Unsettling To An Alum

Revisiting Keene, NH Sept. 28, 2014

It was never supposed to be like this.   Keene, New Hampshire is a charming, idyllic place where you escape the hectic pace and complications of big city life, right?    That image is one reason why I transferred to Keene State College forty years ago.   My time spent there was not exactly stress free and many students weren't exactly model citizens, but I still have an affinity for the Monadnock Region that continues to this day.   I was just visiting there three weeks ago.   Imagine my surprise when full fledged riots broke out on and around the KSC campus while the city's nearby Pumpkin Festival was going on.   The scope of the rioting captured by cell phone video made me feel a level of embarrassment about my alma mater I have never felt before.    The chaos of a mix of unruly Keene students, town residents and out-of-towners combined with police officers responding from all across the region in full riot gear made Keene look more like a scene from troubled Ferguson, Missouri than the quiet college town I know so well.    

I suppose a simple solution would be to stop having these festivals as long as so many of these youngsters show an inability to play well with others.   Sure, we can hope the perpetrators get singled out and punished.    I hope to see a very loud and proactive response by political leaders, school administrators and the student body.    I don't want to hear vigorous denials about the severity of what happened.   This is a big black eye for this school, town and event.   As an alumnus, I find all this upsetting.   Scenes of students cleaning up after this mess are one positive portrayal of KSC students.   There needs to be much more before the news cycle moves on to something else.