Transforming Trinity College Into the Colossus of Colleges

A Tale of Trinity: Transforming Trinity College Into the Colossus of Colleges

Written from the Perspectives of Current Trinity College Students

“Fortune favors the bold.”—Horace.

“The intelligence suffers today automatically in consequence of the attack on all authority, advantage, or privilege. These things are not done away with, it is needless to say, but numerous scapegoats are made of the less

politically powerful, to satisfy the egalitarian

rage awakened.”

—Wyndham Lewis

Our Letter to You

Dear members of the Trinity Community:

We are Brain Trust, an organization dedicated to expose the truth at Trinity. As of now, we do not believe that the school is heading in the right direction. Likewise, we have written our response to President Jones’ “White Papers” as to what can be done to make Trinity a better place.

We hope you take heed to these suggestions.

Until next time,

Trustees of the Brain Trust— Mister Quintus George Adam Mister John Rogers T Winthrop Orwell Smith

John Mister George Adam Mister T Quintus Winthrop Rogers Orwell Smith

Forward

A simple letter, bearing warm wishes of admission into Trinity College, marks the culmination of a four year odyssey of high school academic achievement, industrious diligence, and, most importantly, high hopes for a bright future. As members of the Trinity community— whether be current student, alumni, or attendee—we can reminiscence about that key moment where that one admission packet opened those coveted gates into Trinity College. Yet, as the gates swung open, each of us had anxious questions about Trinity College:

 How rigorous will my freshman year be?

 Which classes should I take?

 Should I partake in extra-circulars?

 Will I fit into the campus culture?

As one of the great milestones in life, we have come to expect College to a period of tremendous personal growth, a journey from our teenage years into adulthood. In essence, society has mythologized the college into the “lifetime panacea.”1 It may a critical period where

1 Andrew Delbanco, College: What it Was, Is, and Should Be , (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012)

5 we cement our philosophical, political, and religious beliefs. From our picture perfect college dream, we have grown to anticipate that during our college years we find our true purpose in life: a self-satisfying career.

It is true that freshman year is an adjustment process; it is the first out of the next four years in which we make Trinity College our new home. As a home, we expect College to be a safe place: to study, to make lifelong friends, to learn the breadth and depth of meaningful knowledge, and to find our passions and personal pursuits.2

Yet, a simple evaluation of the college myth may cut short those picture-perfect dreams.

Throughout the course of your four College years at Trinity, you may have noticed that your high expectations of the College have been cut short. If you are a current freshman or perspective freshman, then prepare for a reality check. Your first week as a freshman may appear magical, but that fairytale bubble is soon to pop.

As an institution that markets itself as a bastion of collegiality and traditions, such claims fall short. Don’t let the glossy catalog and banal tour guides fool you’ll into “drinking the Kool- aid.3” Frankly, as writers of the Trinity Papers, we believe that the administration is so entrenched with their ivory-towered vision that they don’t give a shit about the students.

Throughout our time at Trinity, we noticed that the half-witted administration would do one of three things: 1) scapegoat innocents, 2) pass the blame, and 3) turn a blind eye to corruption.

2 Ken Robinson, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, ( N e w York, NY: Penguin, 2009).

3 For those not familiar with “drinking the Kool-aid”, it is coined after the 1978 Jonestown massacre; it is a phrase to suggest that one has mindlessly adopted the dogma of a group without understanding the ramifications.

We are Brain Trust, and frankly, we don’t give a shit what “they”—the administration—

will think of us. We are the honey badger. To prove our point, enjoy this meme.

We are writing the Trinity Papers because we truly care about the wellbeing of other

Trinity students. Likewise, we have created the blog Brain Trust at Trinity to denounce of the corruption and bullshit that happens at the school. We will provide you real unfettered news of what really happens at Trinity. Instead of the happy-go-lucky, sugar-coated bullshit that they scoff down your throats, we will provide you with the truth. And let me tell you, the truth isn’t always pretty.

Simply put, we are tired of being suppressed and oppressed by the ungrateful overlords.

If the administration thinks that they can squash us, then think again. We shall come back with vengeance.

"Let the truth be permitted to reach your ears, if only by the hidden path of silent literature. She asks no mercy in her case, because she does not feel any surprise either as to her circumstances...One thing only does she eagerly desire in the meantime, namely that she be not condemned without being known... We are not a new philosophy but a divine revelation. That's why you can't just exterminate us; the more you kill the more we are. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. You praise those who endured pain and death - so long as they aren't the minority! [Their] cruelties merely prove our innocence of the crimes [they] charge against us. When [they] recently to handed a Christian girl over to a brothel-keeper rather than to the lions, they showed they knew we counted chastity dearer than life."

Tertullian's Apologeticum (Source: 1926 A. Souter Translation)

Well then enough ranting for one forward, let us move into the heart of our papers. We will use a simple methodology where we will decry a problem (in the common tongue, “bitching about the problem”) and then offer our suggestions. Fair enough?

Table of Contents

Our Letter to You ...... 4 Forward ...... 5 Academics ...... 11 Facilitating Greater Professor-Student Interaction

Revising the Core

Curtailing Professorial Ideologues

Administrative Reform ...... 18 Re-evaluating the Mission Statement

Cutting College Costs

Who is that Dean? What is their purpose? How many do we have?

Infrastructure ...... 21 Safe Buildings: Working Buildings, Not Aesthetics

Resource Allocation ...... 21 Connecting Trinity Alumni with Trinity Freshman

Competitive Student Grants

More Compassionate, Smarter Student Government

Funding Post-Trinity: The Need for More Student Fellowships

Safety ...... 25 Dealing with the Hazards of Hartford

Security Kiosques

Student Life ...... 26 The New Camp Trin Trin: Reforming the Social Policy & Expanding Greek Life

Reviving Collegiate Traditions

Technology ...... 28 Modernizing Trinity into the Twenty-First Century

Student Grants for Research and Development

Works Cited………………………………………………………………………………………………31

Support Us……………………………………………………………………………………..…………33

Academics By Mister Rogers

“A child miseducated is a child lost.”—President John Fitzgerald Kennedy

If a liberal arts education opens doors to new opportunities and experiences, Trinity

College becomes a quintessential institution fostering the scholarship of humanities, social sciences, and to a lesser degree, science and engineering. By itself, a liberal arts education cannot fill the intellectual gap between the world of ivory towers and main street firms.4,5,6 At liberal arts schools, we are taught to think broadly, yet we are not taught to apply theories to the real world. Although a gap remains between the world of academia and the business world, a bridge can be constructed between both worlds.

In order for liberal arts students to reap the benefits of the job market, liberal arts students must strive to get the best of both academic and real world experiences. 7 Trinity College must serve to bridge the gap between the scholarly community and the real world. There is a real need for students to become to the dynamic world of business, we become more aware of a global

4 Derek Bok, Our Underachieving C olleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More , (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005).

5 D e r e k B o k , Beyond the Ivory Tower, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1 9 8 4 ) .

6 D e r e k B o k , Higher Learning, (Cambridge, MA: H arvard University Press, 1986).

7 Anthony Giddens, Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping the World , (London, UK: Routledge, 2002).

11 community. 8 Arguably, the ultimate goal of obtaining a Trinity College degree is to become qualified for a well-salaried job.

The College has done a better job at creating diversities of people and ideas; this helps to create a microcosm of the world. Ultimately, such experiences culminate to foster students to develop critical thinking scenarios by analyzing the world through interactions with different peoples and ideas. Such actions should theoretically help to not only build tightly-knit communities, but it serves to foster teamwork and leadership. The value of a liberal education at

Trinity serves to open new doors in the long run and offers one of the greatest assets, a devoted network of friends and lifelong business contacts.

While a liberal arts background from Trinity College forms a solid foundation for broad minded thinking, it lacks the cohesiveness of real job skills. In an increasingly globalized world, competitive world, being second won’t cut it anymore. The goal is to become #1. At Trinity

College, we are facing the harsh reality that we are failing as a College. We are failing as a collective.

If Trinity College hopes to remain as a top-tier elite liberal arts school, it must take extensive reforms to enhance the quality of education for its students. Furthermore, it must greater proactive steps to fill the educational void in its students.

8 Clayton Christensen, The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Ins i d e O u t , ( J o s s e y - Bass,2011).

1. Facilitating Greater Professor-Student Interaction

Greater interactions between professors and students can carry a long way. As Richard Light, an educator at Harvard University, summarized in his book Making the Most Of College:

Students who make connections between what goes on inside and outside the classroom report a more satisfying college experience. The students who find some way to connect their interest in music, for example, either with coursework or with an extracurricular volunteer activity or both, report a qualitatively different overall experience. 9

Professors offer valuable insights into which classes should be taken, connections to internships, fellowships, and grants. Most importantly, professors can offer great council as to crossroads in our lives, such as offering advice as to which graduate schools to apply to.

Yet, professors also offer the best critical insights as to which projects, papers, and thesis can be improved on by the most. Professors should strive to tutor students and guide them rather than spoon-feeding students the answer. This type of pedagogy would help to develop better critical thinking skills among students. Furthermore, it fosters greater autonomy amongst students while maintaining strong bonds between professors and students.

Perhaps an institutional problem that occurs most frequently at Trinity College is the lack of a dual advisor system. At Trinity College, students are assigned a major advisor and essentially lose out on a previously developed relation, in most cases, their freshman advisor.

The freshman advisor typically attempts to know their students on a personal level; to a degree, they care about them on a personal level and can connect. This creates a stronger relationship

9 Richard J. Light, Making the Most of College , (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), 14.

13 between professors and students. In the current advisor system at Trinity, the major advisor is often too concerned with directing students to taking the right major concentration classes.

Because of this, students may not their professor as well as they should. In addition, major advisors tend to become too preoccupied the hordes of students waiting for their major consultation.

We at Brain Trust recommend a dual advisor system. Under this system, a student would have a permanent four-year advisor that would track their status at Trinity. Because the four year advisor will have four years to interact with their advisees, they will get to know their students on a personal level. At the same time, the student benefits from having the concentration advisor, whom may be a different professor entirely, focused on directing major concentration classes into an advising schedule. The dual advising system would help students get to know multiple professors and foster meaningful relationships. If implemented, the dual advisor system would mimic the residential deans at Yale University.10

2. Revising the Core

OPTION # 1. FIXING THE CORE

Immersed in the city of New York, the majestic campus of Columbia University resides

as an academic colossus on the Hudson. Because of Columbia’s structured approach to a

liberal arts education, we at Brain Trust find that most appealing aspect of Columbia to be its

core curriculum. Columbia’s core curriculum is a testament to the institution’s colossal

academic nature. Designed to expose students to the “big questions” in society, the core

10 Jerome Karabel, The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, (Mariner Books, 2 0 0 6 ) .

allows us to understand how we are human.11 Some questions may include, but is not limited

to:

 What is individuality?

 What makes each individual unique from one another?

 How does culture shape our perception of who we are?

 Why do people act they way they do?

 How does human nature shape our culture?

By understanding these colossal questions, we would better understand ourselves as individuals and human beings. In essence, the core fulfills a greater purpose: it promotes self- discovery and directs students to fulfill their passions.

For the past two centuries, Columbia has resided as a colossus on the Hudson. Today, it continues to display its prowess as a colossus through its vibrant academic culture, engaging student body, and public services to society.

If fix something that is not broken?

If Trinity College were to pursue a curriculum similar to Columbia University, we abandon the general distribution requirements currently instated. Currently, much of the general education requirements can be constructed as fairly lax. For example, a student wishing to escape a rigorous class may substitute his/her entire general curriculum with “Mickey Mouse”/Fluff classes. No offense to professors that teach such “fluff” classes, but typically these classes are trendy and only relevant for a short period of time. These novel classes may not provide

11 Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind , (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1988).

15 substantial skills that help students in the long run. Instead, if Trinity were to move towards a core similar to Columbia, it should structure its core around the “Great Books.” These books are the classics of western society; such teachings would provide a firm foundation for understanding timeless principles. However, students should also be granted the academic freedom to explore other areas of studies. If students are interested in African classics then they should have the freedom to pursue an independent study or class in that subject matter.

OPTION #2. An Open Core.

Brown University and Amherst College are perhaps two of the most famous academic institutions that still use the open curriculum. Back in the 1980s, Trinity College used to have an open core curriculum. Returning back to an open core would grant students the freedom to take courses of their own choosing; additionally there would be fewer restrictions on course selections other than prerequisites.

Currently in the general education requirement system, there remains a hodgepodge in the quality of students—from the interested to those merely there to satisfy their distribution requirements. Of those there for the requirement, they may not the most incentivized to place their uttermost effort into their performance. Hence, in our general education requirement system, participation may be suboptimal at best.

By eliminating the general education requirement, we remove the disincentive of those disinterested in the subject and merely there to satisfy their distribution requirements. Because an open core would help to facilitate the creation of a more motivated student classroom, we may see in an increase in average class grades. Lastly, by having a classroom of interested and

16 motivated students, the classroom becomes more engaging and the quality of education increases.

3. Curtailing Professorial Ideologues

For those that may have taken Professor Fulco’s class, you may have had the unpleasant experience of dealing with her ideologue-rant-style lectures. Rather than sitting in class being railed with a single ideology—her own take on American liberalism, classrooms should be devoid of indoctrination. Students should be granted the opportunities to be exposed to the many faceted shades of the political spectrum before they cast judgment on an issue. Critical thinking skills are lost when indoctrination occurs.12 Students lose out on the process of shifting through the evidence and evaluating the merits of the arguments. Rather than losing out on such a valuable experience, students should be granted the opportunities to make their own judgments on the issue once they have been presented the relevant sides of the issues.13

In addition, in the current environment, students are treated as if they were intellectually inferior to their professor. Such a culture breeds contempt and decries of an anti-intellectual ethos supplemented with the promotion of cronyism and petty politics.

To reform the system, there needs to be a supportive culture. Professors should try to create a culture in which students are treated as junior colleagues. From our personal observations when visiting friends, our peers at Amherst College have been successful at creating such a culture.

12 Rita Kramer, Ed Follies: The Miseducation of America’s Teachers, ( iUniverse, 2 0 0 1 ) .

13 Roger Kimball, Tenured Radicals: How Politics Has Corrupted Our Higher E d u c a t i o n , ( Ivan R. Dee, 2008).

This collegial culture would aim to reduce strife amongst both professors and students and foster a greater sense of equality among the two.

Administrative Reform By Quintus

1. Re-evaluating the Mission Statement

A simple glance at the College mission statement should leave most people with a look of

confusion. In essence, the mission statement is nothing more than a glorified excuse for self-

indulgence and selfish enrichment of one’s wants over society’s. In the common tongue, it is

“me” before society. For reference to the mission statement, see the box below.

Trinity College is a community united in a quest for excellence in liberal arts education. Our

paramount purpose is to foster critical thinking, free the mind of parochialism and prejudice,

and prepare students to lead examined lives that are personally satisfying, civically

responsible, and socially useful.

Four elements are central to the success of this quest:

 An outstanding and diverse faculty whose members excel in their dual vocation as teachers and scholars; bring to the classroom the vigor, insight, and enthusiasm of women and men actively engaged in intellectual inquiry; work closely with students in a relationship of mutual trust and respect; and share a vision of teaching as conversation, as face-to-face exchange linking professor and student in the search for knowledge and understanding.  A rigorous curriculum that is firmly grounded in the traditional liberal disciplines, but also incorporates newer fields and interdisciplinary approaches; that maintains a creative tension between general education and specialized study in a major; and that takes imaginative advantage of the many educational resources inherent in Trinity's city location.  A talented, strongly motivated, and diverse body of students who expect to be challenged to the limits of their abilities and are engaged with their subjects, their professors, and one another; who take increasing responsibility for shaping their education as they progress through the curriculum; and who recognize that becoming liberally educated entails a lifelong process of disciplined learning and

discovery.  An attractive, supportive, and secure campus community that provides students with abundant opportunities for interchange among themselves and with faculty; sustains a full array of cultural, recreational, social and volunteer activities; entrusts undergraduates to regulate their own affairs; and embodies the institution's conviction that students' experiences in the dormitories, dining halls, and extracurricular organizations, on the playing fields, and in the neighboring city are a powerful complement to the formal learning of the classroom, laboratory, and library.

It is in this mission statement that we become devoid of public service, and, hence, provides one reason why there is a dearth of alumni in the public sector. The lack of a humanist approach has hindered progress for greater community integration. With weak bonds to even serve or improve the local community, how can we even move to be “one with

Hartford?” The lack of mission statement incorporating public service has shown its ugly head already in the Hartford community. There has been much miscommunication and parochialism, all of which has only served to further divide Trinity College from the Hartford community. Rather than being antagonistic to Hartford, we must embrace Hartford and contribute equally to the community, and, hence, public service becomes one outlet.

This also brings up the need of truly evaluating whether or not the College has effectively achieved its goal of reducing parochial thinking at Trinity. If you were to make a mere observation, arguably, the College has failed in reducing parochial thought. If anything at all, more students leave Trinity College with the same level of parochial thinking or an even level greater parochial thinking upon graduation. How has the College failed us from reducing narrow-minded thinking? By its inaction and apathy. Truth be told, it makes more than a change of thought to free the mind; it also takes a change of heart. For this to happen,

there needs to be action and reaction. Trinity College must take the initiative for public

service and only then will the Hartford community begin to open its arms to us.

The mission statement ought to incorporate the need for public service—a need to place

societal issues above one’s own. Lastly, words should be followed with action and a

mandatory component of community service should be required prior to graduation.14

Compulsory service would help to foster people skills for some students and help to build

interpersonal relations between Trinity students and the Hartford community. Thereby, it

would also help to reduce parochial thoughts about Hartford.

2. Cutting Costs

As the seventh most expensive college in the United States, the average Trinity College

student suffers much pains from paying high tuition, but being further taxed by high rates

established by the monopolies on campus—e.g. the bookstore and Chartwells food company.

The service and quality lacks in comparison to institutions that firms competing for students’

business. If College is in the business of selling education first, then food textbooks, and

collegiate wear ought to be bundled together at a competitive rate rather than a monopolist

controlled rate.

The solution is simple. The College needs to merely allow more firms to conduct

business on campus. Competition amongst firms will induce firms to reduce prices or

enhance their services in order to maintain customers—aka, the student.

14 David J. Maurasse, Beyond the Campus: How Colleges and Universities Form Partnerships with Their Communities , (London, UK: Routledge, 2001).

Infrastructure By John Winthrop

1. Safe Buildings: Working Buildings over Aesthetics

Waste not, want not. The old adage still chimes its way into relevance into the Twenty-First

Century. At Trinity, we have come to squander our resources on trivial projects. The administration is there only to sprinkle upon its “magically-telebubby-pixie-dust” as its panacea for all the school ills. Despite these folly of the school, the administration believes that we— students—at Trinity College can be bought off with bread and circuses—in this case, cheap beer, cookouts, and lame concerts. Truth be told, we are tired of the “pixie dust” that the cocky administration thinks that they can sell us.

Rather than wasting money on aesthetics and bread and circuses, the school administration needs to re-evaluate its priorities. First of all, the buildings at Trinity College are crumbling, leaking with busted pipes (Mc Cook and the Life Science Centers for starters). Rather than spending $2.2 million dollars on renovating the Mather Quad , should the money be prioritized to make sure that we—students—are learning in safe buildings?

Second, many of the classrooms in Seabury are equipped the latest technologies—electronic whiteboards, dual projectors, you name it—but isn’t two projectors per classroom excessive?

Instead of over impressing perspective students with the glorified and gaudy display of technology, should we not instead evenly disperse those resources across the campus? Some classrooms, for example, in Mc Cook, are using technology from decades past.

As students at Trinity College, we deserve better. All we ask is simply a safe place to study—a place that will not collapse on us, or for that matter, having pipes burst in the middle of class.

Resource Allocation By Adam Smith

1. Connecting Trinity Alumni with Trinity Freshman

Competition, competition, competition. Arguably, Trinity is starting to lose out to the

competition where schools, such as Amherst College, are helping their freshman garner

internships and connections with alumni. Other than the usual Vault™ guides, resume and

cover letter evaluations, and occasional mock interviews, the Trinity College Career Services

lags behind the competition.

What the Career Services needs to accomplish if it hopes to “catch-up” with the

competition is to actual help students get internships at an earlier age. Only by helping

freshman to successfully obtain internships during the summer can Career Services help to

“level the competition.” It is by this process where the snowball effect of careerism serves to

compound the experience level of Trinity Students. In order to get the most lucrative

positions, a certain level of prior internship experiences must be established; hence, the need

for earlier action.

2. Competitive Student Grants

At the crux of human innovation, the spirit of individualism has been the engine, if not

the catalyst of human progress. Yet without social cooperation, society would cease to have

specialized labor and the miracle of the markets. Few, if no other, human institution can

facilitate the complete freedom to engage in commerce. A system where individuals may not

know each other, but nonetheless, they still engage in the largest economic exchange; it is in

this globalized system were simple objects, such as pencils, can be mass produced from raw

materials that span every inch of the globe.

Despite the seemingly antithetical nature of self-reliance and social cooperation, both are necessary forces that continually spur human civilization towards greater discovery and prosperity. Yet, it is first through self-reliance where human action remains paramount.

Individuals are each blessed with their own personalities; every human is distinct from their predecessor and neighbor. It is through the process of self-recognition of human identity where self-interest, self-expression, and the desire to be an individual are materialized.

In recognition of personal individualism, each human being is born free. In a world of greater individual freedom, human beings are free to engage in their voluntary exercise of human ingenuity. This is how innovation propels the spirit of humanity further to ameliorate the ills of society.

After all, if innovation can drive the engine of the world through social cooperation and the miracle of the markets, then the funding of entrepreneurial and innovative projects should be a key goal to developing Trinity as the colossus of colleges. Innovation and entrepreneurship are key to today’s dynamic market.15Trinity College can learn from Arizona State University’s innovative and competitive block grant program. Under this program, students with the most promising proposals are funded large grants (for example, $20k per semester) to carry out their projects. Projects may include solar panel technology to business ventures. Not only would such opportunities provide Trinity Students with the unique experience of venture capital, entrepreneurship, it would key skills needed for future Trinity students to succeed into the next century.

15 Richard P. Keeling, We’re Losing Our Minds: Rethinking American H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n , ( Palgrace Macmillan, 2011) .

3. More Compassionate, Smarter Student Government

Despite the possibility of a harmonious world where individual freedom and social cooperation can coexist to effectively better society, many societies have become impeded by barriers to a truly free market-based society. It is through certain unequal social constructs where social divisions are created.

Often, these social constructs are organized in the form of student government. In a governed society, coercive and voluntary social cooperation can exist; however, most often, a collective of power-hungry political manipulators will seek to concentrate power amongst this collective while at the expense of society. It is in this monopoly of power that effectively serves as an impediment to voluntary social cooperation and individual liberty. It is in the mass mobilization of fearful propaganda in which government effectively serves to crush the spirit of man. This is how mistrust of other fellow human beings serves to poison the voluntary exchange of ideas and commerce in society.

If government has a monopoly on power and can coerce individuals, how can a democratic society be a free society?

In a world of government, only through constitutional constraints and inalienable rights reserved to the people can a democratic society take a step closer towards becoming a free society. The promotion and preservation of individual liberty remains one of the most effective tools in facilitating the voluntary social cooperation of individuals.

Our experiences at Trinity College have only solidified our beliefs for better student government. For some entering in to the student government at Trinity, we came believing that the process was straightforward and fair. Although we attempted to consistently treat each group

24 fairly, the process was, at times, politically clandestine and repugnant. Behind closed doors, individual board members would advance their own self-interests at the cost of the Trinity student body. Adherent to their own personal conviction to advance the interests of their student groups, some members would refuse to compromise, causing strife.

By no means are we complete pessimist of student government, however, we only wish that the process was more transparent to the student body. For instance, serving board members ought to disclose potential conflicts of interests. From our student government experiences, we firmly believe that the institution of government should be designed to reduce collusion between serving members and student special interest groups. Ultimately, the acting members from the government need stronger ethical accountability.

4. Funding Post-Trinity: The Need for More Student Fellowships

If scholarship is the centerpiece of an academic institution, such as Trinity College, then funding of student fellowships should be paramount to the academic ethos of our college. As graduates, we will enter into an uncertain world. By helping us to continue our quests of scholarship, the College would provide its alumni with ample support and further foster stronger bonds amongst the Trinity community. Although the school may be pressed on financial resources, even small fellowship grants can alleviate the burden of graduate school. It is the thought of fellowships in which a culture of collegiality may continue to prosper long after our years as undergraduates at Trinity.

Safety By Mister T

1. Dealing with the Hazards of Hartford

There is no doubt that safety is at the forefront of our campus, especially after the beating of a cherished member of the community, a second year Trinity College student, on Allan Place.

Such a breach of security represents the uttermost failure of the administration to properly deal with the safety of our students. If the school cannot perform such a basic task such as security, our faith to the institution will be severely shaken. Although “reforms” have taken place, the increased and professionalization of Campus Safety is long overdue.

Instead of patrolling low-key areas of potential danger on campus—for example, the fraternities and Vernon Social Center—Campus Safety ought to conduct its patrols on high risk areas, such as the outskirts and entrances of the campus. Likewise, we at Brain Trust offer our solution to Campus Safety with our Security Kiosque Initiative.

2. Security Kiosques

There is little doubt that there is still adamant opposition towards fencing off the entire campus. We at Brain Trust offer a compromise. We do not propose a fence—a.k.a. a moving wall. Instead, we offer security kiosques. The school can seal key areas of the campus with security kiosques in which Campus Safety Officers would patrol key entrances into the campus.

The kiosques would be fixed with security lights and multiple security cameras. In addition, the campus could add security cameras and more lighting fixtures around the campus to deter possible offenders. The kiosques, increased lighting and surveillance system should create an adequate presence to deter would be offenders around the periphery of the campus.

Student Life By John Winthrop

1. The New Camp Trin Trin: Reforming the Social Policy& Expanding Greek Life

If there’s one thing more irritating than oppression, it’s the brute-forced-ivory-towered approach facilitated by the College administration. Without consulting the approval of the student body, they created and enforced a policy that harms the principles of freedom to all

Trinity students. Such a violation is a breach of trust by the school administration. How can we hope to trust the school after their failure to appreciate our rights and liberties as students? They have even failed to provide us with adequate safety during the night. What kind of authority would have the audacity to do such behavior? We have certainly seen such behavior in oppressive dictatorial countries—i.e. North Korea. Are we any better?

Rather than concentrating Campus Safety Officers at the fraternities, these officers should concentrate on the real hotspots on campus—a.k.a. the peripheries and entrances into the

College. Furthermore, it should be the mission of the Campus Safety Officers to first protect students, offer them safety, rather than to badger wounded students. We all know of the misgrievances of Campus Safety, some of us have even seen officers at the local Hooters. Where are their priorities? Why have they left us to fend for ourselves? Who did we pay for our security?

We have been sold out not for pieces of silver, but out of sheer laziness and the entitled nature of these officers. They believe they can lie to our faces and take the funds from our coffers without service. Geez, what atrocious villains!

One thing is for certain, we ought to abolish and nullify the current social policy. We need safety where it should count, not to badger and harass students. Lastly, we ought to expand

Greek life by concentrating all fraternities on Vernon Street. By concentrating the party scene, it makes it easier for the Campus Safety Officers to patrol certain areas without spreading their forces too thin. In addition, it quarantines a certain area as a designated party zone.

We can accomplish this by granting new houses with the opportunity to start their own Greek chapters. A new house would have to strictly abide the national chapter rules, if it hopes to exist as a permanent presence on campus. By doing so, we offer more venue options for students to choose their party scenes. The new fraternities and sororities would be less exclusive as they would compete for new perspective members to maintain their chapter, for this is their lifeblood.

In addition, the school could increase greater accountability among troubled fraternities by writing an annual report to the national chapter. By keeping updates to the national organizations, the school can create a safer environment for Greek life. This is not also to say that we should exclude culture houses as an option on the weekend. Cultural houses should be allowed to host parties as late as any fraternity to offer an alternative venue to students. If the cultural houses were to be funded, they should also be provided with adequate and substantial funding. This can be achieved by granting large budgets, this would free them from the politics of SGA and allow consistency in hosting well-run events.

2. Reviving Collegiate Traditions

As a campus that is over a century old, we market ourselves as an institution brimming with traditions. Yet, unfortunately, few traditions are still practiced on campus. Other than the lemon squeezer at commencement and matriculation, we have few visible traditions on campus.

Glancing back into the archives of the College, we have seen many of the cool and interesting traditions that were once practiced. For example, past traditions from the 1980s included: a medieval festival that would include a May Day pole and light ale festival, two debating societies.

If we are to create a collegiate community, we will need communal traditions to involve everyone at campus. By bringing back these traditions, we can help to create a more hospitable main quad and enhance the quality of student life.

Technology By Mister T

1. Modernizing Trinity into the Twenty-First Century

It has come in order that now Trinity must reflect upon itself. We must examine our drive, our motives, our hustle, our raison d'être. This school has lost its way. Our spirit has decayed.

Our brand lies as a corpse. If we are to recover, we must try to create the new American academy of the twenty-first century. An academy of the future driven by: the engine of innovation, technology, and the unity of a vibrant collegial community.

As a College, we are now engaged in a great century, which is marred by some miseries, but, nevertheless, we live in a century of constant change and marvelous technological revolutions. Do not be too entangled in the tapestries of our tradition, but at this moment— merely marvel at it. Embrace technology as a tool for innovation and discovery and do not fear for the worst or the loss of old. Now, we must, and our College, must crossover from last century into this wired century. We must embrace an uncertain future, but we will retain centuries old principles of forgiveness, compassion, and community.

Trinity must no longer live in its gilded past. Creative destruction will soon wreak havoc upon the educational world. If this school wants to remain a top tier school it must become more brash, teem with more chutzpah, guide its students towards realizing their dreams, and finally embark once again with great ambition, because that’s all any school ever has, despite its endowments, despite its facilities, and its hopes and aspirations.

We at Brain Trust don’t know about the rest of you, but we want to be a member of a school that fifty years from now still gets respect, a school that fifty years from now is regarded as the hub of innovations, the engine of intellectual prowess, as the center of culture in a renewed

Hartford, as a place where the culture is wide and the students free and united. we don’t want to be a member of a school where members of different social groups don’t interact, where new ideas won’t be tested, where lies continue to be the main currency of choice and the new technological frontier at our doorstep, ready to be seized, is not grabbed.

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