Recent reporting by The Equinox examined the difference between publicly accessible areas of the KSC campus and restricted/limited access areas of campus as part of a series of articles examining a recent directive from the University System of New Hampshire (USNH).
The directive, which outlines how USNH schools are expected to react in the event that federal authorities from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) were to conduct immigration raids on campus, came up after the Trump administration rescinded a 2011 directive barring such operations from taking place on “sensitive areas,” which included college campuses.
While many areas that are considered restricted or limited access areas on campus were discussed in previous reporting, representatives from the KSC Office of Transitions and Community Living declined multiple requests for interviews at the time of publication
The Equinox caught up with Vice President of Enrollment and Student Engagement MB Lufkin to follow up on the residential life aspects of the topic.
KSC’s student living accommodations are the largest and most relevant example of limited and restricted public access since the USNH memo states that ICE and CBP agents would not be able to enter student housing without providing a warrant or employee consent.
Lufkin reaffirmed the limits on access to student housing.
“As the policy outlines, someone that was coming in externally would have to show a warrant and cause before they’d be allowed to enter a residence hall or a specific dorm room,” said Lufkin.
According to Lufkin, student living accommodations afford residential students a degree of privacy through college policies.
“That’s why we have card readers in all of our residence halls. If you’re a resident, you can only access the hall of which you are a resident, unless obviously you’re visiting friends and someone accompanies you in,” said Lufkin.
“Students definitely have protections within their residence halls,” added Lufkin.
Lufkin encouraged students who are curious about refining their understanding of residential life policies to familiarize themselves with the student handbook and residential contracts.
“On the website, the student handbook is easily accessible. There’s a student code of conduct policy, which can be found by going to the website and typing the word ‘student,’ which will bring up the student code of conduct. If you go to keene.edu/office/reslife, you can see the forms that have the housing contract, and both are easily accessible,” said Lufkin.
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
