Keene State College Cracks Down on Students During Pumpkin Fest, Banning Visitors

Not known for being freedom-friendly, Keene State College is once again showing it’s authoritarianism and making headlines for it. Using the 2014 Pumpkin Fest riots as their excuse, they’ve banned students from having any guests, including family between October 26th and 29th.

According to Alex Pappas, the author of a petition begging college admins to rescind the policy, the college is threatening students with $100-per-guest fines and “disciplinary action” if they are caught with visitors.

Pappas’ birthday is within the timeframe and he’d been planning on having his family visit. Now because of fears surrounding riots that likely involved students who are no longer at KSC, the simple freedom of association has been stripped away.

Students shouldn’t be surprised, KSC has prospective students sign away all their rights at the beginning of their school career there. If the school security wants to stop and frisk a student, or inspect their dorm room, they can and will. Better hope they don’t see Raised in a government school system for more than a decade prior, many students are used to police searches thanks to the insane “war on drugs” that has been raging against the rights of students in the hallways of government schools at all levels for years.

KSC’s spokesbureaucrat says the policy is for the “safety” of the students. According to the Union Leader story, they will not be rescinding the restriction despite the hundreds of petition signatures.

Let’s not forget the real reason the Pumpkin Fest riots occurred in 2014. According to the students who were there, it was the crackdown by police on daytime parties that started the roaming crowds of drunken, angry revelers. The police attacks on peaceful students continued into the night, completely unprovoked.

This year, students have a new tool in their repertoire, should they choose to use it. Cell 411 is a free cell phone app that allows you to send emergency alerts to your friends and family if something bad (like a police or campus security encounter, medical emergency, or whatever) happens to you. It also allows you to easily stream live video of the situation for your friends to see. I highly recommend downloading and getting familiar with it before next weekend.