Fall semester update from President Conner
Dear Skidmore Community,
So far, so good! I applaud the ongoing commitment to following all health and safety
protocols and the actions you are taking to protect one another. They continue to
keep us on a path to success, now into this third week of the fall semester. With
results from over 6,400 tests returned to date, the College has still seen no new positive COVID-19 cases since the very first week
of testing in mid-August.
Amid new daily reports of colleges across the country switching to all-remote learning
to control outbreaks, we should count ourselves fortunate and continue to set an example.
Please remain vigilant and remember what’s at stake — the consequences of missteps
could easily turn into the loss of the rest of an in-person semester for most of our
students and significant challenges for our campus and surrounding community.
A resource that will help us stay on track, the CoVerified app, is now live and is
mandatory for all students studying on campus. CoVerified assists with monitoring
symptoms of COVID-19, scheduling appointments for testing and accessing test results.
All students are required to submit a symptom check every 24 hours via the app. Failure
to meet these requirements could result in restriction from campus.
Staff and faculty meetings
On Sept. 4, I hosted the first of what will become monthly campuswide staff meetings,
which will be held the same day as the monthly faculty meeting. It was great to see
over 200 staff members in attendance at the virtual gathering, during which I and other College administrators provided updates on COVID-19 efforts,
fall instruction, the first-year class, the Racial Justice Initiative, diversity and
inclusion at Skidmore and the planning process for the spring semester. Staff participating
in the Zoom session also broke out into smaller groups to consider three questions
— what they hope to take away from the monthly meetings, what they value about Skidmore
and what concerns they would like to see addressed — and their responses will help
guide discussions and objectives for future staff meetings.
Later in the day, the first faculty meeting of the fall semester was also held virtually.
Several good questions were raised about the Racial Justice Initiative — particularly about specific action items — and it was clear that there is keen
interest in what we can achieve together through the initiative. I encourage all of
you to continue thinking about ideas you can offer and how you can get involved or
lend a hand in any of the steps I outlined. The initiative is a collaborative effort,
and you are all invited to play a part.
These community discussions are so important as we work together for the success and
betterment of Skidmore, and I very much appreciate the level of involvement, critical
thinking, creativity and dedication I have seen so far. Keep the ideas and questions
coming, and let’s keep this positive momentum going.
Sincerely,
Marc C. Conner
President