This past weekend a nightmare took place in the area surrounding Keene State College that shook both the campus and community to its core. Destruction took place leaving behind a flipped car, slashed tires, smashed windshields, torn up street signs and a small fire in close neighborhoods. The Equinox believes that we need to take a huge step back and look at the bigger picture at hand.
We want to look at the magnitude of the situation and the detrimental effect it had on our campus and the community alike. We want to understand why such hateful actions were taking place. We would like to make sense of this madness and why so many young people showed lack of respect for themselves and others.
The level of ruthless behavior that took place, regardless of whether it came from our students here at Keene State College or students from surrounding colleges, is inexcusable and deserves deep thought and attention. The Equinox is truly shaken by what happened this past weekend and playing the blame game and pointing fingers will not alleviate the situation.
Photo illustration by Kyle Bailey / Photo Editor
We believe that there is not one particular reason we can pin-point as to why the events this past weekend transpired the way that they did, however, we do have an idea that explains why everything unraveled the way it did. Based off of our own investigation which was also verified by a statement from the Keene Police Department on Monday afternoon, two parties grew out of control and things rapidly deteriorated from there. Even though less than ten percent of the ID’d arrests were KSC students, it was KSC students who hosted the parties that drew the hundreds of others responsible for the vandalism that followed. We need to own up to that.
Like it or not, the college has had a bullseye on it since last years Pumpkin Fest and thousands of people beyond Keene State College could not wait for the next opportunity to throw a KSC house party into mayhem.
To think that what constitutes as a good time is to hurt others and put countless lives in a position of danger is twisted and something we need to recognize as wrong. It needs to stop.
Why did so many people feel the need to rebel against what it means to be a respectful citizen and human being? As one tweeter put it, the thrill or rush of violent and reckless behavior cannot supersede having compassion for others. That tweeter was a “Kinda Sorta College” woman or a “Keg-Stand College” man.
With that said, we also believe that there is hope and that we have the ability to turn things around. Keene State College as a whole can rise above this and must rise above this. There are countless students here who pour so much of their time and energy into earning a degree from this school and making as many positive contributions to the college as possible.
The Equinox believes that our school pride runs much deeper than trying to throw the best parties. The reputation the school gets from these events is not a true representation of the etiquette, work ethic and intentions of our students. We as students work incredibly hard to become well-rounded and educated individuals. We do not support the destruction and disrespect to the community that we witnessed.
For example, hundreds of KSC students gathered early Sunday morning to pick up the shameful mess left behind. We unified in an attempt to undo the nightmare that too many of us and far too many others caused. Wearing our Keene State College apparel proudly, we attempted to show what KSC truly stands for.
Let us be clear, we are not saying that what happened is acceptable so long as we wake up in the morning and take care of the mess. We are saying we must make collective efforts to ensure that we do everything in our power to fix what we can at this point. We cannot go back in time and erase what happened; we can, however, look for ways to keep it from happening again. The college as a whole is stained after the events that took place this past weekend, but this stain is capable of being scrubbed away.
The Equinox believes that we need to move forward. We cannot dwell on all of the negative comments being made about our school, but rather we need to focus on how we can do upstanding, productive things for the college and for the community that has nurtured us with tools and resources for our futures.
#KeeneStudentsCare