Financials and fuels
Skidmore’s board of trustees, in con- cert with the campuswide Institutional Policy and Planning Committee, has re- cruited members for a new task force to study whether the college should divest its fossil-fuel-related equities. The task force—including a board member as well as representatives from the student body, faculty, staff, and administration—began work this spring and is expected to offer recommendations by spring 2015. Presi- dent Philip Glotzbach’s charge to the group includes studying how similar col- leges have been handling this question and then analyzing the potential effects of divestment on Skidmore’s endowment. Managing the endowment—which
affects everything from annual operating budgets, to student-aid funds, to the col- lege’s bond rating—is a central fiduciary responsibility of the trustees. But Glotz -
OREOS WITH AN EDGE
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bach pointed to the “broad level of inter- est in this issue within our community” and “the spirit of shared governance” in announcing the task force, which he asked to “create opportunities for public dialog during its deliberations.”
Idea menu
Skidmore’s nightlife is a smorgasbord of sights, sounds, and ideas, from stage to gallery to podium. Here are just a few samples of recent guest lectures that spiced the offerings:
• “City Planning and Reurbanization: A Field Guide to Cool Neighborhoods” (environmental studies keynote address) by Chris Wilson, University of New Mexico
• “The Summer of 2013: White Heterosexist Performance and the Critical Consumer—or, What Was Miley Cyrus Thinking?” (Judy Tsou ’75 Music Scholars Series) by Deborah Wong, University of California-Riverside
• “The Antibiotic Apocalypse” by Kevin Outterson, Boston University and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Portraying a “multi-culti” trying to navigate the collisions
between her Nigerian heritage and her American lifestyle, writer and performer Obehi Janice presented Fufu & Oreos during Skidmore’s celebration of Black History Month in February. Another event was “Consuming the Other: Perceptions of Food and Race,” a campuswide discussion about food, justice, and culture—for example, the impact of having ethnic foods appropriated or popularized by new alternative food movements. —SR
• “The Unintended Consequences of International Finance” by Michael Casey, Wall Street Journal
• “A Year in the Life of Curiosity on Mars: New Discoveries from the Red Planet” (Strock Lecture) by Darby Dyar, Mt. Holyoke College
• “Bananaland: Blood, Bullets, and Poison” by Jason Glaser, La Isla Foundation
• “A Voice in the Wild: Citizen Action to Save the
Wolf...Again” by Rod Coronado, formerly with Earth First and Animal Liberation Front
• “Some Causes and Consequences of Soul and Afterlife Beliefs” (Charles Dowd Lecture) by Dan Ogilvie, Rutgers University
Glotzbach concluded, “Like many of the major challenges facing us today, this issue is both complex and far-reaching in its implications. It is, therefore, worthy of the kind of deep and serious considera- tion this approach reflects.”
SPRING 2014 SCOPE 7
BECCA A. LEWIS
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