Keene State College is abuzz this Pumpkin Fest with news that on-campus students will no longer be allowed two guests per person. With the Residential Life change in guest policy from two to one, administration and RA’s are hopeful that the large amount of damage that usually occurs throughout the weekend will be reduced. According to Residential Life, the majority of damage occurs by guests because they are not personally invested in the dorms nor are they generally held responsible for the damages they incur. Once the weekend partying is over and done, so too is the guests’ culpability to our campus.
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It is because of this fact that The Equinox strongly supports the decision of the Residential Life staff and other administrators. We as a Keene State College community are proud of our campus and the facilities that are housed here. It is no unknown fact that the damages that occur over holiday weekends—especially Pumpkin Fest—create massive amounts of extra work for on campus employees, including people responsible for the general cleaning of the dorms (Unicco), grounds workers, R.O.C.K.S. recycling student workers, RA’s and RD’s, and many more. Although it is the job of these workers to maintain the general upkeep of the college, it is not fair—nor should it be solely their responsibility—to clean up after hordes of (largely intoxicated, largely unconcerned) young people.
We all have a duty to our campus to keep it functioning smoothly—whether that be as small as not tossing cigarette butts on the ground to more noticeable actions as limiting the potential for damage from unruly guests by reducing our guest policy. Whether or not we believe that KSC is home to us on a personal level, for many students the dorms and residential halls reflect an attempt to create a home-away-from-home, one that can be disrupted and disrespected quite readily by unruly guests and visitors. So this Pumpkin Fest, let’s all try to step up and continue to treat Keene State College as our home base, both for ourselves, our fellow college employees, and the city of Keene at large.
