Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities Sara Hottinger has taken up the position of Interim Dean of Arts and Humanities for one year starting on July 1.

Hottinger has worked in the Dean’s Office for over two years, first as Assistant Dean and then Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities.

When current Dean of Arts and Humanities Andrew Harris announced his departure from Keene State College this year, Hottinger became a potential candidate as Interim Dean.

“When I announced that I was leaving at the end of this year, the Provost met with all the department chairs in the School of Arts and Humanities and had a pretty wide-ranging conversation about the future leadership of the school. We found a very high-level of support and enthusiasm for her being appointed interim,” Harris said.

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Walter Zakahi declined to comment.

According to Harris, it was Hottinger’s hard work in the Dean’s Office and her contribution to the success of the School of Arts and Humanities that got her the support.

Hottinger explained what her current duties are as Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities.

“As Associate Dean, I work a lot with the department chairs to coordinate the scheduling. I look at all the department schedules and the the schedule of all the courses offered through Arts and Humanities and work to coordinate that. Make sure we’re offering what we need for our students that we have enough, like IA seats enough IH seats, that departments are offering what they need so students can complete their majors. That’s a good portion of my work,” Hottinger said.

Hottinger mentioned that she also works closely with Harris and department chairs on the budget for the School of Arts and Humanities. She works with students through the academic honesty policy process, faculty on curriculum development and new curriculum.

Hottinger spoke of her new book that was published by SUNY Press this month: Inventing the Mathematician: Gender, Race and Our Cultural Understanding of Mathematics. The book looks at the way culture thinks about mathematics and mathematicians, and explores why so many women and students of color don’t stay within this field.

According to Hottinger, she received her PhD from the University of Minnesota in Feminist Studies in 2005.

“As I was finishing up my dissertation, I was also applying for jobs in Women’s and Gender studies in general,” Hottinger said.

Hottinger said that KSC offered her an interview and that she loved the campus.

“What was nice about the faculty position here at Keene State is that it was a split between Women’s and Gender studies and philosophy and my area of research is in the history and philosophy of mathematics and science,” Hottinger said.

According to the KSC website, Hottinger is an interdisciplinary scholar, whose research interests include feminist epistemology, cultural studies of science, and the history and philosophy of mathematics.

Hottinger pointed out her experiences teaching at KSC when she was first hired.

Tim Smith / Photo Editor

“I was able to teach some courses in the philosophy department when I came here in 2005 and in Women’s and Gender studies,” Hottinger said.

Hottinger continued, “I came here as a faculty member and in about 2009, I was asked to coordinate what was then the Women’s Studies program. We offered a Women’s Studies minor and during my time as the coordinator of Women’s Studies, I worked with a wonderful group of feminist faculty from across the school and we proposed a Woman’s and Gender Studies major and we also proposed to move the Women’s Studies program into a department,” Hottinger said.

The Women’s Studies program became a department in 2011, and offers Women’s and Gender Studies major and minor, according to Hottinger.

Hottinger expressed how her love for administration work made her seek new opportunities to work beyond chairing the department of Women’s and Gender Studies.

“When the opportunity came up in 2014 to apply for what was at the time an assistant Dean Position here in Arts and Humanities. I put my application in, I interviewed with Dean Harris and he hired me and I’ve been fortunate to work here in the Dean’s office for the past two years, first as the Assistant Dean and then the Associate Dean,” Hottinger said.

Harris mentioned why he believes Hottinger is a good fit for Interim Dean.

“I think she will be much better than me. What I think is great about next year, and I thought about this a lot, I think the challenge in appointing an Interim Dean is that you get a placeholder. You get someone who will make sure, if you’re not careful, you will get someone who is only a placeholder. Who will just make sure that the minimum work gets done and Sara is not going to be that Interim Dean,” Harris said.

Chair of the English Department Kirsti Sandy pointed out what qualities Hottinger possesses that will make her a good Interim Dean.

“She is very good at big-picture thinking. She will come up with good ideas and she is also very practical. She has that perfect combination of being able to kind of see the big picture and really understand how things work. She has good ideas, she’s creative, but she also has an eye for detail,” Sandy said.

Hottinger said that after her Interim Dean position is over, she plans to stay with KSC and continue to support faculty and students through administration and possibly go back to the classroom and pursue teaching again.   

Jacob Knehr can be contacted at jknehr@kscequinox.com

New international students at Keene State College said that student involvement with politics is quite different from back home.

With the primary closing in, campaign advertisements have been expanding and the international students said that it has been hard not to notice the student involvement with politics.

University of Derby, England, student Emily Shaw said, “There are a lot of student organizations here that are campaigning and volunteering. I’ve seen a lot of Bernie Sanders. I’ve not seen much of anything else. Students seem to get a lot more involved in politics over here. Back home, a lot of young people see it as boring to be honest. Young people just don’t get involved in politics; it’s more like what old people do.”

Shaw added, “I was walking through Keene the other day and there were loads of people going around with badges, banners, stickers, things like that. Back home, you might just get a few fliers through the door or you might see an ad on television after the news, but it’s not really a big deal. America seems to involve the public a lot with politics.”

An international student from France commented on the student involvement in Keene.

Catholic University of Lille, France student Florian Lefebvre said, “French students are not very involved with politics. I think American students are more involved with politics because I see more flags and banners. The campus people are wearing ‘I vote for Trump’ or ‘I vote for Bernie.’’ It’s completely different in France because it’s kind of taboo there. People don’t say who they are voting for.”

An international student from Ireland  said that Americans are more informed in politics than in Ireland.

National University of Ireland in Galway student Mark Dooley said, “Americans seem to be more aware. There seems to be a lot more emphasis on going to rallies. We don’t have people coming in like Bernie Sanders coming into a college and talking.”

International students explained the differences between American politics and politics back home.

Shaw said, “We have MPs [Members of Parliament] back in England. Each constituency, that’s based on population, votes for an MP and then overall, the party with the most votes in each constituency forms a government.”

Shaw continued, “In each constituency, you vote for a candidate. So it would be conservative, labor or whatever. Then, in each constituency, the candidate with the majority vote gets the seat. In Parliament overall, the party with the most seats across the whole country, they form a government.”

Areas with the highest population have the most constituencies and the most representation in Parliament according to Shaw.

Lefebvre explained how politics work in France.

“For the elections in France, it’s not the same way to vote. In France, we vote directly for the president. We don’t have primaries;each state votes in the same day. Then, the president is elected just once. France just has one vote. Elections are quicker in France,” Lefebvre said.

Lefebvre continued, “In France, we don’t have enough money to organize the same events, so it’s more quiet. We speak more about politics for the party, more than just one person, we support the party. America is different than France with politics.”

Lefebvre said that learning about politics in America is important to him because he is studying foreign policy.

“I am lucky actually because I am learning the American presidential campaigns so it’s very important for me. It could have good effects for me. Maybe more aware in policy and politics is important for me and for the country. It’s good to be more aware in politics,” Lefebvre said.

Lefebvre mentioned that the only American candidates he knew of were Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

“Maybe it’s because of the European point of view. From our point of view, you just have two candidates. Maybe it is our fault; I don’t know. Maybe communication could be better from America to Europe about the candidates,” Lefebvre said.

Dooley explained how politics in Ireland compares to America.

Tyrra DeMeritt / Web Master

Dooley said, “So if we were having this presidential election, he’s [the president] the figurehead. He is not as he is here, the commander and chief. We have a Taoiseach , who would be our prime minister. The parliament [Taoiseach] runs the country. Our president is more of a figurehead.”

Dooley continued, “We still have Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labor, Sinn Féin. There are about four or five different parties then even dependent TD’s [Teachtaí Dála], they’ve merged. It’s a lot different than just the two sides, the Democrats and the Republicans.”

Dooley pointed out how political candidates advertise their campaigns.

“Our country is so small. It’s more door-to-door canvassing you see a lot. It’s the parties that you vote for. You’re voting for your local TD. Then it is the TD that vote for the Taoiseach. It’s completely different here,” Dooley said.

Dooley explained what it would take for younger people in Ireland to see a political candidate.

“We wouldn’t have a lot of people show up unless you are involved in politics or in a political party back home. The younger members, you would have Sinn Féin youths or Fianna Fáil youths and you have a younger member, unless you were apart of that organization, you wouldn’t really be following politics as a student,” Dooley said.

Dooley continued, “You wouldn’t go to a rally unless they were taking away free education or taking away something else, then we would rally.”

Jacob can be contacted at jknehr@kscequinox.com

As primary elections get closer, Keene State College students are working with the campaign offices in Keene and encouraging others to vote.

Some students have been volunteering or interning for the various campaign offices located in the Keene area including those of Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

These students have been gathering and encouraging people to vote through canvassing, making phone calls, hosting events, visiting classrooms and setting up tables to talk to people in public places.

Students working for the Donald Trump campaign declined to comment because of the Trump campaign policy, according to Trump Field Representative Denise Bowdidge.

KSC senior and Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer Jeffrey Eilbert said, “I’m working a lot with the student Get Out the Vote effort with the students. I’m trying to get into as many classrooms as possible and talk to as many teachers to get them to open up their classroom for five minutes to talk to students about how to register. They can register and that they are allowed to vote because a lot of people don’t know that they can vote in Keene.”

Eilbert continued,“So far, I’ve been to about ten to twelve [classrooms]. Altogether, we want to get to about one hundred or two hundred classes.”

Campaign offices are offering to shuttle students to the polls on the day of the election.

Luke Stergio / Senior Photographer

According to Eilbert, a student only needs their student ID and driver’s license to vote.

KSC junior and Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer Giselle Snow said, “I’ve been working on getting the students involved because [they’re] a really big population that doesn’t vote. We’ve been working on getting everyone on campus informed. We’ve been letting them know how to vote, where they vote, that they can have a free ride from us on election day, and trying to get more student volunteers and reach out into the community.”

Campaign volunteers and interns said they meet on a regular basis to discuss different ways to get students to vote and to educate people about the candidates.

“On campus, we have a small team going of Hillary supporters. We meet once a week and we go and do phone banking together, we call voters that might be interested in Hillary Clinton and we also go canvassing off campus,” KSC junior and Hillary Clinton Campaign Volunteer Anna Wright said.

Some students have been working with these campaigns for quite some time, picking up extra hours to support the campaign they work for.

KSC senior and Hillary Clinton campaign intern Josh Poloski said “Generally, I have to pick up a couple extra shifts because I’m an intern, not a volunteer, and balancing that with a full course load and working on the weekends.”

Since working with these campaigns, volunteers and interns said that they have learned a lot and have gained valuable skills.

Snow said, “I’ve learned a lot of things working for the Bernie Sanders campaign. I’ve never been super into politics so I never understood the importance of it. Then I got into this campaign and realized just how important it really is to vote and to get everyone else involved. I didn’t realize how many people don’t vote and that’s an issue.”

Some students say they have learned more about the candidate’s viewpoints on certain issues.

Luke Stergio / Senior Photographer

Wright said, “I’ve learned a lot more about Hillary’s campaign in general, what she stands for and her platform. I learned better communication skills because you have to talk to so many people when you go and work there because you have to talk on the phone and in person.”

Volunteers and interns also expressed why they are so dedicated to the campaign that they work for.

Eilbert said, “I think the biggest point that Bernie has that caught my eye is the fact that he’s not accepting donations from super PACs and large corporations. He’s really only accepting small donations from private individuals with about five thousand dollars per donation. Other candidates can receive PACs which allow you to accept donations from corporations and there is no cap on that.”

Some students say they don’t agree with other candidates and that is why they are dedicated to the campaign they work for.

Poloski said, “I never really agreed with a lot of Bernie’s points on economics. I ended up, back in October when Hillary came to Keene State, seeing her and I was completely blown away by what a moving speaker she was.”

Students say what they want in the next president.

Snow said, “I want somebody who isn’t the regular politician. Most politicians have a lot of support from companies who want them to support them back. It’s not just ‘Hey, I think your a great politician,’ it’s, ‘hey, if I give you money, what do I get in return?’ I want somebody who stands on their own, isn’t afraid to say no.”

Other students say why they think the candidate they work for should be the next president.

Wright said, “Hilary probably has the most experience because she was the first lady and secretary of state and she has a lot of experience with foreign policy which we really need right now with everything going on in Syria and ISIS.”

Jacob Knehr can be contacted at jknehr@kscequinox.com

A rumor regarding Canvas issues caused by “Cyber Monday” on November 30, has been circulating around the Keene State College campus.

Students and faculty experienced performance issues (slowness) when accessing Canvas on Monday, November 30. According to Chief Information Officer for KSC Laura Seraichick, Canvas is a cloud-based service that utilizes AWS (Amazon Web Services) as their cloud platform and service provider. This issue was between AWS and Canvas. Canvas did provide an incident debrief report which indicates approximately 60 percent of all Canvas users around the world were affected at some point.

Canvas completed thorough analysis with Amazon Web Services and are confident that the issue has been fully addressed, minimizing repeat issues in the future.

“The information system isn’t on campus, it’s actually a cloud service that they deliver through Amazon cloud service and that’s their platform. It’s sort of three or four parties involved,” Seraichick said.

Seraichick mentioned that Canvas didn’t have enough computing resources for the demands. However, the additional problem of faculty and students not being able to see courses, rosters and other class materials was KSC based.

“The performance issue, the sluggishness, was one issue. The class rosters and schedules, those were out of whack for a couple hours which happened the following day and that has nothing to do with Canvas and Amazon Web Services, it was KSC,” Seraichick said.

KSC feeds from the student information system to the learning management system, so classes were unavailable. A change was put into that feed to open up next semester’s classes. While doing so, problems came up.

“All we did was redo the feed, which resolved the problem. It had to do with the timing of us saying we want to have both semesters. We do this every year, but we changed one of the perimeters and it messed up.” Seraichick said.

KSC senior Lyndsay Coombs said, “I was unable to submit my papers and assignments and I was unable to look at grades for assignments I had turned in.”

Coombs said that her professors were understanding that students were having issues with submitting assignments.

“I was able to work on other assignments or prepare for finals that didn’t require using Canvas which preoccupied my time until it was back up,” Coombs said.

Other students said that they were not affected by the Canvas issue.

KSC junior Sarah O’Connell  said, “I didn’t have much of an issue with it to be honest. It gave me more time to edit my essay so it kinda worked out in my favor.”

KSC junior Nikki Danish said, “The classes I had homework in used other websites so i didn’t notice it was down. My professors didn’t say anything about it because it didn’t affect class.”

Seraichick mentioned what role the Information Technology Group at KSC plays in dealing with vendors like Canvas and Amazon Web Services.

“We have a role in managing the vendor, managing communication, managing authentication pieces. We are more of a communication role,” Seraichick said.

Seraichick said that she is hopeful that the issue with Canvas will not happen again.

Jacob can be contacted at jknehr@kscequinox.com

Keene State College has recently made updates to the tobacco-smoking policy on campus that more clearly define what is considered to be tobacco, smoking and smoking devices that are currently on the market.

KSC has always had a tobacco-smoking policy established on campus. However, after questions from students about smoking-devices like vaporizers and what is considered to be smoking, officials felt the need to clarify the policy.

The updated policy still has the same regulations, such as standing 25 feet away from an academic building while smoking and not smoking indoors.

It is the policy of Keene State College to restrict smoking, vaping and all other tobacco use, inside all buildings owned and occupied or leased and occupied by KSC including the College Camp on Wilson Pond, at special events and conferences, in KSC vehicles and in other outdoor campus spaces as described in Section V:2., according to an email sent to students.

Smoking, vaping and the use of all tobacco products as defined in Section V:1 is prohibited within 25 feet of building entrances, outside stairways to buildings, outdoor passageways to entrances and stairways and near air intake units. Where the needs of smokers and nonsmokers conflict, smoke-free air shall have priority. In addition, Keene State College supports education programs to provide tobacco cessation and prevention initiatives to our students, faculty and other academic appointees and staff.

Definitions in the policy include electronic smoking devices, hookahs, smoking and tobacco products.

College officials said that they hope that one day the KSC campus will become tobacco-free.

Associate Director of Human Resources Karen Crawford, who helped make the updates to the policy, said, “I know the president has been discussing becoming tobacco-free and I know that Healthy KSC has been looking into this as well. It’s not something you flick a switch on and say ‘okay, we’re a tobacco-free campus,’ there are a lot of steps.”

Luke Stergiou / Equinox staff

Crawford is part of the New Hampshire tobacco-grant steering committee, established in October 2014, which is looking into establishing tobacco-free campuses across the state. The committee includes all University System of New Hampshire campuses including community colleges. The committee received a grant from the Center of Disease Control which funds the committee. A manager of the grant directs the committee members and its campuses on how the grant should be used. The grant is used to promote and support students who want to quit smoking.

“For Keene State, we’re not quite there yet for a tobacco-free campus. We thought it was important to have a well established, clear tobacco policy. At some point, we would love to become a tobacco-free campus, but we’re not in the near future,” Crawford said.

“We’re trying to promote and support those students who want to quit. We offer free counseling, patches, gum, things like that for students.”

While this update was made recently, some students say that the older policy was never enforced.

“The smoking policy that was already on campus was never really enforced, and just a couple of days ago after the the updates were made, there was someone vaping in the library behind me. They made updates, but there is not a lot of enforcement behind it. It’s not really doing anything for the students,” KSC senior Paige Marion said.

Marion said that there should be certain sections where you can and cannot smoke on campus and if you violate this rule, students should get a warning. If you get a warning and get caught again, you should get a ticket.

“They should enforce it like they enforce the noise policy in student dorms,” Marion said.

Marion continued on how the policy is currently enforced.

“I’m not a smoker myself, but the smell is not something I particularly enjoy. I wouldn’t go as far to say that we should kick students off-campus for it, but the updates should be more enforced,” Marion said.

Some students say they are still confused about the smoking policy even after the updates.

“I think that the new policy is confusing. Upon reading it, I had no idea where I was even allowed to smoke on campus or if I even was allowed. Not to mention it made me feel awkward about being a smoker in general. Using the phrase ‘with air circulation’ is a bit much as well as vague and I know others agree. There’s no places that are stated where you can smoke,” KSC senior Shannon Dow said.

Dow continued about her opinion on KSC becoming a tobacco-free campus.

“KSC should not be tobacco free considering a majority of student smoke whether it’s an everyday thing or an occasional thing to relieve some stress of school, work, or whatever it may be. I don’t think the school should even have the right to have a smoke free campus. It makes me feel uncomfortable and looked down upon more than I already did.”

Other students said that KSC should become a tobacco-free campus.

“I think for health reasons, the campus should become tobacco-free. Tobacco is just not good for you and if we’re trying to clean up the environment on campus, like with cigarette butts all over the ground, it would take a lot of effort, but it would be for the best,” Marion said.

Jacob can be contacted at jknehr@kscequinox.com

The recent construction on Davis Street and surrounding streets in Keene has raised concerns from students who live on these streets..

According to an email from public works assistant Duncan Watson, the city of Keene maintains 126.8 miles of roads and streets are in various stages of repair. The City currently budgets approximately $1.2M per year for road projects over the next five years.

Some students have been faced issues regarding parking. Keene State College senior Alex Massa said, “I haven’t been able to get out of my driveway.”

Other students caused damage to their cars because of the construction on the sidewalks.

“They didn’t give us a bridge to drive in or out of the our driveway. There was this huge ledge, maybe a couple inches big, where we would bottom-out because they didn’t give us any flat landing or anything. They just left it how it was. That was right when we moved in,” KSC senior Dezary Agosto said.

Agosto continued, “One time they banged on our door at 6:45 in the morning to say that they were taking the bridge down to cement and if anyone needs to get out of the driveway in the morning [do so now]. They didn’t even take down the bridge. They put a sign on our door saying that they were going to be done at a certain time and they were still working on it when they said they were going to be done. It didn’t match what they said. It said it was going to be done on the second of October and it’s now the fourteenth and they just finished.”

A bridge was later installed in her driveway so Agosto and her roommates could get in and out and so the construction workers could still cement the sidewalk.

The Keene City Public Works department is overseeing the construction. Director of the Public Works department Kürt Blomquist is currently out of the country and was unavailable for comment.

Residents were not given a clear time frame of when the construction would finish.

“They didn’t warn us, didn’t tell us how long it would take, so I asked them how long do you plan on blocking us in. They didn’t give us any information at all… The guys said ‘Tell you what, if I can get your car out of this driveway, would it be okay if you just left in on the side of the road?’ I said no because we get tickets if we park on the street and we don’t have a permit to park on the side of the road. He said not to worry about it and he would take care of it and we would be fine. I wanted to talk to my roommates because it isn’t the matter of one car, it’s a matter of four cars needing to eventually get out of the driveway. Our driveway is really small to begin with and it’s already difficult to get out of,” Agosto said.

“We were told the road work would be done last week. There was a note on our door but for the incorrect construction dates,” Massa said.

One student accidentally walked in the wet cement.

KSC senior Erin Hanrahan said, “They didn’t put up caution tape around the cemented sidewalk and I was walking from class and I thought the sidewalk was completely done, so I go and walk on it, and I thought it felt like walking in mud. I look back, and my footprints were in the cement… We heard one of the guys say, ‘Oh I guess I forgot to put up caution tape up over here.’ Then, they called my landlord saying that I picked up the caution tape and walked underneath it purposely!”

Agosto commented on the construction worker’s performance. “Sometimes they will be here and they’re not even working on it and then they will be gone and leave it the way it is.”

Agosto continued, “They neglected to give us any information.”

“They are really unorganized. One time they parked in front of our house and the garbage truck didn’t take out our garbage. There was a lot of garbage on the street because the trucks for the sidewalk construction were there, so the garbage truck couldn’t get to them,” Hanrahan said.

The lack of communication between construction workers and residents was an issue for some.

Agosto said, “It’s just been such a hassle. They just take it upon themselves to park anywhere they want, regardless if they are in the way. I think it would have been better if they had just communicated a little bit better with any of us, considering they are on our street and we are students that have other issues to be worrying about.”

Watson stated that there will be more construction in the near future.

“There will be work on Winchester Street (done by the state) installing a roundabout at the Winchester Street/Key Road intersection and replacing the Island Street Bridge. This is currently scheduled for 2018, but is dependent on State funding as it is a State project,” Watson said.

The construction on Davis Street and its surrounding streets have been recently completed.

Jacob can be contacted at jknehr@kscequinox.com

‘Surely there are other ways that criminals can be punished for their crimes’ 

New Hampshire needs to repeal the death penalty and find a new way to punish criminals, because lethal injection is inhumane and too outdated for today’s society.

The bill to repeal the death penalty for the state of New Hampshire needs to pass and there is a fair chance it will.

Governor Jeanne Shaheen had the opportunity to repeal the bill in 2000, but it took almost a decade-and-a-half for her and the state of New Hampshire to realize the death penalty is too brutal.

There are not enough crimes committed in New Hampshire; or the United States for that matter, that sentence criminals to lethal injection of potassium chloride.

The United States has executed 39 criminals in the past year according to CNN.

AP Photo:
Wednesday, March 12, 2014, N.H. State Rep. Rennie Cushing speaks on the house floor at the Statehouse in Concord, N.H. in favor of abolishing the death penalty. The house bill now passes to the N.H. Senate.

This is the second time in two decades that the number of criminals sentenced to death was below 40.

More and more, state representatives are starting to realize the death penalty needs to be repealed.

Three long-time supporters of the death penalty for the state of New Hampshire have changed their minds and voted for the bill to proceed.

The bill now has numerous supporters from state representatives and from citizens of New Hampshire.

The support for this bill will make it more likely to pass, and then New Hampshire can finally join the 18 other states who have abolished the death penalty.

N.H. is the only state in New England that still has the death penalty and something should be done about it.

The current crimes that warrant the death sentence in the state of New Hampshire include murder of a law enforcement official, murder for hire, murder during a kidnapping, drug sale, home invasion or rape and murder while serving a life sentence in prison.

While these crimes should have a serious consequence, the death penalty is not the way to go.

Surely there are other ways that criminals can be punished for their crimes.

If this bill is passed, it will not change the death sentence of Michael Addison who is currently on death row for the murder of a police officer in 2006.

Addison is the only man on Death Row in the state of New Hampshire since 1939.

It does not make sense, because why would we keep Addison’s death sentence if New Hampshire decides that the death penalty is not the right way to go?

The state should find a new way to punish criminals for these crimes and not sentence them to death.

It is understandable that these crimes are inhumane and the ones who committed them should be punished severely. But is New Hampshire doing the right thing by sentencing them to death?

Is New Hampshire any better than the criminals themselves if this is prohibited?

There are always going to be evil people in this world and killing them is not always the right way to go.

We need to find a new way to punish these criminals.

Jacob Knehr can be contacted at jknehr@keene-equinox.com

People should be able to go into a grocery store, look at the food label and be able to tell whether or not  a food item is healthy.

Unless you have a degree in nutrition and a calculator on you at all times, nutrition labels on goods will always be overlooked.

The labeling system needs to be updated to better fit the way Americans consume food.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed a new change in food labeling that could dramatically affect the way Americans eat, according to The New York Times.

The major changes to the nutrition labels on food packages include putting calorie amounts in large print and adjusting serving sizes to better reflect how much Americans really eat today.

This would be the first significant change in food labels since the government started requiring them in the early 1990s.

Even those nutrition labels that we still use today are based on eating habits and nutrition data from the 1970s and 1980s, also according to The New York Times.

Eating habits and diets have changed significantly since then, and labels on food need to be changed to better suit the twenty-first century.

Changing the way Americans look at nutrition labeling would dramatically change diets by lowering the risk of obesity and other health problems.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one-third of adults are obese, as reported by Healthday.com.

By making adjustments to labels, more people would be aware of what they are consuming.

Having a separate line for manufactured sugars and other added substances that may lead to health problems would help people become more aware of what they’re eating.

Making print larger on labels would help make the nutritional facts more obvious.

For example, instead of labeling a bottle of soda as 2.5 servings, it could be labeled as one bottle per serving, thus making the confusion of serving sizes much simpler to understand.

Since the serving sizes on nutrition labels are usually in small print and put in a spot where they are not as noticeable, it would be beneficial for the consumer to put  a whole bottle as one serving when looking at the other nutritional facts, so it can be interpreted in a more straightforward manner.

Millions of Americans pay attention to product identification, but that also means there are millions of Americans who do not.

Jacob Knehr can be contacted at jknehr@keene-equinox.com