Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Holocaust and Genocide Awareness club was active on Keene State’s campus. The club was a student-led initiative, with the last Facebook post being in January of 2020, announcing an event on systemic racism for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The pandemic led to the club being disbanded.
According to Ashley Greene, chair of Holocaust and genocide studies, the club both organized for speakers to come to campus and made plans for field trips to regional museums.
The Keene State College website, which still includes a non-functional link to the club’s main page, defines the organization as working to “raise awareness about the Holocaust, genocides, and atrocity throughout the world in history and the present day. We work together to learn about the past in order to make a brighter future.”
While the HGS Awareness club isn’t present on campus, the HGS Honors Society is currently active at KSC.
Senior Amarrah Gates, HGS Honors Society co-president, spoke on the HGS Awareness club being disbanded and the role of the honors society on campus.
“We don’t have the club anymore,” Gates said. “We just have the honors society now. I think it helps with academic growth and allows Holocaust and genocide students to have a community and connection with like-minded people.”
Gates expressed a desire to expand the HGS Honor Society’s range at Keene State.
“I’d like it to play a bigger role,” Gates said. “The club isn’t in effect anymore, but we’re working to make it [HGS Honors Society] a more active society.”
Gates expressed her content with the HGS program, saying that “it’s been a very positive experience overall,” and that she thinks “the faculty and staff are really amazing.”
“I think they prioritize student opportunities,” Gates said.
Junior Sammi Goldblatt, the other HGS Honors Society student president, expressed similar sentiments to Gates.
Goldblatt said that she thought the Honors Society was “a great way for students to talk to people with similar interests” and that the current goal is to expand the HGS Honors Society.
Goldblatt added that she thinks one purpose of the Honors Society is to support the Cohen Center.
“There’s only two members so far,” Goldblatt said. “So we’re self-elected. I think the main way to spread it is through HGS classes and word of mouth.”
Chloe Erno can be contacted at
