Over the summer, Ian Kaplan, a member of the KSC Cultural Center staff and the coordinator for student support in the office of community and belonging, left Keene State, leaving his positions open going into the fall semester. His departure coincided with New Hampshire’s budget law, which included an anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) amendment, passed by legislators in late June.
The website for the New Hampshire Department of Education states that “On July 11, 2025, NHED sent letters to school leaders requiring them to certify their compliance with HB 2 as it relates to the prohibition on DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives and the prohibition on DEI-related contract provisions.”
The punishments for violating the legislation could heavily affect New Hampshire schools going forward. According to the New Hampshire Bulletin, “the potential penalties are steep: If found by the New Hampshire Department of Education to have violated the law, the commissioner of that department must ‘immediately halt all sources of public funding to that public school,’ until the school has come back into compliance.” Despite the difficulties, people are still finding ways to counter the legislation.
Dottie Morris, KSC’s associate vice president for community and belonging, has taken further initiative to stop the legislation, bringing forward a federal lawsuit against the new policies.
The Keene Sentinel reported, “Morris is participating in the lawsuit as an individual, not a representative for Keene State College. Other plaintiffs include the National Education Association-New Hampshire and four school districts.”
In her declaration, Morris reprimanded the legislation, announcing that “HB2 strikes at the core of what I am trying to do in my role at KSC, which is to help give students a better understanding of the world around them so that they can better engage with others after graduation as responsible participants in our civic society.”
Morris is working alongside Gilles Bissonette, who serves as the Legal Director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for New Hampshire, as stated on the ACLU website.
According to Bissonette, they have requested a decision by September 5 as it also serves as the certification deadline put forward by the N.H Department of Education.
“Our immediate hope is that the court will preliminarily block the state’s power to enforce the law,” Bissonette said. “It argues that the law is unconstitutional and that it should be blocked while the case is ongoing.”
“To the extent that schools have made changes because of this law, this would allow them to revert back. If we are successful, the law won’t be able to be enforced.”
Bissonette added that he and the rest of the team are hopeful that they will get a decision by the September 5 deadline.
Morris shared some insight into how her office’s work will be continuing on campus and how she reacted to Kaplan’s departure from Keene State.
“At this time, I am talking with someone to step into [Ian’s] office,” Morris said. “We’re meeting on Tuesday morning [Sep. 2]. I’m sure they’ll continue a lot of the things like Crafternoons and Watercolor Wednesdays.” Morris shared that the person being considered is Nina Zienkiewicz.
Zienkiewicz has worked on setting up both Crafternoons and Watercolor Wednesdays, and served in a one-year term position for the office last school year. She also has previous experience as a work study at KSC and organized the Spring Break Civil Rights Trip. Additionally, she has served as an advisor for the Feminist Collective student group.
Furthermore, Morris confirmed that community and belonging will maintain a steady presence on campus.
“A lot of the work that we have started will continue,” Morris said. “It’s always been about all students and helping them find their place on campus. We want to make sure that people find a place regardless of background.”
Morris went on to say that Community and Belonging will continue to work alongside both the Feminist Collective and Black Student Union as they plan upcoming events for this school year, the same way they have in the past.
Sophomore Gracie Audet, president of KSC Pride, discussed how the club is moving forward without Kaplan and how it will handle DEI being in danger.
“Once I got the news that [Kaplan] was leaving, I contacted the e-board and they were like, ‘Okay, let’s just do this now,’” Audet said. “We reached out to a couple of people about advising, and we found Dr. Mel Adams. Dr. Adams works in the exercise science department and signed on. We’re really excited. She is excited too and has a lot of connections with the greater Keene area.”
Audet went on to confirm that KSC Pride’s e-board members will not be making any changes to the way they run things. Furthermore, none of their planned meetings or events will be canceled because of the new legislation. Audet said that if any future legislation comes up that affects Pride, she and the e-board will do their best to “not combat it but embrace it in a way.”
“I think this year is a growing year for us,” Audet said. “We have our new logo and we’re going to be doing way more events, and we’ll be collaborating with a lot of people. So we actually expect more turnout than last year. Our e-board is very much a well-oiled machine right now.”
Besides the involvement fair, Audet mentioned KSC Pride will be having its first meeting on September 8, from 7-8 p.m.
KSC Pride strives to remain a steady presence at KSC as the legislation against DEI begins to affect Pride Centers and LGBTQ+ groups on college campuses. Recently, the University of Cincinnati shut down its LGBTQ center in an effort to comply with Ohio’s Senate Bill 1, which bans the sponsorship and promotion of DEI on campuses. The NPR Network details how “centers at UC that offered support and programming for women, Black students, and LGBTQ+ students were forced off campus.”
Auburn University, likewise, used to have a DEI office, but it was closed during July. The college’s Pride Center was also never reopened for the fall, as described in an article on AL.com. According to Vocal, “In Texas, Senate Bill 17 has made it illegal for public universities to operate DEI offices or require diversity training, leading to mass layoffs and the closure of LGBTQ+ centers.”
Cynthia Cheshire, adjunct faculty for the department of communication and philosophy, and Rodney Obien, the head of special collections and archives, did not respond to requests for comment.
Chloe Erno can be contacted at
cerno@kscequinox.com
