As the Spring semester of 2023 comes to an end questions remain about how Keene State College will handle issues for the coming Fall semester.
Students receive weekly emails detailing the Strategic Plan throughout the next school year , which The Equinox believes can be hard to understand. What is understandable is that there is a lot of focus on adding new things to the college. From sports to majors, the addition of the new is taking precedence.
The Equinox thinks that the Strategic Plan has too big of a focus on adding things to Keene State College and that there is not enough focus on fixing what is already here. While not confirmed, Keene State College is planning on adding new sports such as tennis. Adding and promoting new sports may sound very good on paper and certainly can bring in more students, but The Equinox is worried that these new students will not stay.
Keene State College should focus on student retention rather than what will bring in new students. Enrollment numbers mean nothing if the students will not stay. The Equinox is concerned that Keene State College is promising a lot without following through.
Adding new majors without adding faculty would leave staff burnt out. If Keene State College wants to add majors they need to add more staff or else the departments will be stretched too thin.
Instead of adding more things to worry about, Keene State College should look at what problems already exist and fix them. No matter how much stuff gets added the original problems will not go away, in fact, it will only add more problems later on.
The Equinox thinks that Keene State College should look into why some students are not satisfied and work to resolve the already existing issues before increasing the risk of more problems.
Something that The Equinox commends Keene State College for in the Strategic Plan is improvements to buildings. This is something else that was described in the Strategic Plan that The Equinox thinks is a nice touch. Focusing on what can be improved rather than what can be added is a great way to look at what to do for the college.
Things that The Equinox believes Keene State College could be improved upon involve existing sports and student involvement.
Club sports are an aspect of the college experience that The Equinox thinks Keene State College can fix. They could be treated better and prioritized over rumored new sports. The addition of new sports could bring in more students, but if these students do not feel that their sport is being treated well, they will leave.
The Equinox thinks that Keene State College should focus more on how they can improve student involvement as well. Students should have a grand experience at Keene State College; there should be a huge sense of community all over campus.
Students need to get involved around campus as it would improve the social aspect of college. Making improvements to student involvement would help student retention, which The Equinox believes is more valuable than increasing enrollment numbers.
The Equinox wants what is best for Keene State College. We want to have a spectacular experience next year and we look forward to seeing how things will improve.
