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THE EQUINOX The student voice of Keene State College
Vol. 69, Issue #5 Thursday, Oct. 6 ,2016
KSCEQUINOX.COM
KSC puts a dent in geology program JESSICA RICARD
Copy Editor
and conversations with students that strongly suggest that administrators are trying to talk them out of continuing, regardless of how far along they are in the major....now they seem to be saying something
t hose students [and] see where A they are in the program... chalkboard in so we want to be the Keene State sure we are College geology wing of s c h e d u l -i n g the science center reads, “Without people studying courses students geology, people go extinct.” After the administration need and we sent an e-mail to current geology students early in Sep- also want tember, however, it appears the geology program itself might go extinct long before students do. On Sept. 6, KSC sophomore geology students received an e-mail from the Assistant Dean of the School of Sciences Dr. Shari Bemis which said the col-
On Sept. 20, Campus Ecology came to the Student Assembly meetfunds totaling $25,250. ted late, the Student Assembly had to give them a budget of only $2,200. Each year, the Student Assembly is given a certain amount of money to give to student organizations that apply for funds past the deadline. Members of Campus Ecology said that their treasurer from last had been submitted on time. However, because that student is no longer a student at Keene State was considered late. “If they had submitted it on time, they would have been included in the budget that Student Assembly assembled for all student organizations,” said Campus Ecology Advisor and Political Science Professor Dr. Wes Martin. He continued, “Having failed
SAMANTHA MOORE / ART DIRECTOR
them come and take them.” Associate Professor of Geology Dr. Steven Bill described this as “disconcerting” because he said he is
hard for us to sit down and we can continue to talk in the student’s best interest. This is what we need to
[with] declining numbers of tenure-track faculty, it’s
» GEOLOGY, A2
explained.
DOROTHY ENGLAND
NEws Editor Answers to a recent survey sent out are raising funds for Keene’s local Community Kitchen, as well as propelling potential changes for Keene State College’s Zorn Dining Commons. A dollar will be donated by Sodexo, which owns the Zorn Dining Commons, for every survey completed, up to $200. General Manager of Sodexo Josef Quirinale said they donating to Keene’s Community Kitchen because it comes down to primarily being about food. He
“It (Solarfest) shows that the college cares about sustainability. I think it shows parents that there are safe and fun events at Keene State.”
to the Community Kitchen, but food that’s been purchased with the money raised. “It’s associated with feeding the hungry and that seems to be what we’re in the business of doing,” he said. Quirinale said this survey and incentive are not new to campus. “We’ve had the same incentive for several years...and it usually is to a worthy cause that we can locally donate to,” he said. Quirinale said that unfortunately, the survey doesn’t always reach the numbers it’s sent out to. “There are probably 3,000 to 5,000 people this survey goes out to and we only get at the most 300 responses,” he said.
» SURVEY, A3
ROSE LOVETT CAMPUS ECOLOGY PRESIDENT
to do that, they would then have to come back to Student Assembly, as they did, and ask to be funded out of reserve funds,” said Martin said that normally, this reserve fund consists of more than $100,000 and this year, because the college is in debt and spending must be reduced, the reserve fund budget only contains about $20,000. This money is to make up the budget of all 11 student organiza-
» CAMPUS ECOLOGY, A2
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY TIM SMITH AND SAMANTHA MOORE/ PHOTO EDITOR, ART DIRECTOR
Sodexo, which owns the Zorn Dining Commons (ZDC), recently offered a charitable incentive of $1 for every completed survey about the ZDC with a maximum limit of $200. The money raised will then be used to buy food for Keene’s Community Kitchen.
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Index Section A: News .................1-3
Section B: A&E ..................1-4
Opinions ...........4-5
Nation/World...5-6
Student Life ......6-10
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reason to think that those couldn’t be done like that, especially given that students have come here for the program. It seems basically criminal to say, ‘Oh you can’t do it,’” Bill continued. Dean Leversee said the reason for the possible change is because of faculty changes which have occurred over time. Over the past 10 years, Leversee said the program had two tenure-track faculty members, one of whom retired last year, Dr. Peter Nielsen, and another who is nearing retirement, Dr. Steven Bill. Based on past enrollments and numbers of majors, Leversee said replacing the faculty members is a growing concern. “It seems unlikely that we’re going to be able to replace those lines in the same department. We can really see that with two faculty, there were some
Sodexo offers charitable incentive for dining commons survey
ELLIOT WELD
Campus Ecology, one of the student organizations responsible for Solarfest, a festival of solar-powered music, took about a 90 percent
as well look at some other major,’ and we’re protesting,” Bill explained. Bill also said the geology professors, on at least -
t o be sure that when the classes are
Campus Ecology asks for $25,250 and gets $2,200 EquiNox staff
be that
eoralo gy G Prog m
The e-mail from Bemis stated, “I would like to extend my apologies for any inconvenience that this might cause, but please be assured that I have carefully reviewed your transcript and that in my opinion, there is still plenty of time to change your major and still graduate in a timely fashion.” to meet with her personally in order to make adjustments to their schedules. According to the Dean of the School of Sciences and Social Sciences Dr. Gordon Leversee though, he had asked Bemis to be available to identify students who would need assistance in staying on track to fully complete their degree at KSC. Leversee said, “We want to be sure that the students who are here stay on track for completing their courses and their degrees, especially with the faculty retirements. So I’ve asked my Assistant Dean Shari Bemis to identify
wouldn’t
his students. “We [geology professors] found out because one of the students was so upset that she sent a copy of the email to me. We were not aware that this was going on...some of our students have been called in to talk to administrators and they’ve been trying to talk them out
A4: Academic programs getting cut A10: Getting sick? Here’s a tip B1: Fall music festival B10: Brothers on and off the field
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Corrections: News Corrections: Page A1 (9/15): William Seigh is a professor of dance and the Provost, not Interim Provost. Page A3 (9/29): Education majors need a GPA of 2.5 if they are graduating
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