First came an uneventful meeting between college administrators and Saratoga big wigs and now a disparaging email from the Glotz himself. Thursday’s meeting ended up being predictably harmless with Campus Safety not citing any students because “despite their best efforts, they were not able to get in a position to secure evidence.”
And while the mess from this year’s little smoke session by the pond seems to have dissipated the College and Saratoga County DA Jim Murphy discussed changes for next year.
“We’re going to fully make sure that in 2010, it’s an entirely different experience,” Murphy said, adding that the message he hoped to impart to the community was that illegal drugs are not tolerated and that those found possessing or using them will face significant consequences.
Skidmore College Dean of Student Affairs Rochelle Calhoun said the college would be “going in with a greater awareness next year.” While she didn’t offer concrete details of a plan for April 20, 2010, she said the meeting was productive. The discussion touched on what did and didn’t work in the college’s response to the event, Calhoun said.
After a (hopefully) final article in The Saratogian an email from the President’s Office showed up in our mailboxes reminding us that while it may we live in a protective bubble we are not exempt from the laws of the land.
First and foremost, we need to underscore that the College does not tolerate behaviors that violate our policies and can threaten the health and safety of our community. That includes smoking marijuana. We also want to reiterate that residing on our campus does not exempt anyone from the laws that govern the larger community in which Skidmore itself exists. We have worked and will continue to work with local law enforcement agencies as appropriate – not only because we must, but because we believe it is the right thing to do.
The administration’s support for outside investigations into campus affairs has angered some students who feel that recent arrests are being blown out of proportion to gloss over the college’s recently marred public image and that these relatively minor disciplinary issues should be handled by the College.
The college has stated publically, and in the recent email that this summer there will be “a careful review of our alcohol and other drug policies.”
