Trinity College Student Handbook 2020-2021 September 2, 2020 Trinity College 300 Summit Street Hartford, Connecticut 06106-3100 860-297-2000 http://www.trincoll.edu Dear Trinity Students: During your undergraduate career, the relationships you forge with other students will serve as the bonds that shape our community and hold it together. Your interactions must be guided by principles of care, honesty, integrity, and civility. Together, we must foster inclusivity, promote agency, and create an environment conducive to our personal and collective growth and success. All students should aspire to lead bold, engaged, and transformative lives, that add value to our shared community. The community standards guidelines, policies and procedures found in this handbook are presented to you as a foundation on which to structure your daily interactions. You are responsible for reading, understanding, and observing these guideline, policies, and procedures. Should you have a question, we strongly encourage you to connect with your Residential Learning Coordinators-TRINsition Fellows to discuss the values and communal principles we uphold as a College. They can speak with you individually or in groups and always welcome opportunities to engage in thoughtful discussions about the principles represented by the college’s policies. We continue our important work on the Campaign for Community, an institutional effort to discern and create the community that we wish to be. At its core, our work is to develop a strong community that is inclusive, respectful, caring, and healthy. We remain committed to creating and maintaining learning, living and working environments that are safe, equitable, accessible and inclusive for all members of our community. We ask that you and your peers commit to participate in and feel empowered to lead these conversations. You and your peers help shape the culture of our community. Your engagement in thoughtful discussions and interactions with each other defines our campus climate. Immediately following this letter, you will find our Integrity Contract. Every year new students sign it and each day students live it. This contract represents a commitment by students to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity and to realize their potential as mature and caring adults. Every student has the capacity at Trinity to self-govern and, to accomplish this, must hold herself/himself/themselves, and each other, accountable to our community standards. Your active support of these policies and community standards along with your participation in the vibrant and diverse life of our college will move Trinity toward an inclusive community. We wish you the best in the coming year. Sincerely, Dr. Jody T. Goodman Dean of Student Life and Director of The Bantam Network Robert P. Lukaskiewicz Dean of Community Life and Standards 2 NOTICE: The reader should take notice that every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided herein. Although Trinity College reserves the right to make changes to the Student Handbook at any time without prior no- tice should extraordinary circumstances necessitate it, the College acknowledges the value of the free and open exchange of ideas between students, faculty, and administration regarding policies affecting student life. Therefore, before making any changes to the Student Handbook that may have a significant impact on the campus community, Trinity College will make every effort to provide at least a two-week notice to the student body, and allow for the campus community to offer comment regarding the proposed policy change unless a clear and present danger or change in state or federal law compels immediate action by the College. 3 Trinity College Student Integrity Contract Preamble We the students of Trinity College believe that as individual undergraduates we must assume responsibility for upholding our standards of academic integrity and social conduct. This document articulates those standards upon which the Trinity community can promote an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect in which scholarly work and learning thrive. With this document the Trinity College student body, in accordance with the mission statement of the College, declares its commitment to a code of honor that fosters moral growth and upholds academic and personal integrity. By signing this document, each matriculated student commits to act with honor and integrity at Trinity College. Statement of Rights and Responsibilities Part I: Academic Life Article I: Academic Rights and Freedoms According to the mission statement of Trinity College, excellence in liberal arts education relies on critical thinking, freeing the mind from parochialism and prejudice, and encouraging students to lead examined lives. Free inquiry and free expression are essential for the attainment of these goals. Therefore, we deem it necessary to establish the basic rights and freedoms of the students of Trinity College. Fair grading, protection against improper disclosure, and protection of freedom of association are guaranteed under this contract, subject to the regulations and procedures of Trinity College. Article II: Academic Integrity and Intellectual Dishonesty By choosing to matriculate at Trinity College, we have entered an academic com- munity that thrives on its small size, student-professor interaction, and the free flow of ideas. Our academic community can only thrive if each of us maintains the highest standards of academic integrity. Intellectual honesty is doing our own work and fully crediting the work of others if we use their ideas in our own work. Each student is responsible for knowing what constitutes intellectual honesty in every examination, quiz, paper, lab report, or academic exercise submitted for evaluation at Trinity College. Specific examples of academic dishonesty are listed in the section on intellectual honesty (p. 29). While we are each ultimately responsible for our personal conduct, we also have a responsibility to one another to uphold high standards. Therefore, each student is strongly urged to report suspected cases of academic dishonesty to the Honor Council. Part II: Social Life The principles of honor, responsibility, and self-governance shall extend beyond the classrooms of this College. Though the rules of the College apply to students 4 as stated in the Student Handbook, the establishment of the Student Integrity Contract shall make students accountable to each other. We shall govern ourselves sensibly and support our peers so that they also behave accordingly. As socially responsible and intelligent adults, we shall take responsibility for our actions in social situations and shall conduct ourselves maturely and safely. As students in an academically engaged and socially active environment, we understand that drinking at social events carries responsibilities not only for ourselves but also for our peers. Detrimental behavior that results from alcohol abuse such as belligerence, destruction of College property, and sexual assault shall not be tolerated. Honor Councils Part I: Charge of the Honor Councils It is the responsibility of the Honor Council and the Academic Dishonesty Appeals Board to adjudicate cases in their jurisdiction following the College procedures (see p.31) Part II: Membership, Election, and Tenure The full Honor Council will be comprised of students who have been elected by campus-wide election. Each position will be for a year-long term beginning in the fall and elected the previous spring. The Office of Student and Community Life is responsible for training the members of the Council on judicial procedures and principles of fundamental fairness. This training must occur in the initial weeks of the fall semester. In the spring semester, the student body will be asked to nominate candidates for the Honor Council. Nominated students must be in good academic and disciplinary standing (i.e. not on censure, academic probation, or having any history of suspension from the College) in order to be eligible for service on the Honor Council. A campus-wide election will be held each year to elect the members of the following year’s Honor Council. Students will be able to vote for nominees of their choice to serve on the Council. Winners of this election will be notified shortly after the election. Students serving on the Honor Council must remain in good academic and disciplinary standing for the duration of their term of service. 5 Trinity College Charter To read the Charter of Trinity College as Amended, please visit: www.trincoll.edu/abouttrinity/leadership-governance/. 6 Contents Trinity College Student Integrity Contract ................................................................... 4 Trinity College Charter ........................................................................................................ 6 Section I. Academic Policies ........................................................................................... 9 Academic Calendar ...................................................................................... 10 Confidentiality Policies and Student Records ................................................. 14 Age of Majority ........................................................................................... 18 Release of Information to Parents ................................................................ 20 Publication of Photographs .......................................................................... 27 Intellectual