Fall planning update from President Conner
Dear Skidmore Community,
I hope everyone is doing well and holding up during this challenging time. This afternoon,
I announced to our student-athletes that the Liberty League has decided to cancel
all league competition for the fall, due to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. I cannot
express how disappointing this news is. We had continued to plan for at least some version of an athletic season this
fall, under the most scrupulous health precautions. But the challenges were too much
to overcome for the fall. However, our teams can continue to meet, practice and train
together, and we hope this will at least offer some version of the student-athlete
experience that is such an important component of the college experience.
As we continue to plan to bring most of our students to campus this fall, we recognize
that this unprecedented and evolving situation will continue to present unexpected
challenges to which we will respond as needed, and our primary focus will always be
the health and safety of our students and our entire Skidmore community.
We are continuously monitoring the latest COVID-19 developments, and last week we
announced our plan to provide quarantine housing and support to all students who are
traveling to the College from any location that requires quarantine, including states
on New York’s travel advisory list. As we informed students and their families, quarantine
housing in a Saratoga Springs hotel will be offered beginning on Aug. 7, and students
who require quarantine are encouraged to arrive no later than Aug. 9 to complete the
14-day isolation period and be tested for COVID-19 in time to begin in-person classes
on Aug. 24. Students and families seeking answers to frequently asked questions about quarantine are invited to consult a list on Skidmore’s Fall Planning website.
This week we resumed campus visits for prospective students and their families. These
visits are carefully modified: all participants must undergo a screening prior to
arrival; groups are limited to no more than six; of course masks and social distancing
are required; no tours will enter any College buildings; and tour participants are
identified by special stickers. Additionally, Admissions offered the first of three
virtual open houses earlier today, and two more are scheduled for Friday, Aug. 7,
and Monday, Aug. 27. Participation, I am happy to report, is robust.
As I noted when we announced the plan for the fall semester, we asked our faculty
to determine their preferred mode of instruction this fall, based on their own health
situation as well as their sense of the best pedagogies and technologies for teaching
their courses. The faculty have dedicated many hours this summer to a wide range of
workshops and trainings to enable the most robust and effective teaching and learning
experiences possible for the fall.
At this point, we know that 60% of the fall courses will be taught in-person or a
mix of in-person and online, with 40% taught exclusively in an online mode. Most students
will have at least one course that will be taught online, and students who are not
able to come to campus will have a broad array of online courses to choose from. These
plans are comparable to what many of our peer schools will be offering and are consistent
with our guiding principles of safeguarding the health and safety of our community
and offering the richest educational experience we possibly can. I will say again
how much I appreciate the extensive work by our faculty to develop each of their classes
in a way that maintains the high quality of instruction and faculty-student interactions
at the core of the unique Skidmore education.
As we announced last week, staff furloughs end this week and regular work schedules will resume on Monday, July 27. I extend sincere thanks to all staff for their continuing work, remotely and in-person, that helped us navigate the past few months and prepare for the early start to the fall semester. This massive effort is truly a community-wide endeavor. I look forward to getting to know more of you and working with you to create the safest, most supportive environment for our students to receive the Skidmore education and experience you all make possible.
Sincerely,
Marc C. Conner
President