October 14th is designated as Columbus Day, a federal holiday celebrating the life, accomplishments, and legacy of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. Despite the growing national movement towards greater recognition of Indigenous heritage, however, Skidmore College, unfortunately, has remained silent.

As students at Skidmore College, we often find ourselves immersed in the academic bubble. Between classes, clubs, and campus events, it can be easy to lose sight of the community that surrounds us. But when I was assigned to volunteer at the Saratoga County Animal Shelter, I knew this would be doing more than checking off a box for my grade.

“Are We All Fundamentalists?” is a conference being held at the Tang from September 27 to 29 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Salmagundi magazine. Those in attendance includes Wesley Yang. Mr. Yang is a writer, columnist, and editor currently working for Tablet Magazine and Esquire. He is also an extreme, vicious, obsessive, and myopic anti-transgender extremist.

Dear Skidmore community,

My name is Josh Maxwell, and I have the honor of serving as the president of Skidmore’s Student Government Association (SGA) this year. I am entering my junior year at Skidmore, as well as my third year serving in the SGA. 

Horse racing writ large is an abusive practice. Jockeys whip horses repeatedly in an environment where a single fall could mean the death of the horse. Onlookers watch, bet, and cheer as money changes hands. Families attend a spectacle of what seems to be an innocent sport that unites people and animals. In truth, horse racing is steeped in abuse, medical neglect, and debt. Can it really be a sport if it rests upon a structure of exploitation?

TREAT was founded with the aim of creating corridors between remnants of rainforest. The Wet Tropics, in which TREAT operates, is a diverse ecosystem that is home to many endemic species that only occur within the bioregion. When these forests are fragmented by agriculture and development, organisms are unable to move safely between patches. Some animals cannot leave their habitat at all, while others can but are threatened by cars, people, dogs, and cats when traveling between forests. When these organisms are restricted to smaller and smaller tracts of forest, they become more susceptible to disturbances that occur within the area, and the habitat they can escape into decreases as well.

When a major event occurs, whether it be an international conflict or an urgent national crisis, it is reported immediately across the United States. If you are a college student who has access to a smartphone or a computer, you know almost immediately. You may receive a notification on your phone, or the person next to you did and repeated the headline. , whatever way you receive the news, it’s clear that college students can access the news faster and more efficiently than ever.

Ridley Scott’s Napoleon (2023) shows occasional glimpses of potential but falls under its own weight, failing to tell a compelling story about one of the most compelling men in world history, ultimately winding up nothing more than a cinematic farce.

Skidmore, the professors I’ve had here (especially Professor Krefting and Professor Owens), and Black women, this is my love letter to you. Ultimately, through these actions, I hope I can be remembered—that I, Raven Jade Villa, was here.

The United States has long had a paradoxical interest in freedom. While touting herself as the land of the free and home of the brave, she maintains massive mills of oppression, at home and abroad.