Student
Government Association
Students may participate in the governance of the college through
active involvement in the Student Government Association. This
organization, which includes all members of the student body,
is dedicated to the principles of democratic self-government
and responsible citizenship. SGA operates under authority granted
by the college's board of trustees.
The SGA Senate is made up of students elected from the residential
units and the student body at large. It is the major legislative
body for the students. The Interhall Board, also elected from
the residences, reviews college policies relevant to campus
services and student life issues, and deals with functions of
residence hall governance and cocurricular programming. The
All College Council, made up of students, faculty, and administrators,
and chaired by the president of Skidmore College, studies and
acts upon recommen-dations for policy reform that affect campus
life and the college community at large. Academic Council is
comprised of two student representatives from every academic
department who serve as liaisons between the majors/minors and
the faculty of the various departments; the council initiates
proposals and reviews policies related to academic life.
In addition to these major bodies, students serve as representatives
to faculty committees, administrative committees, and college
task forces. There are also all-student SGA committees concerned
with traditional events, student elections, SGA budget, and
public relations.
Disciplinary concerns are handled through the college tripartite
judicial committees: the Integrity Board and the Board of Appeal.
The Student Handbook outlines student and campus services, college
policies, and the Skidmore Honor Code.
In addition, SGA sponsors more than eighty-five student clubs
and organizations representing a broad and diverse range of
interests.
Falstaff's, the Skidmore social pavilion on campus, is managed
and funded by the SGA. This facility, separately incorporated
as a not-for-profit organization, is directed by a board of
students, faculty, and staff. Events such as Lively Lucy's Coffeehouse,
DJ nights, band jamborees, hall dinners, special luncheons,
receptions, and leadership retreats are frequently held at Falstaff's.
Student
Organizations
Many special or regularly scheduled events are conducted by
organizations sponsored through SGA. The Student Entertainment
Company is responsible for concerts, parties, and other all-college
social activities. Swing Fever provides ballroom-dance instruction,
while Pure Energy offers dancing to techno as an alternative.
The Student Speakers Bureau brings to campus stimulating lecturers,
columnists, entertainers, artists, and authors. The four classes
that comprise Interclass Council organize four major weekends
throughout the year: Oktoberfest, Ring Weekend, Winter Carnival,
and Spring Fling.
In addition, many special-interest groups representative of
such areas as multicultural diversity, health and wellness,
the environment, voluntary community service, and the visual
and performing arts contribute to a rich variety of programs
and to the college experience.
Many academic departments are affiliated with a student academic
club, which sponsors a variety of activities relevant to the
academic discipline. In addition, SGA supports a number of athletic
and recreation clubs such as the Outing Club, as well as mountain
biking, Kung Fu, sailing, alpine and nordic skiing, women's
and men's ice hockey, ultimate Frisbee, dressage, and polo clubs.
Media
Opportunities
Student media opportunities include the student newspaper, the
Skidmore News; the college's FM radio station, WSPN; and closed-circuit
TV station, TV-3. The yearbook, Eromdiks, long regarded as the
seniors' chronicle of events, is published by students. Folio,
an arts and literary journal, and Politeia, a journal of opinion
in the social sciences and philosophy, are published annually.
Skoop on Skidmore, a guide for new students, is produced by
the Orientation Committee.
Performing
Opportunities Music
Skidmore's musical organizations accommodate a variety of musical
preferences. They are open by audition to all interested students,
regardless of major, and to faculty.
The Skidmore Chorus performs a large repertoire of works from
many centuries. The Vocal Chamber Ensemble, a small, select
subgroup of the chorus, performs a wide variety of a cappella
and accompanied music. The Skidmore Opera Workshop presents
scenes and complete works from classical through modern operatic
repertoire.
The Skidmore Orchestra, a seventy-member orchestra of Skidmore's
best instrumentalists supplemented by professional musicians,
performs major symphonic repertoire from the Baroque period
to the present. Skidmore chamber ensembles, composed of pianists,
brass, woodwind, and string players, are coached weekly by faculty.
Each group performs at the end of the semester.
The Skidmore Jazz Ensemble and several small jazz combos rehearse
weekly and perform regularly on and off campus. The Guitar Ensemble
and Flute Ensemble perform in midday and evening concerts. In
addition, string and wind chamber ensembles perform every semester.
The West African Drum Ensemble is devoted to the performance
of the traditional music of Ghana, focusing on hand-drumming
techniques. Students play on drums and bells imported from Africa
in a select ensemble of around eighteen members.
Four a cappella singing groups, the Sonneteers, the Accents,
the Bandersnatchers, and the Dynamics, are student-directed
SGA organizations specializing in barbershop, jazz, and popular
songs from the 1920s to the present. The Sonneteers and the
Accents are all-women groups, the Bandersnatchers is a men's
group, and the Dynamics is a coed group.
Theater
Members of the Skidmore campus community, including faculty,
theater majors, and interested non-theater majors, have numerous
opportunities to gain experience in design, production, and
acting. The Theater Department's production activity includes
fully mounted productions in the large thrust theater as well
as in the more flexible studio space of Bernhard Theater. Throughout
the year, many workshops are presented in the two rehearsal
studios. On occasion, the department hosts visiting professional
productions and various training workshops in areas that are
of interest to Skidmore students.
Student-directed SGA organizations include the Ad-Liberal Artists,
a group of eight to ten students who write, improvise, and perform
their own comedy material, and the Cabaret Troupe, which produces
musical-theater works.
Dance
Dance at Skidmore has a long and distinguished tradition. Offering
academic as well as technical study, it encompasses a variety
of interests including ballet, modern/contemporary dance, ethnic
dance, jazz, improvisation and choreography, history and repertory
of dance, dance production, independent study, seminars, and
special dance forms of both the Western and Eastern worlds (such
as pointe, character, dance for the child, music for dancers,
yoga, Bharata Natyam, and African). There is also an active
student dance club, Terpsichore.
The Dance Program invites visiting artists to offer workshops,
master classes, performances, and lectures throughout the year.
Collegiate
Athletics Mission
Statement
The mission of the Skidmore College intercollegiate athletic
program is to offer a competitive athletic experience as an
integral part of a liberal arts education. Maintaining equity
of treatment for all intercollegiate programs, Skidmore believes
that an intercollegiate athletic program is an important part
of a total educational program and subscribes to the National
Collegiate Athletic Association Division III philosophy and
the concept of student-athlete. Consequently, the athletic program
is grounded in an educational philosophy that emphasizes the
importance of physical activity as a medium for individual growth
and development, and the program seeks to create a challenging,
yet supportive competitive environment that cultivates intellectual,
personal, and athletic excellence. Consonant with the college's
commitment to the process of active learning, the intercollegiate
athletic program offers students the opportunity to participate
on a wide range of athletic teams recognizing that participation
promotes goals that are compatible with academic pursuits and
community life, including teamwork, health, fitness, camaraderie,
and competition.
Based on the principle that athletics can bring pride in success,
the intercollegiate program also provides a valuable community
experience by promoting school spirit and by unifying the campus.
The athletic program represents Skidmore across the state, region,
and country, enhancing the college's reputation and prestige
in the eyes of prospective students, alumni, and the community
in general. In the end, the goals of the intercollegiate athletic
program are to assist the student-athlete to meet challenge
with determination and inspiration, hard work and dedication,
to understand that it is the quality and consistency of effort
that defines the outcome, and to learn that the quality of communal
life is dependent in part on individual contributions.
Intercollegiate
Teams
Skidmore College is affiliated with the NCAA, ECAC, UCAA, and
NYSWCAA. Intercollegiate athletic teams compete against Northeast
area colleges in appropriately challenging schedules, and encounter
teams from across the country on regional tours. Skidmore is
a member of the UCAA, which provides conference play among the
eight member institutions.
Skidmore fields intercollegiate men's teams in baseball, basketball,
crew, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and diving,
and tennis; and women's teams in basketball, crew, field hockey,
lacrosse, riding, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis,
and volleyball. Consult Athletics Personnel for the names of
head coaches and the athletics staff.
In compliance with the Equity on Athletics Disclosure Act, Skidmore
College publishes an annual report that includes participation
rates, financial support, and other information on men's and
women's intercollegiate athletic programs. The report is available
upon request.
Intramurals,
Clubs, and Recreation
Like intercollegiate athletics, intramural and recreational
activities are an important part of the Skidmore experience.
Faculty, students, and administrators have joined in a cooperative
effort to provide a program that serves the needs of students
of all levels of skills and abilities. On campus and beyond,
recreational opportunities abound for the individual enthusiast
as well as for the student seeking group activities in intramural
or club sports.
Intramurals
A thriving intramural program provides a wide variety of coeducational
sports activities at a nonvarsity level. Among the current intramural
sports are flag football, golf, racquetball, running, and volleyball.
Clubs
Students who share similar enthusiasms also join together to
form activity clubs. Clubs in the recent past have focused on
aerobics, cycling, indoor soccer, polo, Kung Fu, ultimate Frisbee,
and women's ice hockey.
Informal
and Individual Activities
The Sports and Recreation Center is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
during the school year for students to pursue informal activities
such as running, swimming, weight training, racquetball, squash,
basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer, and aerobics.
Complementing the facilities especially designed for sportsÑthe
sports center, tennis courts, playing fields, the outdoor athletic
complex, and the Van Lennep Riding CenterÑare the natural recreation
grounds
of the campus itself. Set among woods and hills and open fields,
the campus is alive at all seasons with unstructured sports
activity, as hikers, runners, and cross-country skiers set their
courses along the trails that wind through the wooded campus.
Backpacking, rock climbing, and wilderness weekends are popular,
with the Outing Club organizing trips and providing camping
equipment.
The
Surrounding Area
The city of Saratoga Springs offers additional opportunities
for golf, bowling, racquet sports, and ice skating. Nearby areas
offer a wide range of recreational activity. Located in the
foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, Skidmore is only one
hour from major ski resorts, while Lake George and Saratoga
Lake are available for sailing and water sports. State parks
with trails for cross-country skiing, biking, and hiking are
readily accessible.
