudice toward immigrants occurs as a result of people applying the group threat theory, which proposes that prejudice between groups occurs when a majority group perceives a threat from a minority group. In areas where the minority population is relatively large, the majority group becomes fearful of a threat to its dominant social position.

Conflict between the two groups is heightened by competition for a finite amount of social resources such as jobs. As a result, prejudice is sparked between the two groups.

Hjerm said that the group threat theory holds true for the relationship between blacks and whites in the U.S. In areas where the African American population is high, white people tend to be more prejudiced.

The theory can also be applied to immigrant populations.

Hjerm noted that there are differences in prejudice between nations. "When it comes to explaining the differences in prejudices from country to country, we are just starting to understand," Hjerm said.

The strength of the economy offers one viable explanation. People in poorer areas tend to be more prejudiced due to an intense competition over scarce resources. It has been observed that in times of economic downturn the level of prejudice increases.