In this weeks fascinating Student Announcements Digest there is a little letter from Chief Technology Officer Justin Sipher about the possibility of Skidmore outsourcing its email and calendar services. Finally there is a chance we will move away from this archaic and hideous OWA crap.

Good morning. The college is considering the possibility of outsourcing the institution¹s email and calendaring services beginning in the spring of 2010. As discussed at the March 18, 2009 IRC meeting, this will give us the opportunity to concentrate on more institutionally unique technology initiatives, as well as provide a necessary cost savings for the college. For the past few months, IT has been investigating solutions that will provide us a highly robust and reliable email and calendar environment. Now that we have narrowed our focus to several industry-leading products, we need your help. In order to properly evaluate these solutions we feel it is important to include community members in this process. We are looking for individuals who would be willing to try these new services and give us valuable end-user feedback over the next few months. If you are interested in participating in the evaluation process, please contact Bill Duffy (bduffy@skidmore.edu) by May 22, 2009.

Many thanks,
…Justin

Tonight is the Sanders in Bonnets Spring Jam. Join them at 10:15 in Filene as they make beautiful sounds with their mouths.

(fbook)

The Ad-libs will be celebrating the end of the semester tonight during their Bailout Show. Join them at 8pm in JKB for some laughs and the federally sponsored takeover of industry.

(fbook)

Join the International Student Union (ISU) in celebrating the last day of classes with outdoor grilling, a bazaar, henna tattoos, a movie viewing, games and more. Things are supposed to have cooled off after yesterday’s high of 89° so mosey on down to Haupt Pond and relax.

4-9pm @ Haupt Pond

Evan Pasha 09' carries a double decker chicken patty with two slices of cheese and dipping sauce

Looks like our little college made it on to the front page of Wednesday’s New York Times.  While the article is about the benefits of “going trayless”, something we did after Murray-Aikins’ recent $10 million dining hall renovation, most of the ink devoted to Skidmore is spent coveting our dining hall.

The renovated dining hall has three slate fireplaces and a half-dozen food stations, including a do-it-yourself griddle for eggs. Three of the chefs are graduates of the Culinary Institute of America, and all the pasta, granola and baked goods are made on site.

Apparently Skidmore was ahead of the curve on the whole trayless dining kick which is just now becoming popular. Joe Spina, executive director of the National Association of College and University Food Services, calls trayless dining “sort of the hot thing right now.”

According to the article the decision to abandon trays at Skidmore “was mainly about atmosphere” (seriously?), but the benefits are real. Going trayless uses less water, results in the wasting of less food and lowers the calorie intake of the diners—claims supported by Skidmore’s hoard of super skinny environmental science majors.

Read the whole article HERE

snazzy

Harry J. O’Hara, a counselor in the Senior Foreign Service who is a specialist in European Affairs with the U.S. Department of State, will give a public lecture tonight in the Pohndorff Room of Scribner Library. Tomorrow O’Hara will give the keynote address to the graduating seniors in international affairs.

The lecture entitled “The State of the (European) Union: Pause, Reset, or Muddle Through” if free and open to the public.

SARATOGA SPRINGS—Hundreds of Skidmore students congregated on the campus green this Saturday for the school’s annual “Fun Day.”  The so-called “fun” activities that the student body engaged in included smoking on marijuana cigarettes, chugging on alcohol beers, and exposing their naked bodies.

There were no consequences.

After hearing about this blatant disregard of indecent exposure laws, several Saratoga residents expressed outrage.

“This is a disgrace,” said Saratoga resident Martin Patterson.  “Nudity is illegal.  These kids think that they can do whatever they want and get away with it.  They have no idea how tough it’s going to be in the real world, where taking off all of your clothes can result in getting fired from your job or ejected from your son’s little league game.”

Other residents called for action from the Saratoga Police Department, which was warned about the potential nudity, but stood idly by.

“What a joke,” said Saratoga resident Shirley Stewart.  “It’s against the rules to be naked on Main Street but in the Skidmore green anything goes.  The next time one of my children gets in trouble for getting naked in his second grade classroom  I’m going to remind them of this double standard they set.”

“These laws are in place for a reason,” said Saratoga resident John Borstein.  “They’re to protect the children.  Not that there are any children on the Skidmore campus.  Actually, I heard there were some children operating the bouncy castle.  Why weren’t they being protected?”

Borstein added, “This is conclusive proof that one hundred per cent of the nudity in the Saratoga area comes from the Skidmore campus.”

Skidmore sophomore Andrew Cantor, who is news editor of the student newspaper, witnessed some of the “Fun Day” nudity.

He did not endorse it.

“For a school with such a rich academic history, it’s disappointing to see,” Cantor said.  “Nudity is something that happens, but it should be confined to certain places, such as the shower, or—holy shit, look at that girl’s boobies!”

In response to the scrutiny of the local community, the Skidmore News Editorial Board drafted and sent a response letter to the Saratogian disputing all of the slanderous press covering this year’s nothing but modest 4-20. The response letter was printed in the Sunday Saratogian, but in case you missed it check it out here:

This letter is in regard to articles published on April 21, 23 and 24:

In business, no news is often good news; in the newspaper business, good news usually means no news. But that doesn’t mean newspapers should sensationalize events. 420 is not exclusive to Skidmore College. It’s a national event, both on and off college campuses.

The blanket portrayal of Skidmore students as a group of stoners is distressing; we’re not. Assigning a reputation to a school based on the behavior of less than 5 percent of its student body is a misleading and damaging generalization.

Accusing Skidmore of being the source of the Saratoga drug trade is irresponsible and willfully ignorant of the true problem. To hear the Saratoga Partnership for Prevention blame Skidmore for high school and middle school drug use is absurd. Correlation does not equal causation.

Click to continue »

To be fair, this is supposedly what it looked like after Ani DiFranco cancelled a show at Sarah Lawrence once. (Image c/o Steve Maturen MNDaily)

Take heart, Saratogian readership: just look at the douchebaggery that Skidmore kids aren’t participating in. According to some website about farming equipment, Talib Kweli jetted from Saratoga Springs only to get hung up in Chicago and miss his post-Skidmore show at University of Minnesota. Quoth the man’s Twitter, “Sorry minneapolis! Still stuck at ohare tried my best…catch you on the rebound” The Gopher faithful were not amused.

Riot batons, chemical irritants, sound diversionary grenades, and non-lethal projectiles were among the scary-sounding equipment riot police used. So, y’know, maybe we can get some perspective here: locals, does one hundred odd kids smoking weed in an essentially confined area seem so bad now? Students, likewise with CamPo asking you to pour a beer out on Fun Day?

(Pictures and video via MNDaily here.)

This Thursday, April 30, is a day of excellence for Skidmore academia as students present on their yearlong “my professor is making me do this” project. It seems that all that work has finally paid off, and to celebrate this momentous occasion Skidmore will host the 11th annual Academic Festival sponsored by the Honors Forum.

This year there are 321 presenters and a full day of presentations, performances, surveys, and films to sum up about 170 days of work. The disciplines featured at the event will range from the top to the bottom of the master schedule, and will be located appropriately throughout every academic building/hall. According to Scope, there will be a showing of the pilot episode for “Lost on Purpose,” which I had first interpreted as a summary of LOST (I was wrong). There will also be a presentation on “transformation geometry,” an examination of math as it relates to music, art, and integral triangles.

Check Scope for more information; there’s a downloadable schedule so you don’t miss your friend’s presentation because you wanted a chicken patty.