KSC president defends student body
Main Street in downtown Keene, New Hampshire, serves as the quintessential New England scene, as well as a backdrop to Keene State College.
Main Street is a destination.
More than that, it is a home address; an address that hosts more than 5,000 students, including the President of KSC, Anne Huot. It is at this intersection at 229 Main as the college meets downtown Keene where a relationship is formed, a relationship that, in recent months, has taken a hit.
In October, students of KSC celebrated the Red Sox victory in the World Series. While reports claimed thousands of KSC students “rioted,” both President Huot and Vice President of Student Affairs, Andy Robinson, concluded such reports were merely exaggerated headlines.
“I frankly disagree with the estimates of one thousand students,” Robinson stated, “I’d say there were only a few hundred, and I was there.”
The president, who was also present on Appian Way the night of the celebration, stated likewise.
The president said it was a number of “Twenty to twenty-five young men in the middle of the event that began, in my opinion, an effort to stir very rowdy behavior.”
“Call it a riot? I wouldn’t call it a riot,” Robinson said, “It’s a catchy term, it makes good headlines…The way I see it is there was a relatively small number of students who were really extraordinarily inappropriate.”
Robinson noted there was no damage on Appian Way. He also stated he believed the police response was “at the right level.”
President Huot, however, said the action taken by police was “not mine [hers] to judge.”
Robinson commented in detail on the pre-planning for the post-World Series events, noting the police and Campus Safety presence on campus that night.
The president added students caused no damage to downtown Keene, as students were kept on campus by security.
Huot added, “Because we had the borders of the campus protected because of our pre-planning, they [students] didn’t get there.”
Robinson added, “I guarantee next year we will be trying more things and new things and we will come up with them from dialogue with students, the police, the city and with neighbors.”
Still, the college took a toll in reputation and image.
Dean of Students, Gail Zimmerman, stated the series of events, referring to Pumpkin Fest incidents closely preceding the World Series, is what has made some Keene community members outraged.
“Given this backdrop of the community being upset with this other piece, this gets layered onto that. It is exaggerated in the community members’ minds,” Zimmerman said.
Eric Grady, KSC student body president, said he felt the image of his peers was damaged by the incident.
“It gives us a bad reputation. I don’t think it would have hurt our reputation as bad if it wasn’t right after Pumpkin Fest,” Grady said.
Huot insisted the action taken by those few students was inappropriate. But according to the president, innocent students have fallen victim to this “tarnished” reputation.
Huot said, “I think the ongoing public press that paints all of our students with a single brush is unfair, and I think has the potential to damage the college’s reputation.”
Grady said he believes the community has treated his peers unfairly.
“I think the community overreacts a little bit,” he continued, “They’re up in arms about this so called ‘riot,’ but nobody cared when we sent one hundred-fifty students across the country to do community service last year,” Grady said, asking residents why they did not bother to write passionate letters then.
Robinson said colleges across the country face struggles similar to the situation KSC is in.
“We have made so much progress in our community service programs, in our community relations, in our work with the neighborhoods, in our relationship with the Keene Police Department…it feels like we’ve made so much tremendous progress and yet these kinds of things still happen,” Robinson said.
According to Robinson, the college will financially assist KSC student, Samuel Murray, whose vehicle was overturned that night.
Zimmerman stated when the students who caused damage are properly identified by KPD, those students will face consequences for their violations.
“We definitely will hold students accountable to the code of conduct when we have the evidence that supports the violation. Sometimes that takes time to gather in an event of the nature that we had,” she said.
Keene Police Department Sergeant, Michael Kopcha, said the investigation regarding students who caused damage to Murray’s car is open and ongoing. Kopcha stated no arrests have been made in the case.
As the stories continue, the investigation furthers and as the college picks up the pieces on campus, President Huot has been meeting with Keene Mayor, Kendall Lane.
This meeting has the purpose to form a community commission “that will address how the College and City of Keene collaborates for the benefit of Keene, and the Keene State College Community,” as stated in a press release on November 25, 2013.
Huot stated planning for this commission existed before the World Series incidents.
The commission will only further plans to build a positive relationship between the college and the city of Keene.
“The mayor and I are proud of what we are doing and we are proud of our relationship and only good things can come from this. We are all part of the community here. I think we share responsibility for the community and responsibility for each other,” the KSC president said.
It is the intersection on Main Street, the relationship formed between the community and the college, that needs to be repaired and needs to be on every student’s mind, according to the president.
“When you walk through the archway, on the left hand side it says ‘Enter to learn’ and on the right hand side it says ‘Go forth to serve,’” the president said.
“What that really translates to is helping our students develop as whole people and becoming engaged citizens and learning civic responsibility because we do share this Main Street address and we are so connected, I think the civility on the part of our students…is important for our students to remember,” she added.
To see read more on this topic, see The Equinox’s editorial.
Julie Conlon can be contacted at jconlon@keene-equnox.com