Citizens for Keene State College [CfKSC] is a recently formed, still expanding coalition made up of faculty, students, alumni, non-profit leaders, parents, business owners and community members. CfKSC wants to change the narrative around higher education in New Hampshire, and emphasize the importance of Keene State to its surrounding communities.
Paul Vincent, a CfKSC member, said the coalition was formed as a result of former Keene State president Melinda Treadwell’s departure.
“It hit me that something serious was happening [at Keene] when Treadwell left. At the time, I was taking a CALL program class with Debbie Bowie [another CfKSC member], and she said we needed to do something,” he said. “I had said no, not yet, but by the end of that semester, we realized it was time. I got a hold of Jan Cohen, the three of us held an at-home meeting that 18 people came to, and that kicked it off. Now we’ve got over 300 members.”
Vincent is a retired professor, former library director and former co-runner of the Cohen Institute at Keene State, but doesn’t consider himself “fully retired,” as he still teaches courses in the CALL Program.
Kendall Lane, former mayor of Keene, N.H., said he joined CfKSC because he understood and recognized the role that Keene State plays in the Monadnock region. He said that the school had given him a lot throughout his life, so “giving back was easy.”
Lane grew up close to Keene State’s campus, and spent much of his time exploring it. He said he’d been involved with the college for “practically his whole life,” and that most of his friends growing up were kids whose parents worked there.
Despite going to the University of New Hampshire [UNH] for his undergrad, he returned to Keene and served as mayor for four two-year terms. Lane said he was one of the earliest people involved in CfKSC because he realized how important it was.
Julio Del Sesto, a Keene State professor and chair of the school’s journalism department, shared a similar sentiment: “I’ve been here for 18 years, and I was a student here before that. This is a special place. The people are special, but unfortunately, outside of campus, not a lot of people are aware of the amazing faculty and students we have. Everything I’ve done since I started teaching is a way of paying back what I got from here.”
Del Sesto said that when CfKSC started up, he was asked by a former professor of his, Rose Kundanis, to join the coalition’s Public Relations committee. Del Sesto felt that Keene had always had a hard time telling its story, and the committee’s efforts were trying to change that.
An introductory video has been released on CfKSC’s website, with another currently in the works. Del Sesto said that the committee’s focus right now is business owners and city officials who are speaking on behalf of those impacted by Keene State’s presence, both economically and culturally.
“Part of telling our story is showing the connection between the college and the region. I’m not sure people realize what would happen if the school wasn’t here,” said Del Sesto. He continued, “It would affect property taxes, home value, absolutely everything would change. Even the culture of this place, of the city and the region. It really affects everything.”
Del Sesto also said that from a practical standpoint, KSC’s liberal arts education can open doors for students. He said that having exposure to different information, ways of thinking, philosophies and disciplines can change the way a person learns and grows.
Vincent said that he feels it’s “necessary” to have both a professional degree and an underpinning of liberal arts. He said that the liberal arts help students think on their own, think creatively, and ask questions they otherwise wouldn’t consider if they only studied within their career field.
Over the past few years, Keene State has faced many challenges, largely due to budget cuts and losing state funding. In November 2025, 25 staff reductions occurred, with 17 individuals affected. Additionally, there was an increase in tuition, mandatory fees and housing pricing, according to Jen Ferrell in a previous Equinox article. Several majors were put on hold, including political science, legal studies and environmental studies, and many professors had their positions docked from tenured to adjunct.
Despite this, Vincent said that the search for a new college president is good news. He said that people should share the hope that KSC’s next president “won’t be coming in blind, and they’ll know what they’re getting themselves into when taking the job.”
Lane added, “The next president needs to be somebody who will sit down, work with the faculty, students and community to find solutions. I don’t expect them to have all the answers, but I want them to do the best they can with the challenges we’re facing.”
In regard to the presidential search, Del Sesto said that he hoped the person who takes the role will include the whole community in conversations about Keene State’s future. “We’re going to have to do things differently. We have some creative, amazing people on campus who really love this place, and I hope we get someone who recognizes that. I’m pretty confident that we’ll figure out a way to survive,” he said.
According to Vincent, Citizens for Keene State College got its name because it was founded on the needs of Keene State, but also “the needs that are shared throughout all of New Hampshire higher education.” He said that having such a wide range of people involved led to constructive debate and enabled their meetings to serve as a place where members can “lose their fear and learn to respect others.”
Vincent said, “We have people from the business committee, the city council, the Equinox, the radio stations, and local teachers who got their undergraduates at Keene. They make our organization more powerful.”
“I’m not sure that all by ourselves we can solve the problems [in higher education], but we can certainly make lawmakers aware of it, and to some extent, make the nation aware that it’s in critical need,” said Lane.
Samantha Menard can be contacted at
smenard@kscequinox.com
