On Keene State College’s campus, where the leaves are shades of orange and yellow, it’s not unlikely to find pieces of trash loitering nearby.

Regardless of how little or how much is seen, trash can quite literally litter a view. People have taken notice, including Coordinator of Student and Community Relations Robin Picard.

Picard works to help moderate the relationships between off campus students and the outside community of Keene, which typically entails students’ landlords. She said that while many students are actively involved in helping to keep the streets of Keene clean, our own campus doesn’t always appear to have that involvement.

Picard referred to the “Adopt a Street” event that is geared toward picking up trash on surrounding areas near campus. In an earlier article in The Equinox, Student Life Editor MacKenzie Clarke wrote that students met on Saturday, Sept. 24 to spend “30 minutes to an hour” cleaning up trash on the streets of Keene.

Picard said that while she’s very excited about the students who “give up their Saturday morning” to clean up the streets, she said she’s frustrated it’s not a lasting change.

“For me, it feels a little bit like a slap in the face because they clean up the area and then it gets trashed again the next day,” she said.

Picard continued, “So we’re kind of cleaning up after ourselves.” Picard said that often the biggest amount of trash is found after a weekend of partying. She said, “Quite frankly, drinking and being drunk isn’t an excuse to litter.”

Picard said she doesn’t understand why students can’t just throw their trash away. “It’s just sometimes startling to me that students…[have] water bottles or alcohol bottles on their lawns [and] bags of trash on their porch,” she said.

Picard acknowledged that some landlords may not offer recycling or adequate trash removal, but if that’s the case the students can talk to her.

Picard said, however, she’s concerned this might be a larger issue than some students just being lazy.

Colton McCracken/ Photo illustration

“I know when I [grew] up, it was ‘give a hoot, don’t pollute.’ I really wonder, have they stopped this campaign with children?” she said.

Regardless, Picard said she thinks action needs to be taken, especially if we want to be seen as a serious institution.

“I think we’re still trying to bounce back from all the Pumpkinfest problems and I don’t think this helps us,” she said. “We want to show we respect ourselves, we respect our neighbors [and] we respect our earth.”

Taking Initiative

One group actively doing that is the KSC Eco Reps organization, which hosted a trash and recycling clean up on Friday, Nov. 4 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.  The charge was to clean up campus, as well as streets where many students live off campus.

KSC junior and Eco Reps employee Justin Landry worked at a table encouraging people to sign up and commit to helping keep the campus clean.

“We’re working to raise awareness for sustainability and the amount of litter on the campus,” he said. Landry said it’s unfortunate, but littering has become normal. “People don’t really care about littering,” he said.  Landry said this is aggravating. “It makes me frustrated that people can’t find a trash can,” he said. “There are definitely enough.”

However, it appears these trash cans are not getting as much use as intended.

KSC senior and Eco Rep Victoria Drake participated in the event, filling bags full of plastic cups, cigarette butts and other waste products.

Drake said it really annoys her that people can’t just hold onto their trash and throw it out. “I’ve always liked promoting sustainability,” she said.

Drake said she’s been to parties and sees people throw their bottles over the side of a porch because they don’t live there. She said she tries to stand up for the environment when she can. “I’ll call my friends out on it if they’re littering,” she said.

Drake said she also knows people who don’t always understand what can be recycled and what can’t.

Drake spoke of a previous event held last month called the Waste Audit, in which the group took roughly 25 bags of trash from the student center and another undisclosed building  and went through the contents.

These contents were then split up into trash and recycling. In the end, only five bags remained of actual trash.

Director of Campus Sustainability Cary Gaunt, who helped organize the Waste Audit, said she hopes this information encourages the public to be more mindful of what they’re considering trash. “A lot of people don’t take the time, and we all have a responsibility,” she said. Gaunt said it’s not fair that KSC’s grounds crew has to clean up after students. She said, “Birds don’t trash their own nest, so why would we trash our home?”

Behind the Scenes

Assistant Director of Physical Plant and Grounds Bud Winsor said it doesn’t make sense why some students litter.

He compared the campus to their front lawn at home. He said when students do litter, especially after a weekend of parties, it makes more work for the grounds crew, who are working at six in the morning to clean the campus.

“We spend about two hours every day cleaning up trash, especially on Mondays,” he said, “but most people aren’t aware of that because by the time it gets light out in Keene, everything’s been picked up.”

Winsor said these two hours every day take away time from other duties they could be doing.

He said this makes him frustrated that some students don’t care to clean up after themselves. “Honestly, it’s disgusting,” he said. “If everyone just took a few minutes to throw out their trash, it would make it a whole lot easier for us.”

Interim Recycling Coordinator Matt Bacon said the grounds crew does an amazing job to help keep the campus clean and attractive.

“It’s very rare to see a beer can on campus, but yeah, I do see it off campus,” he said.  Bacon said for the time being, it’s hard to do a whole lot off campus. “With our budgeting, it’s impossible,” he said.

However, he said change can still be made. Bacon said he encourages students to recycle because it not only helps them, but the environment they live in as well.

He said, “The more we recycle, the less trash we need to put in landfills, the less carbon monoxide in the air [and] the less we have to spend on trucks that transport the trash.”

Bacon said these trucks can cost a lot of money. Bacon also said that students could spend their money wisely in other ways. He said, “If a student can buy a case of beer, you have money to buy a reusable water bottle, and that’s one less bottle affecting the environment.”

Dorothy England can be contacted at dengland@kscequinox.com 

It’s easy to sing along and dance to songs that have a catchy beat or funky rhymes. It’s easy to get lost in the sound and let it absorb you whole. It’s easy to let your body move in electric motions and your voice catch on a stampede of lyrics.

However, if you take a moment to step outside the glowing disco ball, you’ll realize it’s not always so easy to stop…and listen to the words you’re dancing to.

One such songs has lyrics included about giving oral sex. Flo Rida’s top hit  “Whistle” includes the lyrics:

Girl I’m gonna show you how to do it

And we start real slow

You just put your lips together

And you come real close

Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby

Here we go

I don’t know about you, but I really doubt he’s talking about “referees,” like he joked about to MTV’s Rob Markman in an interview in 2012. I don’t know how one could take it any other way, and I’d like to think I’m a pretty creative person. I mean, I guess one could mean a nose, but that might get awkward if you have to sneeze.

Jokes aside, some artists have an even more direct way of showing what it is they really want to get across as a message.

Take, for example, the seemingly romantic and sweet Christmas song, ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ by Frank Loesser. Take a minute to listen to the lyrics, which are pretty much all about a women trying to leave and a man trying to get her to stay. Guess who wins?

Throughout the song, the female sings the first part and in response, the male sings the next line. In the example provided below, it’s not exactly something you “warm up” to the idea of.

I ought to say no, no, no – Mind if I move in closer?

At least I’m gonna say that I tried – What’s the sense in hurting my pride?

I really can’t stay – Baby don’t hold out

Ah, but it’s cold outside

This was in 1944! Granted, not all songs are derogatory toward women. However, that being said, there is another pertinent issue I’d like to bring up. Some artists use the n -word in their songs. Personally, I don’t use the word, but I’m concerned about who can use it appropriately, if anyone. In one sense, I guess I can understand in part that African Americans and black Americans can use it to unite, but another part of me worries that others are taking the word and trying to make it “normal,” or worse, use the word in racist tones.

For example, although I really doubt he was a racist himself, John Lennon used the word in his song, ‘Woman is the N____ of the World’:

Woman is the n____ of the world, yes she is.

If you don’t believe me, take a look at one you’re with.

Woman is the slave of slaves.

Ah yeah, better scream about it.

Now I’m a woman. I identify as she, her and hers. And let me tell you, I don’t feel the way described above. Yeah sure, I deal with bullcrap on occasion, but I don’t think what I live with is comparable to the life of a slave. I just don’t.

Granted, I’m an independent woman of the 21st century, and yes, many women make less than their male counterparts; however, I do not, I repeat, I do not feel justified in saying my life is like that of someone who experienced slavery first-hand.

In my opinion, the n-word can both unite and divide people, depending on many things, including the person’s culture and who’s delivering the message and how it can historically be connotated. In the most literal terms, it means black.

I’m not black, so Lennon’s song isn’t correct in my mind. I understand he was trying to be symbolic, but I just don’t see that as a valid connection.

I feel like it’s not right to just throw a word of such significant weight around like it’s pure air and poof, it doesn’t matter because, it does matter. Many words and phrases are just thrown with the ease of a boomerang.

However, once they come spiralling back, there’s velocity attached, heat attached. and the question remains, where does all that heat go?

Dorothy England can be contacted at dengland@kscequinox.com

The country took a turn from seemingly accurate polls,, which stated Hillary Clinton would win as President of the United States of America when businessman Donald Trump took took the win. This shocked many, even those who supported him.

On the campus of Keene State College, many were asked what they thought of the election results what they thought of the election. Some declined, saying they were still processing the information. Others voiced their opinion.

KSC sophomore Jacob Papanicolaou is a hispanic citizen and said he comes “from the hood.” He said he’s mostly concerned about the reaction that will occur in the next few weeks. “We should just be civil,” he said. Papanicolaou said he didn’t like either of the top candidates. “We should just have Obama again,” he said.

KSC sophomore Steven Hamel said he was “pro Trump.” However, Hamel said he was still surprised Trump won. “It’s a good thing to see, but shocking. I didn’t think he would win, but he did.” Hamel said he thinks this is because Trump got support from many swing states,or , which are states that don’t necessarily have a definite and predictable party they stay with. Hamel said he likes that Trump is blunt. “He tells it like it is. There’s no sugarcoating,” he said.

For a professor who wished to remain unnamed, the outcome wasn’t so sweet. “I’m devastated,” she said. “I’m a really big Hillary supporter and it’s almost more of a shock that New Hampshire didn’t go more blue.” This professor said she has a couple of ideas as to why Trump won. “Either people are really angry or they just really wanted change,” she said.

The Cheshire Academy for Lifelong Learning (CALL) program participants Russ and Kathy Fleming said the outcome really shows a lot about our country. “I’m disappointed in the outcome,” Kathy said, “but I think the fact that people are shocked shows the reality of our country.” She said we need to be better with communicating with each other. “We need to listen to the other side to listen to their realities.” Her husband, Russ, said he was startled by how the election went. “I’m disappointed in the American public,” he said. Russ said the future could hold many possibilities. “It will be an interesting four years,” he said.

KSC senior Jess Morrissette said she’s completely baffled by the outcome. “I really don’t know what to say,” she said. Morrissette said that although she’s “not very into politics,” she was still shocked Trump won. “I thought he might have had a chance,” she said, “but I’m still very surprised.”

Morrissette said that it “could go both ways,” unsure of what will happen in the next four years. “He doesn’t have a career in politics, so it could go south, or he could make change,” she said. “Either way, we need to stick together as a country and not be divided.”

Dorothy can be contacted at dengland@kscequinox.com

Other article in this featured series:

“Trumped”

A man dressed as Mike Myers, from the “Halloween” movies, was chasing students with a fake knife on and around campus on Monday, Oct. 31. Campus Safety Officer Brendan Bosquet said the first report came in around 6p.m., where the masked man was allegedly seen on campus. Another came in around 8p.m. that he was seen on Winchester Street. Bosquet said that occurances like this might be common since it was on Halloween. He advised that students stay with a buddy to be safe.

When asked for an update the following day, Director of Strategic Communications and Community Relations Kelly Ricaurte provided a quote in email from Campus Safety: “Keene State College Campus Safety followed up on reports at approximately 8 p.m. on October 31  from students who said they saw a person in a Michael Myers costume walking in areas on and near campus. The individual was reported by one to possibly be carrying a large fake knife. The individual ran toward two students who went into an apartment complex adjacent to the College. Both Campus Safety and Keene Police Officers searched the area but did not locate this individual. No further reports were received later in the evening.”.

A message was also left for the Keene Police Department officer on duty at the time of the alleged incidents.

Dorothy England can be contacted at dengland@kscequinox.com

As Keene State feels effects from recent budgetary cuts across the board, one organization has been able to reroute their cancelled opportunity around and find another.

The Keene State College Alternative Break Program on campus offers 11 community service opportunities for students during winter and spring break to help others, become educated and portray active citizenship. This year, their international trip to Nicaragua was cancelled.

Coordinator of Community Service Jessica Gagne Cloutier said the trip was cut because of budgetary reasons. She explained that the international trip is roughly five or six times more expensive than a domestic trip.

She said for the financial reasonings as to why the trip was cancelled, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Kemal Atkins would be better suited to answer these questions.

However, after multiple requests for an interview, Atkins was unavailable for comment.

Gagne Cloutier said she understands why the situation happened, but it was hard at first to grapple with. “It’s frustrating when you do everything right and you feel like you have to make one of these choices,” she said. “It’s frustrating, but I feel good about the decisions that have been made and the opportunities that we’re still able to offer to students.”

Gagne Cloutier said protecting that experience for the students is what matters most.  She said, “I think the realities of the fiscal climate that we’re in has impacted all of us, and I think across campus, we’re having to make really difficult decisions about what are the most valuable service and programs we have. How do we protect these things?”

These difficult decisions included putting the original plan of going to Nicaragua on hold and making plans to go to Tennessee instead, where Gagne Cloutier said groups will be helping with a program titled Once Upon a Time in Appalachia, an environmentally conscientious organization that motions to preserve national forests and parks.

Gagne Cloutier said in the end, it all worked out. “So that’s been the silver lining, [that we’re] still having a trip that is focused on that issue (sustainability) and that is still going to give us a strong cultural experience and the opportunity to think and learn critically and support all the good values that we have for the program,” she said.

Gagne Cloutier said she plans for the trip to Nicaragua to still be on the docket for the following year. “We’ve already penciled in with our ground partner and said, ‘Hey, when 2018 rolls around, our intention is to be with you,’” she said.

She added that in doing so, it makes things easier in the future. “Most of the time, we take months and months to plan an alternative break trip and to go back and forth with partners, and this was a really quick one and we were really lucky to find a partner,” she said.

Gagne Cloutier said that being in the realm of community service makes it easier to deal with challenges. “I think one of the realities that we all understand with service in general is that we have to be really flexible when we do this work,” she said.

Gagne Cloutier also said she was grateful for the two leaders of the trip, KSC students Sarah Crooker and Hannah Elliott.

Samantha Moore / Art Director

“I’ve been really proud of Hannah and Sarah for the attitude that they’ve had, you know coming into this and really being true to the program, being true with themselves [and] being able to express their sadness and their frustration with me and us being able to talk though these things and come up with the best compromise we could,” Gagne Cloutier said.

Crooker declined comment and Elliot didn’t respond to requests.

One recent alumnus who was a leader himself for an international trip offered comments, but wished to be unnamed. He said he only went on two international trips. “I wish I had done some of the domestic trips, but I had other things that overlapped,” he said. This alumnus said going on these trips was inspiring and vastly different than going somewhere as a vacation spot. “You’re walking down the street and there are farms and cows and people speeding on motorcycles past you. It’s not a walk in the park.”

He said it makes sense why the international trip is more expensive and that the budget has always been tight as far as he’s known it. He said, “I [also] know it’s hard to vouch for an increased budget of only 15 students to attend, and that’s been a big problem in terms of fighting for budgets in the past.” He said when he was a student at KSC, he felt that if people had friends on the student assembly, they would get more money for their club than others would.

“I was involved [with] a lot on-campus, and I got to see a lot of budgets in a lot of places. I do think that the budgeting system in Keene State College…was very political and it was almost too student run, in my opinion,” he said. “I feel like some organizations and some clubs on-campus were given larger amounts of money than they really should have [been]. I’m not saying anybody shouldn’t get any money because that’s not fair.”

At a student assembly meeting held on Tuesday, Oct. 25, The Equinox staff reporter Meridith King reported, “Another budget request came from the Alternative Break Program, requesting a total of $2,500 to go toward the 110 or so students who attend one of the 11 trips the program offers. The motion to approve this budget was almost unanimously accepted, and it was granted to the program.”

The alumnus said he hopes the the international trip is reinstated in the future. “It’s one that should almost be a tradition of the college and it should be something that not only current students, but future students can look forward to in terms of getting involved,” he said.

He continued, however, that while an international trip might seem more exciting, that doesn’t mean a more local or domesticated trip isn’t. “We live in [a] society right now that is slightly disconnected, and to be able to understand where people in our own country are coming from, that should be empowering and motivating for students to continue to get involved, regardless or not if there’s an international label to it,” he said.

KSC first-year Kristi Dudash said it was a unfortunate about the international trip being cancelled, but that it was good the students still get to help others in need.

“I’m sure there are people overseas who need our help, but I don’t really know much about the budget,” she said. Dudash said she found the trips inspiring. “You’re networking and putting KSC’s name out there,” she said.

Lloyd’s Marketplace employee at KSC Patti Smith said she felt like perhaps there could be other ways the budget could be spent so the students could go on the trip.

While she didn’t disclose any specific examples, she did say this trip was important for the students. “The more educational things we have out there where students get to help, especially with third world countries, they should be supported,” she said. Smith also suggested fundraising for the group.

Coordinator of Community Service Gagne Cloutier said they do fundraise. She wasn’t available to confirm if it was or wasn’t enough to reach the amount needed for the trips. “We fundraise each year for the alternative break program, usually in multiple ways. This year, for example, we have two fundraisers planned,” she said.

Gagne Cloutier said regardless of the students not being able to go on the international trip, the domestic ones are just as good. She explained that in the past, it used to be that the international trip was the one to go on, but now all of the trips equally have something to offer.

“When students return from all of our trips, their learning outcomes turn out to be about the same,” she said. “We see a lot of individuals come back and they talk about how this has impacted their career exploration, so we’ve had students come back and change their majors or be really confident in their major.” Gagne Cloutier continued to say that the students who go on the trips also form relationships with the sponsors or partners involved and can get jobs or internships.

She continued, “So the down-the-road experiences that alternative break can offer in terms of building networks with community organizations and professionals across the country and around the world is really powerful.”

Dorothy England can be contacted at dengland@kscequinox.com

An assailant has been accused of stabbing a fellow student on Winchester Court on April 27. Meghan Foley of The Sentinel wrote that police arrested KSC student Jok Leek, 21, of Manchester, for stabbing another student in the back of the hand.

According to Foley’s report, police are still investigating the matter.

Officer Kyle Macie, the college’s liaison officer, said that if a student feels uncomfortable, they should contact the police “even if you can’t say definitively what you’re seeing.” Macie said students should never “hesitate to call” to “at least put a cruiser in the area.”

Dorothy England can be contacted at dengland@kscequinox.com

Earlier this month, individuals could find white lines and the words ‘NO SMOKING’ displayed in front of buildings to remind students what 25 feet really looks like.

This purpose of this was to represent Keene State College’s policy about smoking and tobacco use, which states it’s “prohibited within 25 feet of [a] building entrance, outside stairways [and passageways] to buildings…and near air intake units.”

In addition, there were tables hosted by Healthy KSC and The Center for Health and Wellness, including health science interns who informed bystanders of research and support groups available in regard to tobacco products. While KSC is not a tobacco-free campus, there are some who hope for this in the near future.

KSC senior Emily Robinson said we should become a tobacco-free campus, especially since she believes there’s “such a small minority of people smoking.” She works with the college’s ground crew. “I‘m one of the people that picks up cigarette butts all the friggin’ time,” she said. “ I just think it’s ridiculous when people are walking in buildings and walking away from buildings smoking because for non-smokers, it’s just…inconsiderate.”

Robinson said that cigarettes aren’t just harmful to others, but also detrimental to our environment. “I mean any time you see dead grass on campus, it’s usually because…either people are walking on it or cigarettes are there,” she explained.

Robinson said she found the visual ideal for people to get an idea of what 25 feet means. “A visual could definitely be a help to encourage people to be farther away,” she said.

KSC first-year  and recent cigarette quitter Sebastien Mehegan said he now uses a vapor to help with the cigarette cravings as a gradual fade from nicotine. “When I used to smoke cigarettes, I used to walk up and down Appian Way,” he said.

He said of the visual reminder, “I understand what they’re trying to do; it’s a pretty cool thing.” Mehegan said he can sympathize with people who don’t like the smell of cigarettes but feel like they can’t escape it. “Since I quit cigarettes, smelling a cigarette makes me nauseous,” he said.

However, Mehegan said the campus shouldn’t become tobacco-free because “it would take away people’s rights.” He said even if there was a smoking pit assigned, he would probably would have rebelled against it if it was there when he had been a smoker. He explained, “In the winter you do not want to walk around, you want to take a five minute cigarette [break], then run back inside.”

Mehegan said that someone telling a smoker it will kill them “is the worst thing you can do.” He explained “You walk away just feeling judged and not liking that person.”

“[Smoking is] like an eating disorder, you don’t realize it’s a problem until you realize it’s a problem,” he said, “The more people who tell you you have a problem, the less you’re going to listen.”

Associate Director of Human Resources Karen Crawford said the intent of the visual was to help educate and support the college community. “This was the first time we did it,” she explained, “We [got] a lot of questions from students, faculty and staff about how far 25 feet was and how people weren’t abiding by the rules. They weren’t sure if they were too close.”

Crawford also said that the visual reminders were an easy way for  someone to tell smokers they’re too close to the buildings.

Jess mealey/Equinox Staff

Special Assistant to the President of Human Resources Carol Corcoran said that sometimes it can be difficult for non-smokers to ask smokers to move farther away or stop. “I do think it’s awkward because you don’t usually get a positive response,” she said, “You’re afraid someone might say something in response that might be harsh.”

However, both Corcoran and Crawford said this reminder wasn’t just about reprimanding smokers. It was also to offer support for students, faculty or staff looking to quit. “If they’re willing to make the commitment, we’re there to support them,” Crawford said.

Corcoran, who is now 29 years smoke free, said they’ll do whatever it takes to help someone quit. “We will do anything we can do, [it] doesn’t make any difference what it costs,” she continued. Corcoran said, in fact, it’s more costly to both the individual and the country if a person continues to smoke. “Statistics show they’re out more from work,” she explained as well as noting that the health care involved can cost taxpayers a lot more than they know.

Crawford explained that there are a multitude of reasons why they want to help people quit smoking, and they make the help accessible and affordable.

Coordinator of Wellness Education Tiffany Mathews said she helps the students looking to quit, and that the program as a whole is not limited to students. Faculty and staff can get help as well, all of which is free. Mathews explained that she schedules a meeting between the student and a “tobacco cessation coach” from the Cheshire Medical Center. “That person can either meet the student at the hospital, somewhere throughout Keene or even on campus,” she said.

Mathews explained that it’s a process of slowly weaning the person off cigarettes so they eventually no longer use them. She said it’s based on “a whole plan that they work out with the student.” Mathews continued to say that the college has been talking about making it a tobacco-free campus “for about three or four years now.”

She said there’s a lot of work that goes into making the college tobacco-free, and while the college has received multiple grants to become so, it’s been a process. Mathews said, “We don’t want to just force it to be tobacco-free, we want to explain why we want do this and how we’re going to do it [and] get feedback from people.”

Dorothy England can be contacted at dengland@kscequinox.com

Rumors as to what will happen to aging dormitories have arisen much in the same way new buildings on campus have.

While some of these dormitories are standing and fully occupied now, a plan to discontinue the use of them is in the works. These buildings include Randall and Monadnock Halls, which are located on Winchester Street, across from the main island of Keene State College.

Associate Director for Facilities and Business Operations Jim Carley said, “If that rumor turned out to be true, that would be news to us.”

However, some students really believed it, including first-year resident Faith Pudlo,  really believed it to be true. She said it started after a Randall RA posted a status about this being the last year Randall would be a dormitory and selling t-shirts to “celebrate 49 years of service.”

Pudlo said, “Everyone was talking about it,” she said. She said for her personally, she’s pretty “unfazed” about i,t as well as “ready to not live there [anymore].”

She explained it’s difficult for her as a dance student to live at Randall and have to walk the distance to the Redfern time and time again throughout the week.

For incoming students, Randall and potentially Monadnock will no longer house students, Carley said. He explained that based on the number of incoming students for this past year, it doesn’t make much financial sense to keep Randall and Monadnock open.

“Even with the projected number of next year’s incoming freshmen class…it makes sense to  consolidate these vacancies and shut a building down so you can save on all the expenses associated,” Carley explained.

He also said that other buildings have more options for students with disabilities than Randall and Monadnock offer. “So for example, in the new LLC (Living Learning Communities), there are four single bedrooms that have bathrooms associated with them,” he said. Carley continued to say that these bedrooms are ADA (American Disability Act) approved. “Obviously if you look at a building like Randall or Monadnock, [there’s] nothing there [for students with disabilities],” he said.

However, Carley said that if students need the space, the college might reopen Monadnock. “We would put [students] in Monadnock rather than Randall [which]…holds 248 while Monadnock holds 133,” he explained, while also saying it would be less costly.

Cassie Baron/Equinox staff

KSC first-year student Ashley Lindelof said she has friends who are still looking for on-campus housing. “I know some people who are sophomores and don’t have housing because there’s not enough buildings,” she said.

For Lindelof, it’s more strange than sad that Randall is closing. She said the walk never bothered her; however, she found it amusing that so many people get annoyed in traffic when students have to cross the street.

“Keene is a city; you’re going to have traffic [at that crosswalk],” Lindelof said, “There are other parallel streets you can take since [students crossing frequently is] always at noon.”

Carley said that particular crosswalk has always been an issue for the folks of Keene.

“If you happen to be going down Winchester [St.] at the wrong time, you’re waiting while dozens of students are crossing back and forth in that one spot,” he explained. He continued, “Taking almost 500 students out of that crosswalk area will, I think, make a big difference.”

Dorothy England can be contacted at dengland@kscequinox.com

Controversy has sparked between a local business, Keene State’s senior class and the college’s president over how much alcohol is too much.

Some students who attend KSC socialize at bars, concerts or on dates. More often than not, if these individuals are of age, alcohol is on the menu. One occurrence that combines fundraising with celebrating is Pub Crawl, attended by KSC seniors as a way to celebrate their completion of college and raise funds for different organizations.

While the event is not correlated with the college, there is disapprovement with this association of drinking, and students who represent the college from KSC President Anne Huot.

Joe Tolman, alumnus and owner of Bulldog, a custom T-shirt store, confirmed that President Huot asked him not to make the shirts for Pub Crawl since they associated the college with drinking

“She came to me and asked me if I would not print the shirts, but my response was basically no…the shirts are certainly not the problem with the Pub Crawl,” Tolman said.

Tolman said that he could understand where Huot was coming from and was fine with her coming to speak with him. “The basics of the conversation was: she’s trying to help the community and she doesn’t like the black eye of the pub crawl so I just told her, [not] printing the shirts isn’t going to help anything.”

Tolman continued, “I personally think if she wants to try to do something about Pub Crawl, she has to take a handling approach and work with the students to prevent things from happening.”

Tolman also said that by him not printing the shirts, it would negatively affect his business. “So you know it wouldn’t solve anything by not printing the shirts. All it would really do is harm our business more than anything else, because if the kids don’t get them one place, they’ll just get them another place,” he said.

Tolman also mentioned how Pub Crawl brings revenue to the local bars of Keene. “I do have several friends who are bar owners in town and they’re not proponents of Pub Crawl, but also it’s their business and that’s what they do,” he said.

One of the bars that participates in Pub Crawl is Scores Sports Bar & Grille. Lead bartender Joe Paul said he doesn’t have any issue with Pub Crawl.

“We enjoy the fact the seniors come in here to celebrate their graduation,” he said. Paul continued,“We take pride in it.”

Paul said Scores works to maintain organization and prepare for it, but otherwise it’s a great event.

Tim SMith/Photo Editor

“We don’t have a problem with it,” he said, adding that it brings business and “that for the last two pub crawls that I’ve been here, the students are very respectful and they’re not making any trouble.”

KSC senior Matthew Pereira said he’s heard of campus events being cancelled because they serve alcohol. “First of all, our campus is a wet campus, it’s not a dry campus. If we have events, like Red and White night, [where they] serve alcohol,” he said. Red and White night is similar to a prom for graduating seniors who can invite whomever but only legal students can drink upstairs.

Pereira said KSC has a bad reputation from the media portrayal of the 2014 Pumpkin Festival. “I don’t think we are as bad as other schools are; I think we just get the most heat for it,” he said.

He said he’s not denying that sometimes people can get outrageously drunk, but for some students, there is an element of “wanting to get it out of your system now” before students have to lead more professional lives. “After college, you’re going to have a full-time job, you’re going to have responsibilities and priorities and I’m not saying I don’t have that here, I definitely do,” Pereira said. “I think there are people who balance their party life and their school life.”

From her standpoint, President Anne Huot said she believes that “What you do in college affects you all your life.”

Huot said that research backs her opinion “that the habits you develop in college pretty much stay with you for your life and you know there is no such thing as safe binge drinking.”

Huot said she finds that ‘Pub Crawl’ promotes binge drinking, and she doesn’t want that to have a negative effect on either a student’s health or reputation. “I think any event that has things that might jeopardize the safety of our students is something for me to be concerned about, and that’s true whether it’s a college event or [not]…and this of course is a not a college event,” Huot explained.

KSC senior Pereira explained that at a public institution, legal students should be able to drink, and that doesn’t mean it includes binge drinking.

Huot declined to comment on light drinking for social events, saying  that “these are individual choices.” Huot said her opinion does not have any relation to 2014’s Pumpkin Fest. “This has been my opinion all my life, [and] as a seasoned senior administrator who now has the responsibility for a college,” Huot said, “This isn’t something that’s new.”

Huot also said that she’s worried about students making trouble and hurting not only their reputation, but the school’s as well. She said that the outside community has made comments about students’ behaviors. “Of course our neighbors reach out when they find our students’ citizenship not aligning with their values,” she said. “It’s an image that lasts and an image that affects everyone in our community.”

Local resident Walt Sayre said he doesn’t like the way Pub Crawl is now. “In fact, even the name of it, to a bystander, basically…means that the students are going to get so drunk that they can’t walk and they will crawl from pub to pub,” he said.

Sayre said last year he noticed huge groups of students crossing the street without using the crosswalk and it “didn’t seem to be very safe.”

“We want to keep the students safe. I understand that drinking is a fact of life on campus, but I don’t think this activity should just be about drinking,” Sayre said. “I think it should take more of a social form, where drinking is not the main objective.”

Sayre said it would be beneficial if there was a “a panel of students and/or teachers” to establish guidelines for the event. He said that while he doesn’t know exactly what the rules should entail, “they should voice the students.”

Student voices of the class of 2016 encouraged the move for Pub Crawl to fundraise. In an article written last semester by KSC senior Stephanie McCann, KSC seniors Olivia DiLeo and Julie Flynn decided to raise donations after a suggestion was made by a manager at Score’s. The manager stated that after the Pumpkinfest riots, the town of Keene was still “shaken up.” According to McCann’s article, the seniors wanted to show they still appreciated Keene as a city and to maintain a mutual level of respect.  DiLeo stated last semester, “This year, we raised money and donated one-thousand dollars each to Community Kitchen [food pantry] and Samaritans [suicide prevention].”

For this semester, Flynn stated in a recent Facebook post, “Donations have been made to Cedarcrest Center and to the fund, ‘For the Love of Edie.’”

Dorothy England can be contacted at dengland@kscequinox.com

The development of a five-level dormitory is expected to implement social as well as academic aids, more so than just being a living space. This building known as Keene State College’s first official Living and Learning Community (LLC) will be available for incoming first-year students for the Fall 2016 semester.

KSC senior Sam Anderson said that more on-campus opportunities for living arrangements could help curb binge drinking. He said, “I’m of the opinion that we should increase on-campus housing because I think it might address some of the issues that the college leadership sees in the student culture.” He continued that this new building could also help the school financially, especially with enrollment on the lower side. “If more students are living on campus, more students are paying housing,” Anderson said.

Other students find the decision risky. KSC first-year Ashley Lindelof said she doesn’t understand why the school is putting money in a place they may not profit from. “So do they expect a huge class to come in? When I heard that I was like ‘wait, you have no clue how many people are going to decide to come’,” she said.

Associate Dean of Student and Director of Residential Life Kent Drake-Deese said the decision to construct this new dormitory was made a couple of years ago. “Primarily it was to decompress first year students [living conditions] because prior to this year, sixty-six percent of our first-year students lived in unnatural triples; you know, a double being made into a triple,” he said.

KSC first-year Faith Pudlo said it’s nice that she doesn’t have to worry about living in a triple since enrollment is down. Pudlo said, “As the school is now, [another dormitory] might not be necessary, but I think it’s a good idea if the school wants to promote more people to come. It never hurts to have more housing.”

Drake-Deese said he does believe this new building will attract incoming students. “The hope with a living and learning community is that [it’s a] place where you’d like high school seniors to look at and say ‘wow that looks interesting, I’d like to do that,’ because it’s a different approach to learning than you find on our campus anywhere else,” he said.

Drake-Deese said that the place where it might be the most similar is with honors housing. “The [current] living and learning community we [do] have is Pondside 3; we call them LLC, but they are not as robust as these programs are that we’re talking about [now],” he said.

Deese continued that what will make this LLC different is that it will combine the efforts of both a faculty member and residential assistance for each community involved.

He said, “The professor can think about ways to teach in interesting and dynamic ways because they have a residential staff working with them to present this to make this happen. You get a more enriched and emerging experience.”

Some students said that the living experience they have now is not the best.

Tim Smith / Photo Editor

Lindelof said she lives in Monadnock and said that it’s not the best dorm to be in. “I think they should probably put some of the money into some of the buildings they already have,” she said.

Associate Director for Facilities and Business Operations Jim Carley said he sympathizes and agrees. He said, “We do what we can to upkeep the [older] buildings. [Monadnock’s] a classic example of a building that’s really old and tired and the issue becomes [that] when you have a structure that is really past its prime you have to make a decision: do you spend the money to totally renovate it or do you tear it down?”

Carley said finances are a big component of the decisions made. “There’s only so much you can do to renovate them. You can make them nicer, but you can’t really turn these buildings into living learning communities,” he said.

He said a lot of the older buildings don’t have what the school hopes for since living and learning community dormitories are the future. “The goal is [to] eventually to have all of the students who come into the college be able to be part of the living learning community. In order for us to be able to do that, we need to be able to have buildings that are capable of doing the real formal learning component,” he said.

Carley said, “This type of component is really geared toward first-year students. [This building is] for our freshmen students to really get them accumulated into the college [lifestyle].”

Carley said that the school is also aware of upper-classmen who want to stay on campus but have a difficult time doing so. “The goal is that there will be more residence halls like that on campus of that style, maybe not that size but that style,” he said.

Director of Residential Life Drake-Deese said that the college has to be weary of expenses. “You know you can imagine a building costing  $32 million a pot so to put all first year students in one of these [buildings] would be expensive. So I think this is where we’re starting,” he said.

He continue to say that research supports LLCs and has show that they can encourage higher GPAs and help a student feel more connected to a college and have a more fulfilling social life. He also said that this type of building opens the door for more field trips and out of classroom experiences. “It’s a much more dynamic way of learning both academically and socially,” he said.

Dorothy can be contacted at dengland@kscequinox.com