By BARBARA
LOMBARDO
blombardo@saratogian.com
Published:
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Saratogian
SARATOGA
SPRINGS — Saratoga County District Attorney James
A. Murphy III has called for a meeting with
Skidmore College and city police to address what
he called "the criminal and community
consequences" of the public pot smoking on campus
Monday.
Skidmore College is on the same track.
College President Philip Glotzbach, asked by The
Saratogian to comment on its handling of the
event, replied in an e-mail that he has asked the
dean of student affairs "to reach out to our
community partners to consider other approaches
that will help us — in our individual and
collective communities — to address the issue in
the future."
The issue centers on the approximately 100
students participating with impunity in "420," a
national day of public marijuana smoking April 20
on college campuses, especially at 4:20 p.m., and
what the school did about it.
The head of campus security, Dennis Conway,
reported that two officers checked the area where
the students were congregated "several times
between 4:15 p.m. and 5 p.m. I have a radio
transmission from one at 4:34 p.m. stating the
crowd was fine and … they did not observe any
violations of law."
At that same time, a Saratogian reporter and
photographer could easily see and smell marijuana,
as reported
Tuesday.
"The article — quite understandably — has
generated significant discussion in the city and
on our campus," Glotzbach said in his e-mail. "I
regret that, out of a student body of some 2,400
students, the actions of a small number have
raised concern within the community and reflected
negatively on Skidmore College. Nevertheless, we
recognize that it is important for the College to
address the reported behavior."
In calling for community discussion, Glotzbach
noted that "Skidmore College has a history of
working collaboratively with local law
enforcement, the district attorney, the Prevention
Council and others specifically on the issue of
drug and alcohol abuse."
The college, the district attorney and the
Prevention Council will address the issue further
on Sunday’s Opinion Page.
