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In April 1946 President Moore transmitted to the board [of trustees] ... the State Education Department’s strong recommendation that "all women’s colleges admit local boys into regular classes." Moore was informed by education department officials that Saratoga Springs had more than 200 male students qualified for college admission, and neighboring Glens Falls more than 400. A month later the state proposed that Skidmore establish an extension college in Glens Falls to offer courses to veterans and civilians, both "boys and girls," who were being "denied access to our over-crowded colleges." The extension would be established in the former Glens Falls Academy building on Chester Street, a plan supported by the leading citizens of Glens Falls. In addition, the college would admit Saratoga Springs men to classes on the Skidmore campus, at least for the duration of the education crisis. In October 1946 Moore quipped that "Skidmore, like Julius Caesar’s Gaul, can be divided into three parts: the college proper, the local G.I.s, and the Glens Falls Extension college." That semester, there were 46 Saratoga veterans living at home and attending classes on the Skidmore campus, as well as 116 students, including 16 civilian women and 16 civilian men, enrolled at the Glens Falls extension. ... By 1949, 187 students were enrolled in the Glens Falls division. In addition to handling their normal teaching load in Saratoga, regular Skidmore faculty, transported by a college car and driver, taught the Glens Falls courses, which were offered in the late afternoon and evening for the convenience of job-hunting veterans. Tuition was $400 a year. ... At first only five Glens Falls courses were offered, approximating a typical freshman program including a survey of English literature, American history and government, mathematics, economics, and sociology. Later in the first year both Spanish and the mathematics of business and finance were added, as well as a course in chemistry, complete with lab. In its second year Glens Falls offered government, psychology, public speaking, business English, advertising, first-year accounting, calculus, business management, and personnel management, reflecting the interests of most of the students. Although Dean Borst announced a plan in January 1947 to offer four full years of college in Glens Falls, this was not carried out, and Glens Falls students eventually traveled to Skidmore to complete their degrees. Excerpted from Make No Small Plans: A History of Skidmore College by Mary C. Lynn Creative Thought Matters. Skidmore College · 815 North Broadway · Saratoga Springs, NY · 12866
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