When major social or sporting events take place students are reminded of the importance of behaving responsibly both on campus and online.
For Super Bowl Sunday, the Keene State College Assistant Director of Campus Safety, Leonard Crossman, said that campus safety used faculty, staff members, students and social media as resources to stay informed about any potential problems, such as rowdy behavior.
“We try to be as prepared as we can for anything that could potentially happen,” Crossman said.
“We do not expect there to be any problems [during the Super Bowl], but we’re going to continue to be as prepared as we can incase of anything — but that is what we do everyday,” Crossman continued.
Crossman clarified that campus safety does not have any professional ways to monitor social media sites.
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Rather, Crossman said they maintain a balance of respecting people’s privacy while making sure everyone is staying safe.
To do this they type in keywords on websites such as Twitter to see if there is anything that could signal to them that students or outsiders might have intentions to jeopardize the safety of the community.
Crossman explained, “It is not campus safety that students should be concerned about seeing those posts.”
“Our job is to make this campus safe. It’s the people that don’t care about us that you need to worry about — people who aren’t a part of our community,” Crossman continued.
In terms of celebrations after such games, Crossman said that history around the country shows that people react in different ways when they are extremely excited or disappointed.
Crossman said, “The Patriots have won in the past and we have not had any problems. People react in different ways to excitement and obviously championships.”
“There have been a number of excessive celebrations in the past throughout the country, but you never know what can happen,” he added.
“We’ve seen Red Sox championships and Patriots championships. For whatever reason, baseball brings on a different response,” he said.
“The reaction from football is calmer. I think people are just as excited but show it differently. Maybe that’s because the weather or maybe because the sport, I am not really sure,” Crossman continued.
Prior to Super Bowl Sunday, an email was sent out to professors encouraging them to discuss responsible behavior for the upcoming weekend.
In response to this, sophomore Jurien Garrison stated that he thought it was a good idea for the email to be sent out.
He said, “I don’t want things to get out of hand and draw negative attention to our school.”
“It is always a good idea to remind students to have fun, but to also be safe and responsible while having fun,” Garrison stated.
Garrison said that in terms of social media sites, he is usually responsible with what he posts online and said he continued to be throughout the game.
“I normally don’t post anything super aggressive on social media sites because you never really know who is looking at your profile,” Garrison stated.
After the festivities that occurred following the Red Sox winning the World Series last year, Garrison stated that he knew the same thing wouldn’t happen with the Patriots winning the Super Bowl.
“I [didn’t] think a riot would break out because of all the negative attention our school has gotten these last couple of months,” Garrison explained.
He said even if something were to have happened, he wouldn’t have wanted any part in it.
During major events such as the Super Bowl, Garrison stated that all he would like campus safety to do is to continue to do their job to the best of their ability.
“I know that with the Super Bowl, there is potential for things to get out of hand and if they did, campus safety [would have had] every right to step in and do their job to ensure the safety of KSC and its students,” Garrison stated.
Unlike Garrison, senior Aisha DiGregorio said that it is unfortunate that faculty members had to send out an email for professors to remind college students to be responsible.
“It is sad that some people take advantage of alcohol and ruin what is supposed to be fun for some people,” DiGregorio said.
With the possibility of outsiders coming to campus to watch the game, DiGregorio said that it is not a bad thing.
“Keene is a small town and brings in a lot of people due to how charming it is,” DiGregorio explained.
“However, I hope that those people respect the fact that Keene is a lovely place and it should continue to be represented that way,” DiGregorio continued.
For the game, DiGregorio said that she was not in Keene.
However, she said that although she wasn’t here, she still knew the importance of watching what she posts on social media sites. DiGregorio said, “I have always felt that it is important to not post direct photos of yourself with alcohol online. Usually our worry is that future employers will see it and refuse us job positions, but unfortunately posting reckless photos can get students in even more trouble,” DiGregorio said.
With campus safety being left to regulate any chaos that could have broken out, DiGregorio said that she feels that they always do all that they can.
“It is hard to control thousands of students, but we, as young adults, should know better than to cause reckless damage,” DiGregorio said.
Sharing the same viewpoint as DiGregorio in terms of the email that was sent out to professors is junior Emily Conrad.
Conrad explained, “I feel as if because of how students have reacted in the past it is necessarry, which is sad considering we are all adults and should know how to behave ourselves.”
Conrad said she was working during the Super Bowl, so she did not have to worry about posting anything that could possibly get her in trouble on social media sites.
Conrad said, “We need to be careful how we act since we have already given our school a bad name, which saddens me, because we are not a bad school.”
“We are a great school with great students, faculty and staff,” she explained.
Brogan Wessell can be contacted at bwessell@keene-equinox.com
