Two Keene State College faculty members are currently serving in the New Hampshire State House of Representatives, representing districts in Cheshire County.
Shaun Filiault and Nicholas Germana have both served since Dec. 2022, in addition to teaching students at KSC.
Filiault, who represents Cheshire’s District 7 (Ward 2) as an Independent (former member of the Democratic Party), teaches as an adjunct politics professor. Germana, who represents Chershire’s District 1(Ward 1) as a Democrat, is an adjunct history professor.
Filiault co-sponsored a bill that eliminated N.H.’s “gay panic defense.” House Bill 315 was signed into law by Gov.Chris Sununu in July, 2023. Before the passage of this bill, homicide defendants in the state could claim they acted out of temporary insanity or self-defense after learning of the plaintiff’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and successfully obtain a reduced criminal penalty.
“Eliminating the gay panic defense was one of the major reasons I ran for office. Until this bill was passed, a homicide defendant was allowed to claim that the perpetrator killed their victim because that victim was gay, and couldn’t handle when they came onto them. They could argue for their charge to be downgraded from a homicide to a manslaughter. The bill I sponsored made us the first Republican-controlled state in the country to eliminate that defense,” said Filiault.
Filiault, who has experience working as a lawyer, was previously a member of the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee, and is currently serving on the State-Federal Relations Committee.
“The relations committee looks at bills that deal with how the state relates to the federal government, and how they interact with each other based on the constitution,” said Filiault.
Germana, who specializes in teaching German history and the development of German nationalism and serves on the Environment and Agriculture Committee, became interested in history and philosophy while attending Keene State College as a student. Germana graduated in 1997.
“I took a lot of these classes that really sparked that interest in German philosophy for me. The question I had was where this all comes from. I wanted to understand what it was socially and culturally about Germany that produced so many fascinating thinkers. Keene State was a great experience for me, and I found my passion here. Working here now is my response to the wonderful experience I had,” said Germana.
Germana said public funding for education needs to be prioritized in New Hampshire, and highlighted the role state funding plays in tuition prices.
“We have a lack of funding from the state that translates into rising tuition. The cost to attend college is becoming out of reach without going into serious debt, and we’re pricing ourselves out of markets. The states that have invested in public higher-education are now getting the students we used to get,” said Germana.
Germana said New Hampshire’s environmental policy should prioritize environmental health and public safety over business interests.
“Other states have very strong laws which regulate landfills. We don’t have that here. We’ve essentially become the dumping ground for other state’s trash. Now we’ve got a company that wants to build another landfill in Dalton. I want to change the approach to environmental issues, which is currently business-focused. If we have to choose between the interests of business and the interests of the environment, we air towards the side of business. I’ve helped address landfill locations, while also addressing what a business needs to be able to demonstrate in terms of environmental responsibility to be allowed to operate here,” Germana said.
Mayor of Keene Jay Kahn, who previously served as KSC’s Vice President of Finance and Planning, Interim President, and adjunct professor of Management and Economics, said Germana was an involved student.
“I’ve known Nicholas since he was an undergraduate. He was passionate, articulate, and very involved in the student government. He’s taken that same passion into his career as an educator. He cares a lot about his students,” Kahn said.
Nathan Roth, a graduate student studying history and archives, took one of Germana’s history classes and said Germana is an engaging and effective educator.
“He had a very unique approach that I was able to experience as a graduate student,” Roth said. “ … He was able to bring his experience as a state representative, as well as his academic background in history to the classroom, and I really appreciated that,” said Roth.
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
