Recent discussions

Dear members of the faculty, staff, and administration:

As many of you know, Marie and I were away from campus last week on College business. I know that a number of very important issues were raised related to shared governance and diversity at the Institutional Policy and Planning Community (IPPC) and the Faculty Meeting. I regret that we could not be present to listen and participate in those conversations.

I sent a statement to our community on September 24 that included details regarding my appointment of a CDO and my expectations for this position. Joshua C. Woodfork's initial work as Vice President of Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity is to listen to a broad range of community members, to hear their concerns and ideas. From these critical listening moments, next steps will emerge.

For now, I respectfully ask that we look forward. Despite the progress we have made together, many issues for our increasingly diverse community still remain unresolved. We need to work together to find new ways to address them. To begin moving toward realizing our shared goals, I ask that we all—both collectively and individually—begin by renewing our commitment to a few simple ideas: first, talking together with respect. We can disagree sharply but yet do so within a personal and rhetorical frame that acknowledges one other's value. 

Second, let us please actively affirm that we are operating from positions of goodwill and concern for the College. We can and should interrogate and test one another's ideas and positions; let us, however, also intentionally shape our discourse more as a discussion and less as a debate. There is an important role for debate in the academy, just as in our national political process, but debates by their nature are divisive. Dialog can bring a community together. 

Third, we need to find better ways to connect more deeply to one another, to work together in exploring ways to make Skidmore a better place for everyone. This project will require our full powers of imagination and goodwill. Yes, some of this work needs to be done in public spaces, at Faculty Meetings or Community Meetings. But to strengthen our community and move beyond the fragile moment at which we find ourselves, we also need to develop new positive, professional relationships among people who may not be talking at present—relationships that allow us to talk colleague-to-colleague, in one another’s offices or over coffee in Case Center. 

I have shared a few general ideas. But there is much more to be done, and the work is not easy. Indeed, as we are so painfully reminded on too regular a basis, society as a whole still struggles to overcome the range of challenges that fall under the heading of diversity. But I firmly believe that, as a liberal arts college that is dedicated to the educational ideals we all espouse, we have reasons for optimism. We can be wiser working together than any of us can be individually, provided that we do work together and not against one another in this important undertaking. Above all, we need to acknowledge that it is we who will determine the outcome.

Please note that we will be holding Community Meetings October 12 at 3 p.m. or October 13 at 11 a.m. both in the Payne Room of the Tang, as well as an Open Office Hour on October 13 from 1 to 2 p.m. in the President’s Office, Palamountain fourth floor. Details will be forthcoming for both.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Philip A. Glotzbach
President