I figured it out! Here's my code:
skip_before_filter :verify_authenticity_token, only: :set_status
I forgot that the protect_from_forgery statement creates methods of its own. One of those methods is verify_authenticity_token, and so it was much more straightforward than I thought. I was stuck before because I didn't have a verify_authenticity_token method, but I actually did because it's generated automatically.
For Rails 4+
skip_before_action :verify_authenticity_token, only: :set_status