Belong more. Create more. Skidmore.

Skidmore is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive community in which members develop their abilities to live in a complex and interconnected world.  In our inaugural social fundraising campaign last year, alumni, parents, friends, faculty, staff, and students joined together to surpass our $45,000 goal, collectively contributing nearly $80,000 to help advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work on the Skidmore campus.    

Let’s keep the momentum going!   

A generous Skidmore family has stepped forward to contribute $50,000 to match gifts, dollar for dollar, made between April 6-13, 2022 to support, the the Skidmore Fund, Skidmore’s Racial Justice Initiative, The Center, and the entire constellation of programs on campus that advance our DEI mission.  

Your gift sends a message that you care and that you want to join current students, faculty, and staff helping to make Skidmore a more welcoming and inclusive community for all people, a community centered on mutual respect and openness to ideas.   

Here's a little more about key programs and initiatives:

Opened in Fall, 2021, The Center is a dynamic space for students, staff, and faculty to engage in meaningful dialogue, planning, relationship building and activism.  It is a new home for the Skidmore community to engage in today’s most essential and challenging conversations.  Here’s a link to a recent panel discussion on the global implications of the war in Ukraine: https://www.skidmore.edu/news/...  

Racial Justice Initiative (RJI) – Announced by President Marc Conner on his first day in office, the Racial Justice Initiative is an ongoing series of projects that seek to address the realities of racial injustice locally, nationally and globally. The goal is to build upon the work that has been done in the past, to pursue new avenues and address today’s concerns, and to channel energy toward building a welcoming and inclusive community.  Check out the highlights of this program, sponsored by the RJI, featuring Israeli and Palestinian peace activists focusing on reconciliation through dialogue: https://www.skidmore.edu/news/...  

In It series – An annual suite of diversity and inclusion programming, curated by students, faculty and staff, designed to raise cultural fluency and strengthen the community. In It programming has included workshops, dialogues, film screenings and discussions, lectures, receptions, and training sessions.  In It 6 is happening April 4-8 – for a full schedule of events: 

Opportunity Program (OP) – OP provides educational opportunity and support to students who have strong potential and achievements but would be excluded from higher education due to academic and economic disadvantages. Hear from Skidmore students in their own words:  https://www.skidmore.edu/oppor...  

Academic Programs and Departments – In addition to regular coursework, faculty in Asian Studies, Black Studies, Latinx Studies, Gender Studies, Religious Studies, and more invite speakers to campus who develop our understandings of difference and promote cross-cultural dialogues.  

Bridge Experience – Beginning with the Class of 2025, students are required to complete an upper-level course that explores how power and justice have shaped the experiences of people with a variety of identities in contemporary America and considers how these people have responded to the reality of inequality in their lives.  

Discovery Tour – A three-day program that invites admitted students from historically underrepresented backgrounds to visit campus during the admission season.  

Intergroup Relations (IGR) – Skidmore piloted IGR in 2008, and in 2012 became the nation’s first college to offer a minor in this social justice program, where students examine racial and other aspects of identity as lived within systems of power, using the formal practice of dialogue – a means of communicating across difference and conflict – to facilitate greater understanding.  

Office of Student Diversity Programs (ODSP) – 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, socio-economic classes, religious and spiritual traditions, ages, and abilities.   

Students participate in an array of multicultural clubs and community groups that provide supportive spaces to explore and honor cultural identities and enhance campus experiences, such as African Heritage Alliance, Asian Cultural Awareness, Hillel, International Student Union, Queer Lives in Color, Raices and more 

Bias Response Group – This committee is charged with responding to reported bias incidents and developing programs aimed at eliminating harassment and discrimination directed against any member of the Skidmore community.    

Powerful DEI work takes place at the College every day. We offer programs that celebrate the cultural heritage of our students, speakers who challenge us to consider how we think, and workshops that help put those new thought patterns into practice. Skidmore is committed to DEI.