Keene Police reported in a Nov. 21 press release that Keene State College student Danielle M. Greene, 18, has been charged with a misdemeanor count of False Report to Law Enforcement.

The press release stated Greene, who was released on $5,000 bail, visited Cheshire Hospital Emergency Room after allegedly reporting a rape. KPD was called on Nov. 1 to conduct an investigation.

Investigators interviewed Greene, as well as the accused “male Keene State College student” and viewed surveillance tapes from the college. KPD concluded, “This information revealed Greene gave false information that a crime had occurred.”

Following the investigation a warrant was issued for Greene’s arrest by the 8th Circuit Keene Court.

The court complaint read that Greene, “Knowingly gave information to Keene Police Detective Jennifer M. Ramey concerning the commission of an offense, to wit a sexual assault, knowing that the sexual assault did not occur.”

According to the KPD press release the case remains open. KPD urged, “Anyone who has further information is encouraged to call the Keene Police Department at 603-357-9820, ask to speak to Det. Jennifer Ramey.” Anonymous information can be sent via email at

http://www.ci.keene.nh.us/departments/police/anonymous-crime-tips/

Greene will be arraigned on Jan. 5, 2015.

The KSC Campus Safety log stated that ten additional KSC students have been arrested in connection with the Oct. 17 and 18 riots, bringing the total to 14 KSC students. 

Charges include failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and breach of peace. Six of these arrests were carried out by New Hampshire State Police.

At this time, “The students’ names will not be released due to the ongoing investigation,” Campus Safety Sergeant Joel Huntley stated.

The log also reports 23 instances of either positive identification or of witnesses coming forward to provide information in regards to the weekend riots, including photos and video.

Huntley explained that, “Not all are necessarily KSC students.”

According to Huntley, “The investigation is going well. We are getting new tips everyday and making real progress.”

Huntley was unable to provide more accurate estimates as, “It is an active and ongoing investigation.”

Huntley added, “There is a lot of work ahead of us.”

An Oct. 22 message from Campus Safety stated, “We have positively identified several KSC students and non-students involved in these incidents.” The memo also notified students and faculty that photos are available for viewing at the Campus Safety office.

Keene Police Department’s investigation is also making strides.

An Oct. 28 KPD press release stated KSC student James Schaefer, 18, was released on $5,000 bail after being arrested in connection with the riots. He was charged with reckless conduct. KPD’s press release stated Schaefer was “throwing a beer can at a group of people, the beer can being a deadly weapon in the manner in which it was used.”

David Walsh can be contacted at dwalsh@keene-equinox.com

KSC Pumpkin Lobotomy kicked off the Pumpkin Fest weekend with carving, live music and student organizations on Fiske Quad Friday, Oct. 17. 

The event was organized by KSC Student Government, who brought in 2,500 pumpkins for eager participants to carve up and contribute to the world record attempt. Student Body President Bobby Graham said the event is a massive organizational undertaking, “It took a lot of stressful planning. We started one or two weeks into September; it has been a long process.”

Participants arrived at Pumpkin Lobotomy to a sea of pumpkins sprawled across the lawn where Fiske Quad meets Appian Way. After carefully selecting their pumpkin, they then pick a spot on the lawn, lay out their recycled newspapers and get to gutting and cutting.

“Typically, every single pumpkin gets carved,” Graham said.

KSC students Hannah Elliott and Natalie Rees said they both enjoyed the event. Rees showed off her dog carving and said, “The bands are really good, I know a few people in the bands and I know they work really hard at it.”

Tim Smith / Equinox Staff

Elliott created a mummy carving which she painted white. She added, “It’s a really good time, people should come.”

Graham continued to explain once the jack-o-lantern is carved, the artists brings it over to the registration table where a candle is inserted and it is tallied. “We put in a candle because the record is for lit carved pumpkins. Grounds works right [with us] and brings the pumpkins down to Main Street,” Graham explained. Graham added that student government was able to have a smaller presence at this year’s Pumpkin Lobotomy.

He said, “We approached it a little differently this year. We put less student money into the event than we have in years past. As soon as we started getting table applications we saw that the student organizations themselves were going above and beyond having awesome table ideas here. What’s making this event special is the community effort.” One of the campus organizations that made contributions to the event was R.O.C.K.S.

According the R.O.C.K.S Facebook page, the campus organization donated about 50 leftover pumpkins after the event to the Hundred Nights Shelter. R.O.C.K.S also worked alongside the Eco-Reps to increase the recycling effort. Brianna Enderson, a member of Eco-Reps, said she collaborated with her residence director and Rick Cramer of Sodexo to create an outlet for all the pumpkin seeds.

Enderson along with volunteers separated the seeds from the guts. “It’s a little more tedious than we thought, but it’s really cool,” Enderson said.According to Enderson, this was the first year Sodexo has agreed to work with the pumpkin seeds. “It has been tried for at least the last five years and this is the first time they have said yes.”

Freshman Eco-Reps member Brittany LaFleur said, “It’s a good way to show that Eco-Reps are involved and sharing what we are doing. Putting our name out there is really important.”

When the seeds were weighed at the end of Pumpkin Lobotomy, the group collected and separated 58 pounds of seeds, which will be washed, roasted and seasoned at the Zorn Dining Commons. At the end of the event, over 1,800 pumpkins were carved, according the KSC website. Graham concluded, “Overall we are very happy with the day.”

David Walsh can be contacted at dwalsh@keene-equinox.com

President Anne Huot sent out an email the afternoon of Wednesday May 7, stating the death of Keene State College student Sean Thomas Casey, a safety and occupational health major and management minor at KSC.

Huot said, “It is with deep sadness and regret that I send this message regarding the death of Keene State student, Sean Thomas Casey. Sean’s death has been determined to be an accident.”

KSC senior and friend of Casey, Brandon Rose said, “Sean was a really good kid. He had a lot of goals in mind. He was super business-oriented and had all these ideas that he thought were going to take place and do big things,” Rose said.

Rose continued, “He always thought he was going somewhere. He was always there to help me for anything. He would help anyone out.”

Director of the Counseling Center Brian Quigley said, “The counseling center is holding open hours for any students who need to come into the center. If a counselor is available to meet with them they say, ‘come on in’ on the spot and provide any support needed to them.”

“I think it’s important that there is thoughtfulness between honoring both sides of the experience at this time for seniors,” Quigley said, regarding this weekend’s commencement ceremony.

Quigley explained, “I think it’s a tragic situation in and of itself, regardless of the timing. I think the timing of it makes it more of a tragedy, if that’s possible when anyone loses his or her life. To me, I think it’s important to make sure people reach out to their loved ones, friends, family — those who care for them and who they care about for support and to air the feelings they are having around the tragedy.”

Rose said he remembers meeting Casey early-on in his KSC career. “I met him the second day of college. We went through all four years together…We joined PMD together. We went through everything,” Rose recalled. Casey was supposed to graduate with Rose this upcoming Saturday, May 10.

Quigley said, “I think finding a healthy balance between respecting and honoring those feelings around the tragedy if they are impacted by it [while] at the same time ensuring they are attentive to this important time in a student’s life.”

Details regarding services to remember Casey have not yet been released, according to the email.

The Counseling Center is offering 24-hour support through the crisis hotline that can be reached at 603-358-2436.

The threat of rain did not deter 480 Keene State College seniors from participating in the 2014 Senior Pub Crawl Sunday May 4.

The participants were split into seven teams of roughly 80 people each and rotated from bar to bar around the city of Keene. Lab ’n Lager, McCue’s Billiards & Sports Lounge, Scores Sports Bar & Grille, The Pour House, Kilkenny Pub and Penuche’s Ale House each opened their doors for KSC crawlers and offered drink specials.

Crawlers looked forward to having a good time with friends. KSC safety major Edward Violette said, “I’m pretty excited. My friends and I all signed up for the same team. Twenty or twenty-five of my friends are all on the same team.“   Violette added that crawlers received an event shirt with their registration, explaining, “It’s a black shirt with your team color on it.”

Vanessa Brooks / Equinox Staff

Event shirts featured a cartoon beer bottle on the front, with the phrase, “Before we walk we must crawl,” surrounding the year ‘14 on the back.

Some participants said they enjoyed getting to visit multiple bars in one outing with friends.

“It’s nice to give all the bars the business instead of just one or two,” KSC senior Shawna Collins said. Crawlers also enjoyed gathering with friends before moving on from KSC. “It’s a fun thing to do before we graduate and split ways. We just want to have fun and be safe,” Collins said.

Orange Team member Madison Rosa added, “It’s a great time and a good way to end your college career. We are all in Greek life and we planned to have all Greek life on one team.”

While it was a fun night, some crawlers also saw it as a last outing before graduation. Jessica Furtado of the Orange Team said, “It’s awesome but we are sad. It’s a bitter-sweet pub crawl.”

Participants are also grateful for the community cooperation surrounding the event.

“It’s a great last-hurrah to be able to spend time with your friends. It’s cool that the school organizes it every single year and it’s great that the town supports it,” Orange Team member Austin Conran said.

Scores owner Ben Fournier said, “It went great. We had a great turn-out and everything went smoothly. The students were well-behaved and we had a great staff on.”

According to Fournier, Scores opened the entire back room for KSC crawlers, while the front remained open for other patrons.

“We brought teams in through the back entrance into the back room to control flow,” explained Fournier.

“It’s nice to see everyone together one last time before graduation. Each year it grows and we see more and more people. I think its a great thing,” Fournier added.

Noticeably absent from the lineup was Cobblestone Ale House, which only has a capacity of 60.

“Cobble is out but that’s because their capacity is sixty and now there are eighty on a team,” Red Team member Meghan Barrett explained.

“Not going there [Cobblestone] allowed the teams to grow from sixty to eighty—that’s 140 more people that can participate,” Collins explained.

Cobblestone representatives were not available for comment following the pub crawl due to presstime.

Since there were more teams than bars, a “break” had been added to the schedule, requiring teams to take turns sitting out one round.

Robyn Sall of the Red Team said, “We take our break last, so it just ends for us. If we had it in the middle, I probably wouldn’t come back.”

David Walsh can be contacted at  dwalsh@keene-equinox.com.

As the academic year comes to an end, many students are looking forward to new chapters of their lives. Some graduating seniors may begin new careers or start internships in their respective fields.  

Keene State College Sustainable Product Design and Innovation major William Ferguson said he will begin a full-time position at Hitchiner Manufacturing Co. in Milford, N.H. Ferguson said he will enter a one-year program which can lead to a long-term position within the company, which produces components for jet engines and other high-tolerance parts using the process of investment casting.

“Based on how I perform and what I excel in during the program, I get placed within the company based on that. My goal is to end up as  a product engineer,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson said he made the connection with Hitchiner Manufacturing thanks to a presentation the company put on at KSC. “It was Keene [State College] that set up the presentation with Hitchiner. It was that presentation that started that whole process of me working there,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson continued, “They had a booth at a job fair. I gave them my resume there and they called me over winter break to set up an interview.” Ferguson said that interview turned into the offer to enroll in the training program. While Ferguson is entering the workforce, History major Lucas Braley said he will be continuing his studies at the Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Conn. Braley stated, “The Divinity School is going to be a chance for me to look at these individual forms of philosophy and be able to get that breadth of philosophical knowledge before I go on to do my dissertation.” Braley continued, “My background is in history, which is more about these philosophers rather than looking at the different philosophies.”

Erin D’Aleo / Graphics Editor

Braley attributes this opportunity to a close relationship with his adviser. “What Keene [State College] excels at is those individual, one-on-one, mentor-mentee relationships with professors. If a student can identify a professor that they could work well with, you get opportunities that are fairly unique,” Braley explained. “My adviser’s focus is in German and intellectual history. I had some meetings with him when I was a junior, and I started to focus on German philosophy. After doing an independent study about the philosopher Kant, I ended up realizing that philosophy was my interest, particularly rational theology,” Braley said.

Graphic Design major Kian Stewart will be “road tripping” to the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Lander, Wyo. for a paid graphic design internship following his graduation.

“I’ll be working on all the print media for NOLS, such as catalogues, poster design, magazine, brochures and other things like that,” Stewart said.

Stewart said he earned the position after he submitted his resume and five sample designs.

“A week after I submitted the application I sent a follow-up email to my contact and they scheduled a phone interview for the next day. About an hour after the interview I got an email saying they narrowed the search down to me and another candidate. A few days later they called and offered me the position,” Stewart recalled.

At NOLS, Stewart said he will be able to combine his hobbies of hiking and rock climbing with his graphic design education. Stewart said, “It will be a great experience and a really good addition to the resume. I would really like to work in the outdoor industry doing design work. It should open up a lot of doors for the types of jobs I’m looking for.”

Elizabeth Pockl, a political science major, will be taking a position with the New Hampshire Catholic Charities (NHCC) in Manchester, N.H.  She noted that her position is operated through Americorps Vista, and she will be doing a “needs assessment for NHCC.”

Pockl said her work will reveal “what kind of innovative ideas and programs can we influence as part of NHCC’s future endeavors so they are not staying stagnate and moving forwards their overall goal.”

Pockl said aspects of her KSC experience prepared her particularly well for this position.

“One thing KSC doesn’t get enough credit for is the amount of student involvement. Alternative Spring Break gives you the opportunity to meet a lot of people. I was on the provost search committee as well. I had the opportunity to experience a lot of situations and lot of diverse people at the school. It was one of the greatest learning opportunities,” Pockl said.

David Walsh can be contacted at dwalsh@keene-equinox.com.

The Keene State College Sidore Lecture Series brought Jay Walljasper to campus to embrace the use of commons. Walljasper headlined a lecture in the Mabel Brown Room and spoke with community members, faculty and students on how to build and grow public and common spaces.

Walljasper, who is the editor of onthecommons.org, spoke on April 15 in front of an audience of 60 about ways to build and enhance common spaces in communities. His strategies included, “Ten Ways to Create a Common.” Walljasper stated the keys to create a successful common include, “Give people a place to hang out, walk, bike and sit,” among others.

“The commons can be challenging to people. I think it’s a little bit outside of the mainstream of how we think about things in our society,” Walljasper said in his lecture.

Brian Cantore / Photo Editor:
Jay Walljasper spoke in the Mabel Brown Room on April 15. His strategies included, “Ten Ways to Create a Common.”

Walljasper explained it is important to start small and let the commons grow. He highlighted an example of a man in a suburban area that takes down his front fence and installs a park bench.

“Something as simple as a bench in your front yard can become a place for people to meet, have a conversation or just hang out,” Walljasper added.

KSC sophomore Madeleine Nossiff said she found Walljasper’s lecture to be a great addition to this year’s symposium.

“It was great to hear new aspects about the commons,” Nossiff said. Nossiff added that commons are important in that  they can, “unite communities lost in society.”

Sidore Lecture Series is funded by the Saul O Sidore Memorial Foundation and exists to, “Endow lecture series at New Hampshire Universities. For Keene State, the objective of the series is to bring cutting edge and sometimes controversial speakers to campus to cover the issues of today,” Mark Gempler, Sidore lecture committee member and associate director of the student center explained.

Gempler selected Walljasper to speak after reading an article of Walljasper’s while visiting the student center at Northwestern University about five years ago. “Every additional thing I looked at made me think, ‘He would be a great guy to bring to campus,’” Gempler explained.

“We wanted to extend the symposium beyond those four days in November. The added benefit to having Jay [Walljasper] here is that he edits a website called On The Commons. He also wrote A Field Guide to the Commons. This closes the loop for us, that we were able to bring in someone with so much experience with the topic.”

Walljasper featured examples of successful commons from around the world, including New York, N.Y., Sweden and his home city of Minneapolis, Minn.

When discussing his impressions of Keene’s commons Walljasper said, “This is my first time in New Hampshire. All I really knew about it was ‘Live Free or Die.’ I was impressed with Main Street. There is an energy in this town and many people are enjoying the downtown area.”

Walljasper continued, “I also like the bike paths in town. People here seem to understand the importance of biking and walking.”

Walljasper added, “The college blends well into town. The campus is not ‘ghettoized’ and separated from the town. Appian Way was cooking earlier; you can really judge campus vitality by its street life.” While visiting Keene, Walljasper spoke to a group of journalism students where he answered questions about his work. After a lunch with journalism students, Walljasper also spoke to the advanced social psychology class.

Walljasper is the current editor of onthecommons.org, whose website states, “On the Commons is a commons movement strategy center founded in 2001. Through our efforts we help build and bring visibility to the commons movement, indicated and catalyze commons work, and develop and encourage commons leadership.”

Walljasper has also authored three books; All That We Share: A Field Guide to the Commons, The Great Neighborhood Book and Visionaries: People and Ideas to Change Your Life. He has also been the travel editor for Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, and his articles can be found in publications internationally.

David Walsh can be contacted at dwalsh@keene-equinox.com

Members of Keene State College’s Mentors for Violence Prevention (MVP) were honored on March 29 at a BACCHUS conference for their “Yes Means Yes: A Guide to Good Sex” orientation program. 

“Yes Means Yes: A Guide to Good Sex” earned the Best Program award at the BACCHUS Netowork Conference held at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass. According to MVP Peer Educator Emma Bass, MVP had strong competition. “There were programs from Harvard, Sacred Heart, all over New England,” Bass explained.

MVP members submitted their program into the conference and a panel selected the program. “Our [executive] board members submitted our program for consideration of the award. They reviewed everyone’s submissions and liked our program,” Bass said.

Allie Norman / Equinox Staff:
Statistics and information provided in the graphic above can be found on the following websites: CDC, RAINN and NCADV.

Along with MVP’s award for Best Program, Organization Advisor Forrest Seymour was selected as Best Advisor according to Bass.

Bass stated, “We submitted him for best advisor, and he won that.” Yes Means Yes is one of the many program options incoming students can choose from during orientation. Attendance for the program has exceeded expectations, according to MVP members. MVP advisory board member Johanna DeBari said,  “The program is designed for the orientation for Keene State. We did it for three-hundred to three-hundred-and-fifty freshmen.”

The two-year-old program educates students about how they can have safe, consensual sex. “It’s a healthy sexuality program. Our main topic is consent, and how to have conversations about having consensual sex and promoting open communication,” explained program creator, DeBari.

The program takes a multimedia approach to explain its tenants, and also aims to make students comfortable with the content by using icebreakers. “We start out the program by playing the penis and vagina game, which is having them scream penis and vagina as loud as they can. The point is that freshmen are already feeling very vulnerable and coming into a program where you talk about sex is very intimidating. It sets the tone that it’s okay, we are creating a safe area for people to say what they want,” said DeBari.

DeBari continued, “The main tenant of this program is the ‘active bystander’ approach, giving people the tools to intervene somehow — such as calling the police or Campus Safety. We educate people and make them feel like they have power in their situation and power on their campus related to sexual violence and crimes on campus. It is a really prominent issue on all campuses.” DeBari explained MVP uses video, activities and discussion to educate students about healthy sexuality.

BACCHUS is an organization of peer education groups across the country which, “build skills in student leaders to address campus health and safety issues,” according to the BACCHUS website. The acronym BACCHUS stands for Boosting Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students. The New England conference was an opportunity for MVP to compare notes with other peer education groups and learn ways to improve their own program. Bass explained, “We spread out our members across all the seminars so we could all take notes. We listened to all these different people from different schools, and what their take was on all these issues.”

“We took away that we needed to utilize more social media. We created a public Facebook group and a Twitter [account] for MVP,” added Bass.  MVP earned the award just before Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April.

David Walsh can be contacted at dwalsh@keene-equinox.com

New Hampshire’s newest candidate for senate, Scott Brown, has built a reputation for having a unique campaign style.  

He is known for driving his truck to campaign events and his casual language used during interviews.

Brown stated in an Associated Press interview, “Do I have the best credentials? Probably not. ‘Cause you know, whatever. But I have long and strong ties to the state. People know.”

Keene State College students responded to Brown’s casual nature with mixed reviews.

AP Photo:
Scott Brown in his pick-up truck, which many students recognize him for in Tilton, N.H.

Keene State College senior Caitlyn Boyle said, “I think that he should definitely be more professional, but that’s kind of who he is. He drives a truck. It is kind of nice that he sounds more human that way, but at the same time I think he should be a little bit professional, especially in a state where there are a lot of democrats.”

Ryan Greelis, a KSC athletic training major, stated, “I like that he is honest.  There is no B.S.”

Maggie Buckley, a sophomore nursing student, said, “‘So whatever’ just does  not sound very official. I think he should reword what he says a little more.”

However Chair of the KSC Republicans,  Allison Bedell, disagreed with the perception that Brown is “unofficial”.

“I think that it’s almost refreshing to have a candidate for political office that is more casual and more themselves. I think there is a difference between being casual and non-professional,” stated Bedell.

According to State Representative Cindy Rosenwald in a N.H. Democratic Party Press Release, Brown has also made it clear that if elected, he plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act legislation which would also unravel the recent Medicaid expansion in N.H.

Bedell said that voters will not see Brown’s stance on healthcare as a hurdle.

She explained, “We have seen the beginnings of healthcare rollout and I think there are a lot of uncertainties, especially for small business owners who have heard a lot of things and seen some issues both in enrollment and logistical planning for it. Unknowns that potentially can be costly are never a friendly thing for small business.”

Rosenwald commented on the healthcare hurdle, “Scott Brown says repealing Obamacare is his top priority.  That means taking health care coverage from thousands of people in New Hampshire is his top priority. Repealing the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion would be painful for the people of New Hampshire. If Scott Brown cares about New Hampshire, he should tell people here what his repeal of Obamacare would really mean — the loss of affordable care for thousands.”

Greelis also disagreed with repealing the ACA. As an athletic trainer, he said he would lose clients if they were not covered.

“People need healthcare,” Greelis stated.

Brown moved into his vacation home in Rye, N.H., in December 2013, according to Steve Peoples from the Associated Press. Brown made the move to run for senate and attempt to secure another Republican seat. Currently, Congress is six seats shy of a Republican majority.

David Walsh can be contacted at dwalsh@keene-equinox.com

A dozen students from Keene State College’s Campus Ecology club joined more than 1,000 other peaceful protesters in Washington D.C. to rally against the Keystone XL Pipeline on March 2. For some group members, their biggest regret was not getting arrested.

“That’s our [Campus Ecology’s] biggest regret, is not getting arrested,” KSC Student and Public Relations representative for Campus Ecology, Alexandra Kirk, said. “Nothing is more liberating than screaming about an issue that you really care about, and being around people who feel the same way as you,” Kirk said.

The group drove nine hours to Washington D.C. to participate in the rally which was organized by the environmental group 350. Campus Ecology President Kelly Marchione said protesters participating in the “XL Dissent” rally began walking at Georgetown University and marched to the front gates of the White House.

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! was at the rally speaking with students. She indicated that students came from 80 campuses and 42 states to participate.

“They closed down Pennsylvania Avenue. That was pretty cool,” Campus Ecology Vice President, Molly Alderman-Person said.

The protest was against building the Keystone Pipeline. The proposed pipeline is an oil pipeline that would cover over 1,100 miles between Alberta, Canada, and Steel City, Nebraska, according to the Keystone XL website, which noted the pipeline is designed to move crude oil from Canada to refineries in the American Midwest.

Kelly Marchione / Contributed Photo:
KSC Campus Ecology members pose with signs they made for the rally.

Kirk said, “The thing that’s really awesome about this rally is that it was all students. There weren’t really any adults. It was supposed to be the youth generation protesting the Keystone Pipeline.”

However, participating in such an organized event was not as easy as just showing up, according to Marchione, who explained that it took a month of preparation. She indicated that the group registered for the protest before the rally, arranged transportation and hotels and took the time to create their own banners.

“We all made our own signs. We showed up prepared,” Alderman-Person said.

“We had to do peaceful protest training before we went on the trip,” Alderman-Person stated. She said the training prepared them for the possibility of arrest.

Marchione said, “I didn’t want people to get arrested, without people knowing what the legal implications were. It was all legal stuff. When we got there, they explained it to us in an hour and gave us all the details. It was not a big deal at all. It was like a speeding ticket, just a fifty-dollar fine.”

Rally organizers had extra funds to pay the fine for students who could not afford it, according to Marchione.

“I cannot describe how amazing it felt because we were surrounded by so many people who were so passionate about this one issue, and we all shared the same exact passion. It was amazing. We wanted to stay. We were there, but not getting arrested was kind of ‘blah.’ But it was worth it—it was so worth it,” Alderman-Person said.

Marchione added, “A silver lining to not getting arrested is not having to explain it at the next family gathering.”

While none of the KSC students were arrested, Goodman said 398 student protesters were arrested during the rally. Protesters who zip-tied themselves to the White House fence were given three warnings to leave, and were then arrested if they refused. “You couldn’t handcuff yourself [to the fence]. If you scrape it you get charged with a felony,” Marchione added.

Goodman said activists did more than march to the White House and attach themselves to the fence. Other demonstrations included mock oil spills, in which protesters laid out black tarps with slogans painted on them. “I was very surprised about how organized [it was] and how nothing really went wrong. No one really rebelled or anything. It was more like, ‘We are doing this, as long as you hear us.’” Alderman-Person explained.

Kelly Marchione / Contributed Photo:
Students gather in Washington D.C. to protest against the XL Keystone Pipeline. KSC Campus Ecology members pose with signs they made for the rally.

Kirk added, “No one was being violent at all. We were all just chanting and being united.”

“There were drums playing. It was so fun,” Marchione said.

Campus Ecology enjoyed the protest so much they plan to hold similar demonstrations on campus in the future. “We will be incorporating some of this into Solarfest this year,” Marchione said.

“We want to cause a ruckus. We have already talked to people and they think it is such a great idea. They want to know when it’s going to be,” Kirk said.

At this time, Campus Ecology has not yet planned this event, according to its representatives.

David Walsh can be contacted at dwalsh@keene-equinox.com