Opinions
There is an art in dissecting a genocide.
It involves the composition of long lists of possible instigators, the identification of the breaking point, the acquiescence that one cannot determine the precise moment in time that produced the now-certain result. To perform an autopsy, the coroner must distance himself from the body; the victim’s human identity must remain untouched by the emotions of the examiner so that cause of death may be accurately reported. Dissection of a genocide requires the same separation.
In a novel celebrity scandal, Timothee Chalamet has found himself in opposition to major performing industries after making a sweeping assertion that “no one cares” about art forms like ballet and opera. The trouble with Chalamet’s barbs is that they are marked by the exclusivity of the environment he has grown accustomed to.
When racist behavior from leadership is normalized, students learn it’s compatible with power. This reshapes democratic engagement. One reason as to why this behavior has become so normalized is based on the Overton Window political theory.
For two months, FLEX has been the primary form of transportation for Skidmore College to Saratoga Springs. FLEX, a swipe-to-pay minibus that accepts Skidmore ID cards in lieu of payment, charges the standard bus fare of $1.50. Despite the CDTA’s optimism that FLEX would reduce waiting times and increase ridership, the implementation of the new system has resulted in several accessibility concerns and safety risks.
College students spend most of their time on campus listening and noting what professors have to say through one-sided lectures and presentations. These educational settings are helpful for information retention but , it would also be beneficial for professors to be more aware of burnout among undergraduate students.
Last week, the Skidmore SGA Senate voted on a proposal to create a Committee on Institutional Accessibility. The resolution needed a ⅚ majority to pass and failed in a 12-6-1 (yes-no-abstain) vote. The decision to vote against this legislative change should not be interpreted as a lack of commitment to accessibility. We all agree that the lack of accessibility is a serious issue that the college must address. We agree on the facts: Skidmore College has a great deal of work to do to become ADA-compliant, which is the minimum standard for accessibility.
On Tuesday, February 3rd, proposed resolutions were presented for the Student Government Association (SGA) to dissolve the Subcommittee on ADA and form a new Committee on Institutional Accessibility (CIA). Currently, accessibility initiatives within SGA are handled by the Subcommittee on ADA, overseen by the Committee on Institutional Diversity (CID). If this resolution was passed, it would have allowed the CIA to function independently, have a seat on the SGA Executive Committee, and give the Vice President for Institutional Accessibility greater access to Senate and the administration.
On September 9, 2025, Israel conducted an airstrike against a facility containing Hamas negotiators in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Qatar is designated as a major non-NATO ally of the United States and houses the Al-Udeid Air Base, a key U.S. military base. Nonetheless, Israel did not warn Qatar of this strike.
Something unusual is developing in New York City: a tense dynamic between Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo, the two leading candidates competing for mayoral office. And despite Donald Trump’s efforts to sway voters towards Cuomo, Mamdani has continued to eclipse Cuomo in nearly every poll, with Emerson College’s most recent findings placing Mamdani in the lead by 29 points.
On August 25th, multiple Israeli strikes hit Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. This resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people, 5 of whom were journalists who have worked with Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and more.
It’s 8:28 a.m. on course registration day. You’ve got your Student System page open, fingers ready, and the WiFi barely hanging on. It’s frustrating. We’ve all been there. But what if, instead of asking what’s wrong with Skidmore, we started asking what more could we be doing as students?
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently published an essay entitled “We Must Pace The Frontier,” arguing to slow the development of AI. Despite being primarily rooted in his ethical beliefs, he focuses primarily on the “operational security” of the systems, not the physical or ethical reality. He does not mention the environmental impacts of AI, nor does he discuss concerns about intellectual property and creativity. AI has many positive implications for the future of humanity, but it is destroying the planet we live on and diluting the cornerstones of human expression that are art and writing. Pacing the development of AI is necessary, but Amodei’s assertion that the first step in slowing down is to introduce “embedded evaluators”—auditors that work purely within companies to ensure they are compliant with subjective ethical rules and non-existent regulations—is biased and, if implemented, would be ineffective. Instead, the development of AI should be contingent on our ability to fix the many problems that come with it in real time. AI has too much potential for good for society to completely abandon it, but at its current rate of development, it is impossible to prevent the irreparable harm it can cause.