The political science department is operating with just four staff members this semester.
Those four would be political science chair Philip Barker, Dr. Margaret Mott, Shaun Filiault and Dr. Michael Welsh.
However Welsh also serves as Assistant Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) at Keene, and is not teaching any political science classes this fall, and Barker will be away on sabbatical in the Spring.
Mott and Filiault are new members to the department this semester, having joined after former Keene State professors Dr. William Bendix and Dr. Wesley Martin finished up their careers at Keene State. Bendix accepted a teaching position at Dakota State University and Martin retired.
“It does feel like the department was gutted,” said KSC senior Ryan Meehan. Meehan, who is also president of the KSC Democrats Club, said he is enjoying classes with the new professors, although he is worried about where the department is headed. “It’s disappointing to know that as I’m out the door the department feels like it’s collapsing. I do miss the people who retired or moved on.”
Meehan added that Martin had been his advisor, however following Martin’s retirement he had to find a new advisor. He said this was communicated poorly to him. “It just felt like I was going off rumors and hearsay. It was frustrating.” Meehan’s new advisor is Welsh.
KSC junior Allison Newey was scheduled to take a course with Bendix this fall, however two weeks prior to the start of the semester Newey discovered Bendix would not be returning to teach.
“It was very weird going in the first day of classes and he wasn’t the one teaching it,” Newey said. “It’s just a weird adjustment.”
Newey added that with Barker leaving on sabbatical next semester and the department shrinking, she is concerned about her academic future. She said an aspect of her major she wishes to focus on is international politics and global relations which are types of classes typically taught by Barker or other veteran professors like Bendix and Martin.
“It’s definitely kind of scary,” Newey said. “It’s certainly difficult to find out what classes I want to take.”
Mott said the leaves of professors and the ushering in of new ones represented a dramatic change for students in the department.
“They felt like the ground had changed underneath their feet,” Mott said. “The faculty members they expected to see weren’t there.”
Mott added another concern amongst students was whether or not they could graduate with all the changes occurring in the department, including Bendix and Martin no longer working at Keene.
Before coming to Keene to teach, Mott taught at Marlboro College, a liberal arts school that closed down in 2020. She then worked at Emerson College in Boston. Mott was teaching her classes online last year which she said was difficult.
“I started to get depressed, I think,” Mott said. “I put a lot out when I’m teaching and it was like I’m having this fantasy all alone in my basement and it would be all over as if it never happened.”
Although someone with a Ph.D in political science, Mott said she has never worked in a political science department until she came to Keene State.
“I’m working with students who studied political science and they know what it means to be political scientists,” Mott said. “I’m having the time of my life to be perfectly honest.”
Mott said she’s also impressed with Keene’s political diversity compared to Marlboro’s primarily left-leaning beliefs. She thinks it’s good to have a room filled with varying political beliefs.
Meehan said he is worried about the trajectory the department is headed.
“It doesn’t look good for the future,” Meehan said. “If I was a freshman coming in and I wanted to do poli sci I would be very worried.”
Newey said she thinks things will look better for the department once next semester is figured out.
“I think everyone in the department will breathe a sigh of relief,” Newey said. “But until then a lot of poli sci majors I’m friends with are really confused and don’t really know what to do in terms of what to take for classes next semester.”
Barker and Filiault could not be reached for comment
