Here at Keene State College, students would like to think that they are getting the fair and accurate educational experience that was advertised when they first showed interest in our school.
When prospective students come to take a tour of the school, how many of them actually end up living in a dorm similar to what they are shown. Some of the advertisements that the school publishes does not always show KSC in the light that active students all know to be true.
What this is referring to is diversity. Now, The Equinox would like to first explain that we speak about diversity as something much more than just race. Diversity can be seen in culture, intellect and religion, among many other things. This is not to say that KSC lacks different cultures, intellect or religions.
However, we as The Equinox do not agree with advertising our school to be something that it is not to its entirety.
Kyle Bailey / Photo Editor
A review on Niche.com rates KSC with a “C” for diversity in terms of race alone. According to this website, the breakdown of race diversity is as follows: 1 percent African American, 1 percent Asian, 3 percent Hispanic, 0 percent International, 0 percent Native American, 82 percent White and 12 percent Unknown.
As the facts and figures show, KSC is a predominantly white college. It is apparent that the college could do a better job at reaching out to people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds to help diversify the college and lessen the stereotype that only white students attend the school. If our advertisements are solely for public relation reasons, then maybe the school should consider a new way of showing what is offered here. The Equinox firmly wishes that we could think of our college as more than just a business looking for a way to make a buck.
The school brochures handed out during tours and orientation should accurately represent the student body. Picking a token disabled person or a token person of color is not necessarily an accurate depiction of what the majority of students here are like.
This is absolutely not to be confused with The Equinox believing that people of minorities should not be acknowledged. We do not agree with that at all, but we do believe we should be showing the public exactly what they will see if they were to actually enroll here — an unfortunate lack of diversity.
This notion also goes into the false advertisement related to showing first-year dormitories. When most students tour here with their parents, they are shown the one fairly new and clean dorms.
Fiske Hall, for exmaple. This hall is located right on the quad with a beautiful view of the campus and is a relatively new and appealing building. In reality, however, a very little number of students get placed there for housing. Instead, they end up in much older, dirtier looking dorms such as Carle or Randall Hall.
These are dorms in which students often complain about cleanliness issues, building problems, noise levels, etc. We understand that the college needs to attract students to our campus environment, but we believe we should give them the honest truth up front.
If this isn’t done, students will figure out the reality when they eventually decide to enroll here and decide this is not what they were led to believe.
The Equinox believes this college has wonders to offer and needs to show everyone its positive features. That does not mean, however, that KSC should hide the issues it has, such as the outdated housing, the forced triples or the buildings that have heating problems.
The Equinox believes that if the college wants to advertise itself as a school with a wide multicultural community, then it should have the figures to back it up.
Encourage diversity at this school. We recognize that the faculty and administration are far more diverse than the student body, but that hasn’t translated into a diverse student body.
The college either needs to stop putting itself in a false light and should label itself for what it is, or take steps to rectify its abysmal diversity statistics and inadequate facilities.
Every college is going to have its issues — this school is still a place for great opportunity and a place to gain valuable experiences that will greatly benefit students later on in life. We just ask that the college as a whole be more realistic with the public.
