Jordan Cuddemi
Equinox Staff
The 2011 Spring Weekend events at Keene State College were at max capacity, which paved the way for “intoxicated individuals” and “rowdy subjects.”
Social Activities Council (SAC) hosted fun and games in front of the Student Center starting at 3 p.m. on Friday, with comedian Hal Sparks following at 8 p.m. “The Mabel Brown Room was packed on the floor and in the balcony,” Director of Student Involvement, Jen Farrell said.
However, Farrell said, “No issues or concerns,” arose out of Friday’s events.
On Saturday, SAC hosted a concert, featuring Lupe Fiasco, a hip-hop artist from the west side of Chicago, who welcomed 2,200 fans in the Spaulding Gymnasium.
SAC President Mathew Lane said, “Any major concerts are going to have some problems.” Lines waiting to enter the concert extended past the L.P. Young Student Center. “It takes time to get everyone inside,” Lane said.
With the anticipation rising, Assistant Director of Campus Safety, Ethan Kipnes, said, “A few intoxicated people and a few rowdy subjects,” were present. However, Kipnes said, “I wouldn’t classify anything as out of the ordinary.”
Minor fights and students experiencing dehydration were just a few additional incidents that occurred during the concert. Lane said there was an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) nearby. Farrell said having a large number of students in a closed hot space with limited ventilation prompted the “majority of issues.”
One female subject was bitten in the neck during the concert. “Probably the strangest thing that I have ever encountered,” Farrell said. Although Farrell said she did not witness the incident, she said she got involved shortly after.
Farrell said the area around where the bite occurred was “very heavily bruised. “She was visibly shaken,” Farrell said.
“We did find the person,” who was allegedly responsible, Farrell said. The Keene Police Dept. took statements from both parties and the alleged was asked to leave.
In addition, Lane said a few individuals “got a little banged up in the crowd.”
Officer Kipnes said, “There were somewhere in the neighborhood of three or so arrests that were made during the time frame of the concert.” In addition, Kipnes said, “There may have been one or two more individuals cited.”
Lane said, “No one person was present at every single incident,” so pinning a number on the amount of incidents is difficult to do.
The morning after the concert, “all of the trash barrels were knocked over,” Kipnes said. “That was a project that [KSC Grounds Crew] had to conquer Sunday morning.”
“The whole weekend was nothing that we weren’t anticipating, aside from that one major case, the sexual assault case,” Kipnes said.
Jordan Cuddemi can be contacted at jcuddemi@keeneequinox.com
