Whitney Cyr
Managing Executive Editor
The Oct. 11 Student Assembly meeting opened with an address from President Giles-Gee. Giles-Gee addressed several issues concerning the campus, including Pumpkin Fest, budget cuts and the recent string of hate graffiti found around the campus.
Giles-Gee praised the curriculum at Keene State College, saying that despite the large amount of budget cuts, the school has still seen a record in the amount of enrolled students this year.
“The sound enrollment is attributed to what you’re doing in class and in the curriculum,” she said. In addition, Giles-Gee praised the college for the amount of community service hours members of the KSC community have completed, which totals more than 5,000 hours.
Vice President Jay Kahn was also present at the meeting and noted in past years, the college was unaware of how much the cost of tuition would be. This year, however, Kahn said talks of tuition changes next year would be discussed at the end of October with the New Hampshire Board of Trustees.
“We also have 20 additional faculty members,” he said.
“The amount of layoffs we had this year were fewer than we projected,” Giles-Gee said.
In addition, Giles-Gee spoke of how the amount of adjunct faculty was reduced, and there is a college-wide mandate of at least 8 students enrolled in each class.
Also, Kahn spoke of the constant discussion between the amount students pay in tuition as opposed to the amount students pay in fees. “We’re constantly asking ourselves, ‘what do we have as fees that should be your tuition?’’ he said.
Kahn also spoke of the rise in tuition. “In-state tuition went up $1400 this year. Without budget cuts, it would have gone up another $1000,” he said.
Giles-Gee spoke of how the college managed to save several jobs within KSC faculty.
“We used a lot of internal hiring,” she said, meaning people who were already faculty and staff at the college took on another responsibility in order to avoid layoffs.
“We are looking for a way to optimize the way we fund this institution,” Giles-Gee said. “We continue to press on with the value of education and a diploma at Keene State College.”
Giles-Gee said her goal is to make sure the value of the education increases along with the access to education. She said she wishes to sustain the budget models they are using now in order to implement them in the future.
Along with the budget and the cost of tuition, Giles-Gee addressed Pumpkin Fest. “Though I do wish for good behavior from students, I recognize a number of uninvited guests do come to Pumpkin Fest,” she said. Giles-Gee said not all of the 18-24-year-olds at Pumpkin Fest are students at the college or are guests of KSC students.
Giles-Gee briefly spoke of the recent hate graffiti found on campus, saying these issues would be dealt with by education, and she noted several programs would be taking place across the campus in order to “raise questions and change perceptions.”
Other matters that were brought to attention were the possibility of an engineering major in the coming years at KSC.
According to Giles-Gee, the college is considering in, but not for a few years with the addition of the nursing program.
Colin Daly briefly spoke of Pumpkin Lobotomy, noting 30 organizations would have tables at the event, and the dance team would be performing there. He said pumpkins would be passed out from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the Fiske Quad on Friday, October, 21st.
“A lot of organizations are working hard for this event, and we’re excited about it,” he said.
Whitney Cyr can be contacted at wcyr@keene-equinox.com.