Cocurricular Environment

Student Services

Academic Advising

The Office of Academic Advising, in cooperation with the faculty and the student affairs staff, provides academic guidance to students, contributes to academic policy and curricular decisions, and coordinates a wide range of academic opportunities. The Office of Academic Advising assigns each entering and advanced-standing student to a member of the faculty who can advise the student about course scheduling, the College’s general academic requirements, and the student’s particular field of interest. Students may seek further advice on these and other issues from the office. Questions about leaves of absence, academic standing, choice of major, internship credit, academic integrity, honors and prizes, student opportunity funds, merit fellowships, and other academic opportunities and difficulties may be referred to this office. The Office of Academic Advising, in collaboration with the Office of Student Academic Services, also provides guidance to students seeking academic support resources and services and provides support to students who receive unsatisfactory work notices. The Office of Academic Advising publishes the annual New Student Advising and Registration Guide and Advising Handbook, Faculty Edition.

Student Academic Services

In support of Skidmore’s Goals for Student Learning and Development and commitment to academic excellence, Student Academic Services (SAS) supports the development of knowledge, intellectual skills and practice, personal and social values, and transformation in all Skidmore students. SAS promotes high academic achievement and guides students to take full advantage of the wide variety of opportunities available at Skidmore, in the Saratoga Springs community, and beyond. SAS serves all Skidmore students interested in strengthening their academic performance or skills by organizing peer tutoring, study groups, and drop-in tutoring and by offering professional one-on-one and small group academic support. SAS collaborates with other campus offices and faculty to support Skidmore students with specific responsibility to international students, English Language Learners (ELL), students of color, student-athletes, and students with disabilities.

Campus Life

The Office of Campus Life-composed of Religious and Spiritual Life, Leadership Activities, and Student Diversity Programs-promotes effective citizenship, social responsibility, and multicultural and interfaith understanding. Through advising, training, and a diverse array of cocurricular learning experiences, the Campus Life staff helps shape an environment in which students are eager and able to engage successfully in the life of the College.

Student Diversity Programs

The Office of Student Diversity Programs (OSDP) promotes cross-cultural understanding and positive relationships in support of student success
and an inclusive campus community. OSDP programs are grounded in an understanding of diversity that includes people of all races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, socioeconomic classes, religious and spiritual traditions, ages, and abilities. The office fosters student leadership and personal engagement by providing support, facilitating access to resources, and increasing campus awareness of diversity. OSDP is active in advocating for students, creating spaces for cultural celebrations, promoting leadership development, and providing opportunities for education and reflection. One of its primary services is advising diversity-related student clubs, including Asian Cultural Awareness, Chinese Culture Club, Hayat, Hip Hop Alliance, International Student Union, Raices, Skidmore Pride Alliance, Queer Lives in Color (QLIC), and Ujima. These organizations are concerned with diverse issues, offer the opportunity for social interaction and promote cultural and identity consciousness, while increasing cross-cultural dialogue here at Skidmore. In addition, the director of Student Diversity Programs collaborates with the director of religious and spiritual Life, the director of intercultural studies, and other members of the faculty in bridging in-classroom and out-of-classroom learning by developing cocurricular programs and activities that are integrated with the intercultural studies curriculum.

Leadership Activities

The Leadership Activities Office supports the efforts and activities of individual students, the Student Government Association and its approximately 120 registered student clubs, and the entire campus community in realizing a vibrant cocurricular and socially just student life. The office provides advising and training to students who serve in various leadership capacities and helps students plan and implement major cocurricular activities, entertainment, class events, and theme weekends. In addition, the office sponsors a number of skills-development programs for current and aspiring leaders. Special attention is given to the overall quality and diversity of the cocurricular life program and to the development of program initiatives that promote school spirit, healthy social interaction, and social responsibility.

Religious and Spiritual Life

Respectful of and responsive to those in the community who practice the religion of their choice, Skidmore provides, wherever possible, options that are inclusive in both tone and content. Skidmore welcomes student religious groups whose purposes are in harmony with the educational goals of the College and whose activities are open to the college community. The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life advises religious and spiritual clubs and provides worship and fellowship experiences for a range of traditions, including Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish, Protestant, and Roman Catholic programming. The office also helps those students not served by on campus offerings to find appropriate resources in the local area. Students, faculty, and staff are invited for interreligious dialogue through lectures, discussions, and activities designed to address the character of individuals and communities. Through retreats, projects in social justice, and partnerships with neighboring religious communities, the office helps students seeking engagement with issues of identity, mindfulness, and well-being. Class absences for religious observances are not counted in the number of allowed absences per course, and faculty members are responsible for offering students who miss class for religious obligations the opportunity to make up any missed coursework, exams, or other requirements.

Student Conduct

The Office of Student Conduct, promotes responsible community membership and positive relationships through the values of honesty, integrity, and consideration. We do this by addressing the harm of student misconduct, as well as the impact on the student and community.

Residential Life

The Office of Residential Life is here to help students navigate their college experience. By choosing to live on campus and attend a residential college, students are joining a tight-knit community.

The Office of Residential Life guides students as they navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by community living experiences. The office promotes student success by fostering communities that value equity, holistic development, inclusivity, and well-being.

The Office of Residential Life provides students with housing, assists in students’ transition to college life, handles student conduct, and promotes and provides residential programming and education. We are also always here to help and are more than happy to assist you in finding any office or resource on campus.

Residence Halls

Our eight traditional residence halls house primarily first-year and sophomore students in single, double, and triple rooms. Each residence hall offers floor lounges, kitchenette facilities, study rooms, laundry, exercise equipment, and vending services. Seven of our residence halls offer suite-style living where four to eight residents share a common bathroom. One residence hall is corridor style where each wing of a floor shares a bathroom. All students living in the residence halls are required to be on the unlimited meal plan. Regardless of age, all residence halls are drug- and alcohol-free facilities. Students can choose, and are encouraged, to live on special-interest housing floors:

• Substance-Free Community;
• PRISM Community;
• Multicultural Community;
• Global Community;
• Women’s Floor;
• Gender Inclusive; or
• Quiet Floor.

Our residence halls are supervised by area coordinators (ACs), full-time administrators. Each floor in our residence halls has a resident assistant (RA), an upper-class student.

Apartments

Our two apartment villages offer housing to primarily upper-class students in three, four, and five person apartments. Each fully furnished apartment has an appropriately equipped kitchen, common space, and shared bathroom facilities. Students living in the apartments are not required to be on a meal plan, but they may choose from various meal plan options.

Our apartment villages are supervised by an AC. Each neighborhood in our villages has a community assistant (CA), who is an upper-class student with past RA experience.

Off-Campus Living

Skidmore has a commitment to supporting the educational philosophy embedded in the importance of living in on-campus housing and therefore guarantees on-campus housing to all full-time students. Recognizing that some may want to experience off-campus living, Skidmore College permits junior- and senior-standing students to forfeit their housing guarantee and choose to live off campus through the annual housing selection process.

With few exceptions, full-time first-year and sophomore students are not permitted to live off campus and are required to live in college-supervised housing. Exceptions to this policy may be made in the following situations:

• students living with a parent and/or guardian and commuting daily
• students who turn 21 years old before the start of the academic year
• married students
• students with children
• students with approved medical/physiological-based accommodations to live off campus

All part-time students may be permitted to live off campus.

Health Services

The Health Services staff includes physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and other clinical and administrative personnel experienced in working with college students. Health Services provides a range of services including, but not limited to:

• treatment of general medical problems and injuries
• immunizations
• birth-control counseling
• gynecologic examinations

Health Services maintains a limited on-site laboratory to assist with many common health care needs. Specialized blood tests, gynecological specimens, and STI/STD tests are sent to an outside laboratory. Referrals to specialists, both in the local community and in neighboring cities, can be arranged as need arises. Health Services also provides educational opportunities that focus on health maintenance, increasing health awareness, and illness prevention.

There are no charges for visits to Health Services; however, students (or their health insurers) are responsible for any bills relating to emergency room or urgent care visits, outside laboratory and X-ray tests, visits to specialists, immunizations, and prescription medications. All students are required to complete a health form and immunization record in order to register for classes. Proof of adequate U.S.-based medical insurance is mandatory, and a student health insurance policy is available through the College. All visits are confidential; no information is shared without a student’s permission.

Counseling

The Counseling Center is committed to serving the developmental and psychological needs of the student body and acting as a resource for the broader Skidmore College community. The center provides a range of professional services, including short-term therapy, crisis intervention, consultation, group support, outreach, and education. We also offer assistance in connecting with community mental health providers for students seeking or requiring longer-term, more intensive, or specialized treatment services. The Counseling Center is staffed by mental health professionals from several disciplines and also serves as a training site for advanced graduate students in psychology. All services are confidential and free of charge.

Health Promotion

The Office of Health Promotion provides programming, services, support, and resources designed to empower students to make healthy lifestyle choices that support their short- and long-term health and well-being. Through the Office of Health Promotion, students have access to programming and services a wide range of health-related topics including sexuality, alcohol and other drugs, nutrition, stress management, relationships, eating disorders, and body image. Staff provides one-on-one consultations, group educational opportunities, community outreach events, and health-related academic courses. The office includes BASICS (Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students), Peer Health Education, and the Center for Sex and Gender Relations.

BASICS

BASICS is a nationally recognized, research-based assessment and education program that is available to all Skidmore students. The program involves a series of one-on-one meetings with a certified BASICS counselor and is designed to help students examine their drinking and/or drug-use behavior in a judgment-free environment. Utilizing motivational interviewing within a harm-reduction framework, the counselor works with the participant to set goals that are aimed at reducing risky behaviors and avoiding harmful consequences related to alcohol and other drug use.

Peer Health Education

Skidmore’s peer health educators are student leaders committed to promoting healthy choices and lifestyles by providing innovative, creative, educational programming, outreach, and one-on-one interaction opportunities. The peer health educators undergo extensive training through which they develop their leadership and communication skills and learn to serve as resources, referral agents, and role models for their peers. Peer health educators are housed in residential halls on the main campus in order to provide students with convenient access to a health educator in their living environment.

Center for Sex and Gender Relations

The Center for Sex and Gender Relations works with students, faculty, and staff to educate and support healthy and equitable relationships, both personal and professional, between and among women and men. Begun as a student-driven initiative, the center is operated and staffed by peer advocates who are trained to respond to issues of sexual health and sexual assault. The center also sponsors educational programs and cocurricular activities, and encourages student-faculty collaborative research projects and other academic endeavors related to the study of sex and gender. An advisory council composed of two head peer advocates, two student affairs advisors representing Health Promotion and Residential Life, and the associate dean establishes the mission and goals of the center and oversees its operation and programs.

Career Development Center

Skidmore’s Career Development Center is committed to supporting all students and alumni through the creative process of integrating their liberal arts education and experiences into a rewarding career. In keeping with the College’s founding principle of linking theoretical with applied learning, we facilitate the process of self-discovery, cultivate partnerships, and help students prepare for experiential learning opportunities including internships, collaborative research, and civic engagement. We encourage students to build skills and participate in engaged liberal learning practices early in their Skidmore career and provide ongoing support to both current students and alumni as they strive to create fulfilling careers.

Furthermore, we actively promote civic engagement and community service both locally and globally, through our Associate Director of Civic Engagement. They connect students to various volunteer programs, sponsor fundraising activities for local charities, and advise Benef-action, a student organization dedicated to community involvement. Additionally, we collaborate with faculty to provide comprehensive advising for students interested in pursuing paths in pre-health, pre-law, and graduate school.

For resources on internships, service, employment, networking, research opportunities and graduate school, visit our website at www.skidmore.edu/career/.

Cocurricular Activities

Student Government Association

Students participate in the governance of the College through the Student Government Association. This organization, which includes all members of the student body, is dedicated to the principles of democratic self-government and responsible citizenship. SGA operates under authority granted by the College’s Board of Trustees. The SGA Executive Committee, composed of the student government president, seven vice presidents, and the Interclass Council chair, oversees SGA programs in cocurricular affairs, student life, academic affairs, diversity, communications, and financial affairs.

The SGA Senate is made up of students elected from the student body at large, committees and Class Councils. It is the major legislative body for the students. Students can also seek participation in all-college committees dealing with various issues from course requirements, policymaking and review, as well as topics that affect the lives of students. Academic Council is composed of two student representatives from every academic department and program, who serve as liaisons between the majors/minors and the faculty; the council initiates proposals and reviews policies related to academic life.

In addition to these major bodies, students serve on faculty, administrative, and collegewide committees and task forces. There are also all-student SGA committees concerned with traditional events, student elections, SGA budget, sustainability issues, and diversity affairs.

Disciplinary concerns are handled through the college’s tripartite (students, faculty, and staff) judicial committees. The Student Handbook outlines student and campus services, college policies, and the Skidmore Honor Code.

In addition, SGA sponsors more than 100 student clubs and organizations representing a broad and diverse range of interests.

Student Organizations

Many special and regularly scheduled events are conducted by organizations sponsored through SGA. The Student Entertainment Company is responsible for concerts and other all-college social activities. The Student Speakers Bureau brings in lecturers, columnists, artists, and authors. A cappella, dance, comedy, and theater groups perform regularly throughout the year. The four classes that comprise Interclass Council organize four major weekends: Oktoberfest and Junior Ring Weekend in the fall, and Winter Carnival and Spring Fling during spring semester.

In addition, students are actively engaged in contemporary issues that have social relevance to their lives as emerging adults. Many special-interest groups representative of such areas as multicultural diversity, sexuality, health and wellness, the environment, religion, community service, and social/political activism, contribute to students’ out-of-class activity and educational experience.

Many academic departments are affiliated with student academic clubs that sponsor activities relevant to their academic discipline. In addition, SGA supports a number of athletic and recreation groups such as the Outing Club, martial arts, sailing, Quidditch, circus, ice hockey, and polo clubs.

Media Opportunities

Campus media outlets include

• the student newspaper, the Skidmore News;
• the college’s FM radio station, WSPN;
• the closed-circuit television station, SkidTV;
• the yearbook, Eromdiks, long regarded as the seniors’ chronicle of events; and
• literary arts journals.

Performing Opportunities

Music

Skidmore students can perform with ensembles directed by Music Department faculty as well as with student-directed SGA-sponsored musical organizations, accommodating a wide variety of musical preferences. They are open by audition to all interested students, regardless of major; some are open to faculty.

The Skidmore Community Chorus performs a large repertoire of works from many centuries. The Vocal Chamber Ensemble, a subgroup of the chorus, performs a wide variety of a cappella and accompanied music. The Skidmore Opera Workshop (offered when needed) presents scenes and complete works from classical through modern operatic repertoire.

The Skidmore Orchestra, a 70-member orchestra of Skidmore’s best instrumentalists supplemented by professional musicians, performs four concerts each year, presenting major symphonic repertoire from the Baroque period to the present. Skidmore chamber ensembles for strings, woodwinds, brass, and piano are coached weekly by faculty and perform at the end of the semester. The guitar and flute ensembles also perform every semester.

The Skidmore Jazz Ensemble plays a big-band repertoire. Several small jazz combos rehearse weekly under faculty direction and perform regularly on and off campus.

SGA-sponsored musical clubs include a gospel choir and a cappella singing groups that perform a variety of genres from classic pop to standards, from jazz and R&B to current hits. The Sonneteers and the Accents are all-women groups, the Bandersnatchers is a men’s group, and the Dynamics, Drastic Measures, and Treblemakers are coed. Skidmore also has two student-directed percussion groups:

• Pulse, which plays on found objects
• Skidaiko, which performs Japanese-style Taiko drumming

Many musicians participate in the musical theater productions of Cabaret Troupe, also directed by students.

Theater

Members of the Skidmore community, including nonmajors and interested non-theater majors, have numerous opportunities to gain experience in acting, design, and production. The Theater Department’s production activity includes fully mounted productions in the large thrust theater and in the more flexible black-box studio space of Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater. Throughout the year, many workshops are presented in the two rehearsal studios. On occasion, the department hosts visiting professional productions and various training workshops.

The department maintains strong relationships with the Adirondack Theatre Festival, Opera Saratoga, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Shakespeare Company, Capital Repertory Theatre, and Williamstown Theater Festival. Many Skidmore students participate in summer and year-round programs with these and other companies throughout the country.

SGA comedy groups include the Ad-Liberal Artists, Awkward Kids Talking, Skidomedy, and the Sketchies, who write, improvise, and perform their own comedy material.

Dance

Academic, technical, and club-level opportunities encompass ballet, modern/contemporary dance, ethnic dance, jazz, improvisation and choreography, history and repertory of dance, dance production, ballet pedagogy, music for dancers/choreographers, dance for the child, independent study, professional internships, dance capstone, and special dance forms of both the Western and Eastern worlds (such as pointe, character, yoga, and African). The Dance Department invites visiting artists to offer workshops, master classes, performances, and lectures throughout the year.

Student dance clubs include Terpsichore (modern ballet and jazz), Stompin’ Soles (tap), Breakbeats (hip-hop), Rithmos (hip-hop), Irish Dance, Ujima step, and Swing Set.

Collegiate Athletics

Mission Statement

The Skidmore College Department of Athletics, Fitness, and Recreation is committed to pursuing excellence both academically and athletically and subscribes to the NCAA Division III philosophy and the concept of the student-athlete. The department seeks to be a unifying force for the College’s diverse population by providing opportunities to maximize academic, athletic, and life-skill potential through core values such as teamwork, leadership, discipline, lifelong fitness, and service to others.

The department provides athletic programs that are comprehensive and varied, with opportunities for all students, faculty, and staff, including:

• A vigorous intercollegiate sports program that strives for excellence and is committed to sportsmanship and fair play.
• Physical activity courses that promote good health, physical fitness, and lifetime activities.
• An intramural program that encourages students of varied abilities and skills to participate in a wide range of recreational athletic activities.
• A fitness program that encourages participation, builds community, and promotes lifelong fitness through a variety of class offerings.
• Facilities that are maintained and available for Skidmore community members to take part in independent or group physical activities.

Intercollegiate Teams

Skidmore College is affiliated with the NCAA, ECAC, and Liberty League. The College fields intercollegiate men’s teams in baseball, basketball, crew, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and diving, and tennis; and women’s teams in basketball, crew, field hockey, lacrosse, riding, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, and volleyball. Consult athletics personnel on the faculty page for the names of head coaches and athletics staff.

In compliance with the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, Skidmore College publishes an annual report that includes participation rates, financial support, and other information on men’s and women’s intercollegiate athletic programs. The report is available online at www.skidmoreathletics.com/sports/2008/8/28/comp.aspx?tab=compliance.

Intramurals, Clubs, and Recreation

Like intercollegiate athletics, intramural and recreational activities are an important part of the Skidmore experience. Students, faculty, and staff have joined in a cooperative effort to provide a program that serves the needs of students of varied levels of skills and abilities. On campus and beyond, recreational opportunities abound for the individual enthusiast as well as for the student seeking group activities in intramural or club sports.

Intramurals

A thriving intramural program provides a wide variety of coeducational sports activities. Among the current intramural sports are basketball, dodgeball, touch football, racquetball, indoor soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball.

Clubs

Students who share similar enthusiasms also form activity clubs. Clubs include alpine and nordic skiing, Ultimate Frisbee, hiking, climbing, cycling, polo, karate, men’s and women’s ice hockey, basketball, and Quidditch.

Informal and Individual Activities

Williamson Sports Center is open during the school year for students and staff to pursue informal activities such as running, swimming, weight training, racquetball, basketball, indoor soccer, and aerobics.

Complementing the facilities especially designed for sports — Williamson Sports Center, tennis courts, playing fields, outdoor athletic complex and Van Lennep Riding Center — are the natural recreation grounds of the campus itself. Set among woods, hills, and open fields, the campus is alive in all seasons with unstructured sports activity, as hikers, runners, and cross-country skiers set their courses along the trails that wind through it. Backpacking, rock climbing, and wilderness weekends are popular, with the Outing Club organizing trips and providing camping equipment.

The Surrounding Area

The city of Saratoga Springs offers additional opportunities for golf, bowling, racquet sports, and ice skating. Nearby areas offer a wide range of recreational activities. Located in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, Skidmore is only one hour from major ski resorts, while Lake George and Saratoga Lake are available for sailing and water sports. State parks with trails for cross-country skiing, biking, and hiking are readily accessible.