Fall semester planning update

Dear Members of the Skidmore Community,

Due to the remarkable efforts and contributions of our entire campus community, Skidmore has weathered the significant initial challenges posed by COVID-19 — Phase I of our planning — and has entered the next critical phase of planning for the College’s future.

In the second phase — Phase II — the most immediate priority is our plan for reopening in the fall. As we work to arrive at a decision in early July, it will be crucial to continue ongoing and enhanced communication with the campus community, the Board of Trustees, and our students and their families. More information about ongoing considerations and potential scenarios will be shared with the Skidmore community later this week.

During this process, it is imperative that President-Elect Marc Conner accelerate his transition to take a more pronounced leadership role ahead of his official July 1 start date, while I move into more of an advisory capacity. President-Elect Conner has been involved in COVID-19 discussions and deliberations up to this point and, in a recent meeting with the Academic Planning Working Group, emphasized that all decisions for the fall must be based on the overall health and safety of our campus communities, the importance of delivering the full residential, in-person Skidmore education to as many of our students as we can, and careful consideration of the financial implications of all scenarios.

Now that the College has entered Phase II of planning, it is also time for the COVID-19 Working Group to become dormant and be replaced by more specifically focused divisional administrative action teams that will tackle the essential tasks required for reopening in the fall. Should COVID-19 conditions change markedly, requiring another rapid institutional response, the COVID-19 Working Group could be re-activated quickly. For now, I would like to express my enormous gratitude to the members of this group for providing essential leadership in a period of crisis.

In this time of transition — to a new president and to the next phase of the College’s pandemic response — there remain many crucial decisions to be made and many more challenges to overcome. Based on the commitment and resilience we have seen from this community, I believe Skidmore will continue to pull together and move forward, and I am confident that Skidmore is in good hands. Beginning next week, these weekly updates will come from President-Elect Conner.

Sincerely yours,
Philip A. Glotzbach
President