Skidmore College

On February 15, 2023, Skidmore College was subject to a ransomware attack on its computer network.[9][10] The criminal activity, which affected files on the college's Datastor server, was identified at 12:15pm on February 17.[11][12] On September 15 of that year, the college notified affiliates whose personal data, including social security numbers, had been accessed.[13] 121,000 individuals were affected.[14] A class-action lawsuit was initiated against the college on behalf of those whose information it had allegedly failed to safeguard.[15]

1. Charles Henry Keyes, 1912–1925
2. Henry T. Moore, 1925–1957
3. Val H. Wilson, 1957–1965
4. Joseph C. Palamountain Jr., 1965–1987
5. David H. Porter, 1987–1999
6. Jamienne S. Studley, 1999–2003
7. Philip A. Glotzbach, 2003–2020
8. Marc C. Conner, 2020–present

Skidmore is considered one of the Hidden Ivies according to Greenes' Guides to Educational Planning (2000).[24] Skidmore has been named as one of the "New Ivies" by Newsweek.[25] The college was ranked tied for the 39th best national liberal arts college in the 2023 edition of U.S. News & World Report.[26] The 2020 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education ranking of U.S. colleges and universities placed Skidmore at 93rd.[27] For its 2019 America's Top Colleges list, Forbes rated Skidmore 101st overall.[28]

The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery was opened in 2000, and was designed by the architect Antoine Predock. Predock's design includes two major gallery wings (the Wachenheim Gallery and the Malloy Wing), two smaller galleries (the State Farm Mezzanine and the Winter Gallery), digitally equipped classrooms, and several event spaces. The Tang is nationally known for both its architecture and its holdings, and its excellence has been recognized by The New York Times, Art in America, and Architectural Digest, among other publications. The Tang receives roughly 40,000 visitors annually.[33] The Tang recently hosted a retrospective of the work of Alma Thomas in partnership with the Studio Museum in Harlem.[34]

The Skidmore College Student Government Association (SGA) is the governing body of the roughly 130 student-run clubs and organizations on campus. In addition to being the official liaison between students and the administration, the Skidmore Student Government Association advocates for college policies that benefit the short - and long-term - interests of the student body. The primary functioning and operation of the SGA is done by the executive committee. The Student Senate is the largest and final body in most matters. The Class Councils are primarily responsible for planning events. There are other SGA Committees and many other individual students appointed to Faculty Committees, All-College Committees and adjudicatory bodies.[35]

Salmagundi is a quarterly journal that focuses on the humanities and social sciences. Founded by Robert Boyers, a long-time faculty member in the English department, it has been published at Skidmore since 1969 and now has an international subscriber base of several thousand readers.

Each issue generally includes poetry, fiction, interviews, and essays. Salmagundi's editors often devote large sections of an issue to a timely special subject. Recent theme issues include "The Culture of the Museum", "Nigerian Mathematics", "Homosexuality", "Art and Ethics", "The Culture Industry", "Kitsch", and "FemIcons."

Nadine Gordimer, J. M. Coetzee, Tzvetan Todorov, George Steiner, Orlando Patterson, Norman Manea, Christopher Hitchens, Seamus Heaney, Mary Gordon, Susan Sontag, Benjamin Barber, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Howard, Carolyn Forche, Martin Jay, and David Rieff are among the writers who have contributed to Salmagundi. Regular columnists include Benjamin Barber, Tzvetan Todorov, Martin Jay, Charles Molesworth, Marilynne Robinson, Carolyn Forché, and Mario Vargas Llosa.[36][37]

The Skidmore News is the college's official student-run newspaper. Its staff is composed entirely of students, and it is published on a weekly basis during the academic year. In 2002, the Associated Collegiate Press awarded the newspaper first place for a four-year college weekly for special coverage of the community reaction to the September 11 attacks.[38] In 2010, The Skidmore News stopped printing physical copies and moved entirely online.

The Skidmo' Daily is the college's satirical publication. It was founded in 2013 by Jack Rosen '16, and its editorial board and staff are made up of students.[39] Since July 2016 the paper has been posting content to its website,[40] which includes web-exclusive content not found in the print editions, as well as an archive of print editions.

The National College Comedy Festival is an annual not-for-profit festival of student sketch and improvisational comedy that takes place each winter on campus. The festival, which first was held in February 1990, includes professional workshops.[41][42]

Skidmore's Strategic Plan reflects the college's commitment to sustainability and includes a pledge to deepen connections with the local community, emphasize planning for sustainable operation, and reduce the college's environmental footprint. Three of Skidmore's buildings have geothermal heating and cooling systems, and the college has recently hired a sustainability coordinator to assist with efforts to "green" the campus.[43] Skidmore received a grade of "B+" on the Sustainable Endowment Institute's "College Sustainability Report Card 2011."[44]