As Keene State College closed for Thanksgiving break, some students say that the campus closing times are inconvenient.
KSC Residence Halls closed from Wednesday, November 26, at noon to Sunday November 29 at noon. Some students say that these times are usually a hassle for them regarding transportation.
KSC senior Jessica Butterfield said, “I have been affected in the past because my parents work on the day before Thanksgiving and the halls close at twelve on Wednesday. I didn’t have a car, neither could I have one as a freshman and couldn’t afford one sophomore year, so I depended on my parents to come get me. My friend would have to ride me halfway and I would stay with her until one of my parents could come get me.”
Students say that while the closing times for the KSC campus have never inconvenienced them personally, they know the times can be inconvenient for others.
KSC sophomore Kali Santino said,
“Campus closing on the holidays for me is not a hassle because I am from a town close over. However, I have a friend from Buffalo, New York and it is difficult for his parents to come pick him up when it is a set time. They have to plan way in advance to make [transportation] successful.”
Interim Director of Residential Life and Housing Services Casey Justice explained why the residence halls close at these times.
“The halls close during this time because the campus closes down, with the exception of Campus Safety, who work 24/7/365 days a year. Students that live in the apartments, such as Pondside 2 and Bushnell, are allowed to stay during this time, due to the fact that they have full access to a kitchen in their living space and their housing contract grants them this ability.
Students in Pondside 2 and Bushnell are responsible for letting us know that they will be here during that time, so we can ensure their ID card is still active,” Justice said.
Justice continued, “If a student has a conflict with the closing times, we ask them to communicate with their RD directly as soon as possible. We will try to work with them to help accommodate, but at the same time, we need to make sure the buildings are closed down before the RA staff can leave,” Justice said.
According to Justice, the process of closing the residence halls for the Residential Life staff is doing a full walkthrough of the building.
The RAs and RDs then check every room for any health and safety violations that are in plain sight.
They do not open drawers, closets, refrigerators, etc.
The RAs and RDs check to make sure that the students have in fact left for the break and that the windows and shades are closed and the door is locked.
“I think the times are understandable because they need time to let the RA on duty go home and the staff on campus too, but I think that giving students more days off before Thanksgiving would be helpful when trying to get home for the holiday. I think the week would be nice to have off because my family doesn’t work the weekend so they could have gotten me easily on Saturday or Sunday,” Butterfield said.
Santino said, “I think that the time for Wednesday should be a little later and not at 10 a.m. because I feel like the parents need more time, or the student to drive [themself] home.”
Residential Life said they try their best to work with students and families ahead of time.
“We understand that work schedules of someone coming to pick them up might conflict with the time of move out, but provided we are told ahead of time, we will work with that student and their family. We strongly encourage students to be upfront with us if they have a conflict, telling us on the day of move out, one hour before you are supposed to be out of the building, shows a disregard for the rules and dates that have been set in place. Obviously there are always extenuating circumstances, but those are few and far between. There is no reason for a student to not know when the halls are closing and to plan accordingly,” Justice said.
All closing and opening times are posted on the Residential Life website.
The RDs also post all information regarding move-out times on the Residence Hall Facebook pages, send out an email to all of their residents and put flyers up in the building.
Each student has a closing checklist that goes on their door that they need to sign as they leave.
Also, all information regarding closing times are covered during floor meetings in case any students have questions.
Jacob can be contacted at jknehr@kscequinox.com
