Skidmore College president encourages student walkout

The president of Skidmore College is actively encouraging students to walkout out of classes in protest of racism and in solidarity with the protests at the University of Missouri.

“Our community has made strides in increasing diversity, but it is clear that we are still far from realizing our ambitions in creating a climate that is fully inclusive,” Skidmore President Philip A. Glotzbach told Tuesday students in an email obtained by Campus Reform.

“As the organizers [of the walkout] have noted, the specific intention is to disrupt our daily lives to reflect the ways in which the lives of persons of color are disrupted by acts of racism,” President Glotzbach continued.

President Glotzbach’s email comes a day after the head of Skidmore’s student government emailed students to help organize a “walkout” from classes on Tuesday afternoon in protest of racism and in solidarity with the protests at the University of Missouri.

In an email obtained by Campus Reform, SGA President Charles Tetelman and SGA VP Dorothy Parsons encouraged the entire student body to join a campus-wide walkout in protest of racism and in solidarity with the protests of the University of Missouri.

“All of Skidmore, including Students, Faculty, and Staff, are encouraged to walk out and walk away from their daily schedules and responsibilities,” the email stated.

Tetelman’s email included a message from Skidmore’s People of Color Union (POCU), which organized the walkout and claimed that the express purpose of the protest was to disrupt the university.

“This walk out is intended to intentionally disrupt our normal daily lives to show how often and how abruptly people of colors [sic] lives are interrupted by acts of racism,” the message stated.

Tetelman told Campus Reform that “it's first important to note that Skidmore is not immune to the national concerns about race and inclusion.”

“Students, faculty, and staff members care deeply about these issues - this reflects our collective values.”

Tetelman went on to say that “the walkout will be the first campus-wide moment focused on diversity and inclusion this year, and it will certainly not be the last.”

Skidmore, which the Princeton Review ranks as the #12 most liberal and #15 least religious university in the country, has had multiple racially-charged protests in the last year. In December of last year, Skidmore faculty and students held a walkout in solidarity with protests in Ferguson, Missouri after the death of teenager Michael Brown. Then, just three days later, Skidmore faculty and staff held a “die-in” to again protest Brown’s death, with some students holding #BlackLivesMatter signs.

Students at more than 150 colleges and universities nationwide have held protests in solidarity with the multi-week protests at the University of Missouri.

President Glotzbach did not immediately respond to Campus Reform’s request for comment.

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