815 North Broadway
Saratoga Springs,
New York, 12866
SKIDMORE PHONE
518-580-5000
Cocurricular Environment (continued)
COCURRICULAR
ACTIVITIES
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 Executive Committee, composed of the student president and five vice presidents, oversees SGA programs in the areas of cocurricular activities, residential life, academic affairs, communications, and financial affairs.
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. Academic Council is
composed 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, public relations, and diversity affairs.
Disciplinary concerns are handled through the college tripartite (students,
faculty, and staff) 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 100 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, swing and techo dances, hall dinners, special luncheons,
receptions, and leadership retreats are frequently held at Falstaff's.
Student
Organizations
Many special and 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. The Student Speakers Bureau brings to campus stimulating lecturers,
columnists, artists, and authors. A cappella groups, a variety of dance groups, improvisational comedy groups, and Cabaret Troupe perform regularly throughout the year. The four classes
that comprise Interclass Council organize four major weekends: Oktoberfest and Ring Weekend in the fall, and Winter Carnival
and Spring Fling during spring semester.
In addition, students are actively engaged in contemporary issues that have social relevance to their lives as emerging adults. Many special-interest groups representative of
such areas as multicultural diversity, sexuality, health and wellness,
the environment, religion, community service, and social/political activism, contribute to students' out-of-class activity and educational 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 martial arts, yoga, health and fitness, sailing, alpine and nordic skiing, snowboarding, women's
and men's ice hockey, Ultimate Frisbee, and polo club.
Media
Opportunities
Media opportunities include the student newspaper, the Skidmore News; the college's FM radio station, WSPN; and closed-circuit television station, TV-16.
The yearbook, Eromdiks, long regarded as the seniors' chronicle of events, and Folio, and arts and literary journal, are published annually by students. SGA also produces Skidmore Skoop, an online guide for new students.
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, Flute Ensemble, and 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 about fifteen 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 coed.
Theater
Members of the Skidmore campus community, including theater majors and interested non-theater majors, have numerous
opportunities to gain experience in acting, design, and production. The Theater Department's production activity includes
fully mounted productions in the large thrust theater and in the more flexible black-box 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.
Within the Capital District region, the department maintains strong relationships with the Adirondack Theatre Festival, Lake George Opera Company, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Shakespeare Company, Capital Repertory Theatre, and Williamstown Theater Festival. Many Skidmore students participate in summer and year-round programs with these companies, and other companies throughout the country.
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 are also five active
student dance clubs.
The Dance Program invites visiting artists to offer workshops,
master classes, performances, and lectures throughout the year.
Collegiate
Athletics Mission
Statement Sports and Recreation:
Skidmore College is committed to a balanced and proportionate approach
to sports and recreation, one in which intercollegiate competition,
intramural activities, physical activity, and fitness and recreation
programs are all valued within the context of a liberal arts education.
Athletics broadly construed has an integral place in the lives of our
students both during their time at Skidmore and after. As such, sports
and recreation promote goals compatible with academic pursuits and
community life, including teamwork, discipline, health, camaraderie,
challenge, and creativity. As an educational institution, we are
committed to offering a wide range of opportunities and resources to
members of the college community interested in health, fitness, and
physical activity.
Intercollegiate Competition:
Skidmore's intercollegiate athletic program reflects the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III
philosophy. Consequently, it emphasizes the
importance of physical activity as a medium for individual development
and 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 a
vital opportunity to participate on a wide range of athletic teams.
Based on the principle that athletics can bring pride in accomplishment,
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 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, Liberty League, 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 Liberty League, which provides conference play among the
ten member institutions.
The college 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.
Students, faculty, and staff have joined in a cooperative
effort to provide a program that serves the needs of students
of varied 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. Among the current intramural
sports are basketball, flag football, racquetball, indoor soccer, softball, tennis, volleyball, and water polo.
Clubs
Students who share similar enthusiasms also form activity clubs. Clubs in the recent past have focused on
alpine skiing, aerobics, weight training, hiking,
climbing, cycling, polo, Kung Fu, Ultimate Frisbee,
and women's ice hockey.
Informal
and Individual Activities
The Sports and Recreation Center is open during the school year for students and staff to pursue informal activities
such as running, swimming, weight training, racquetball, basketball, indoor soccer, and aerobics.
Complementing the facilities especially designed for sports—the
Sports and Recreation Center, tennis courts, playing fields, the outdoor athletic
complex, and the Van Lennep Riding Center—are the natural recreation
grounds of the campus itself. Set among woods, 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.
