Cards will now be swiped at the gym and new cameras in dorm rooms are installed
Rebecca Marsh
Equinox Staff
Keene State College is off to a fresh start with the changes in the Spaulding Gymnasium, the Zorn Dining Commons, the freshmen dorms, and the student center. Each of these facilities has something different to offer the school and protect the students from harm.
While most students went home for the summer, the faculty and staff, came up with new ideas. At the gym, the employees devised a new system to let the KSC students and faculty in, and keep people unafilliated with the college out. When a person enters the gym, he or she must get his or her card swiped.
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“We are doing it to verify the identity of the Keene students,” Lynne Andrews, director of recreational sports, said.
Andrews identified the change as a safety precaution to stop the people who are not supposed to be on campus, so that the students are protected. “We have been talking about this for several years,” Andrews said, in regard to the verification of students and faculty. “We’re not open to the community. You have to be affiliated with the school.”
Many students seem to understand the need for this, but have mixed feelings about it.
“It’s a little unnecessary,” junior Kim Lynch said. “I just want to go and workout. It’s just an inconvenience.”
Senior Nick King said, “I think it’s something that people are going to rally against, but I don’t think it’s that much of an inconvenience.”
That is not the only thing that has changed on campus.
The Zorn Dining Commons has a few changes in the menu.
They now get their bagels from Elm City Bagel, a local business. “It’s a better product than what we had before,” Josef Quirinale, general manager of the dining commons, said.
Another new product is the eggs.
The dining commons now receives its eggs from Nellie’s Cage Free in Monroe, N.H. This is another local business that produces cage free eggs.
The students may now go to the grill, instead of the omelet line, to receive fried eggs and such. The breakfast sandwiches are also made at the grill now with the new bagels.
The dining commons has put up a sign at the gluten free station that indicates all the gluten free items that are in the dining commons that day.
When asked about his opinion on the food, Quirinale said, “I’m very proud of it. We have a very talented team.”
The menu changes are having a positive impact on some students.
“It seems like they’re trying to make things healthier. I like that,” junior Sarah Schank said.
Students have mixed views on the food.
“I think it’s great that they are supporting local businesses,” King said. “I don’t think they [the bagels] are good, though.”
Yet another change comes about. There are now cameras in some of the freshmen dorms and around other parts of campus.
“Carle has had cameras and now we have expanded,” Nate Gordon, coordinator of the first year residential experience, said.
The cameras have been placed in Carle, Holloway, Randall, and some outside Butler Court.
These cameras can keep an eye on who goes in and out of the building to make sure that the students are safe.
They also serve the purpose to catch people doing the wrong thing.
“We can specifically bill them for the charges,” Gordon said.
This seems to be a good and bad thing around the student body.
Schank states, “I think it’s good. I think we need stricter rules on the freshmen. But if they put them [the cameras] in my dorm, I’d be pissed.”
King has a different idea, saying, “That’s a little insane. Obviously freshmen are dumb, but that’s part of being a freshman.”
Junior Victoria Forslind has a similar idea to King’s, saying, “I think it’s an invasion of privacy, but I understand because they (the freshmen) tend to be rowdy.”
The student center has undergone a few changes this year as well.
The TV dining area next to the Bean and Bagel has been redone.
The walls have been painted and the carpets have been replaced in the whole dining area.
Since the building has been open for sixteen years, some people thought it needed a bit of change.
“We’re always trying to change things up around here,” Mark Gempler, associate director of the student center, said.
The new space is meant to bring a new sense of companionship. Gempler said, “It was really meant as a space of interaction and for people to hang out together.”
When asked what she thinks about the new seating area, Schank said, “Tacky. They should have changed all the tables. I like it, but they need it all like that.” Forslind has a different idea about it.
“I think that the layout’s really nice,” Forslind said. “It’s a lot more comfortable than it was before.”
Sophomore Haley Nickerson said, “I think it’s more welcoming compared to how it was last year.”
The new features on campus will take some getting used to, but the school seems to be going in the right direction. Hopefully next year they will enforce more changes to make KSC the best it has ever been.
Rebecca Marsh can be contacted at
rmarsh@keene-equinox.com