The -Established 1904- rinity ripod T T Volume CXVI Now then-Trinity! Tuesday, March 2, 2021 Number X Board of Classes, Testing Resume for Spring Semester testing partner: the Broad KIP LYNCH ’22 Institute. Whereas the lab Trustees EXECUTIVE EDITOR previously reported test JACK P. CARROLL ’24 Beginning on Thursday, results as positive, negati- NEWS EDITOR Feb. 18, students began ve, or invalid (where a test The Board of Trust- returning to the campus was either not performed page ees met to discuss of Trinity College for the or failed to produce a valid tuition, faculty spring 2021 semester for result), the change adds a tenure, and to share in-person, online, and hy- new type, inconclusive, to a report by the brid classes. Arriving over reflect the increased sensi- Board’s Diversity four days based on dorms or tivity of the upgraded test. 4Committee. living situations, students Chief of Staff and Associate were required to quaranti- Vice President for External ne until Sunday, Feb. 28. In Relations Jason Rojas de- Glaude Jr. an email to students, Vice scribed how the COVID test President for Student Suc- “now uses two viral probes cess and Enrollment Ma- to detect the virus, and go- Speaks nagement Joe DiChristina ing forward, Broad will re- TRINITY COLLEGE 10-week classes starting, shifted to remote lear- stipulated that students port a positive test result KATIE CERULLE ’22 Mar. 1, DiChristina an- ning in response to the may exercise outside alone only when both probes sig- FEATURES EDITOR nounced that the College fast-moving coronavirus or in pairs only and get tes- nal a detection. When just would begin the semester outbreak. Our resilience Chair of Prince- ted for Covid twice-a-week. one of the two shows posi- at a green alert level, in- and flexibility have been page ton’s Department He also listed expectati- tive, the result will be dee- dicating that the College tested in ways we couldn’t of African Stud- ons for the entire semester med inconclusive.” In the has “determined that con- have imagined.” Ber- ies Dr. Eddie S. which were largely unchan- event of an inconclusive re- ditions allow for in-person ger-Sweeney remained Glaude Jr. spoke ged previous semester, in- sult, that individual will be learning, and campus ac- optimistic for the spring on race and democ- cluding not hosting or at- retested as soon as possible, tivities can be permitted semester, stating that 7 racy in the United tending unsanctioned social and will have to quaranti- with substantial health “building on our success States. gatherings and traveling ne until a retest confirms a and safety protocols and and our learning from for essential reasons only. positive or negative result. pandemic-related policies.” the fall…there is a light One of the largest chan- Rojas noted that students Yeezus As President of the Col- at the end of this long ges coming to campus in would not be housed with lege Joanne Berger-Swee- tunnel, thanks in large the spring compared to the students in isolation with ney noted in an introducto- part to vaccines that offer fall is the new type of tes- active cases of COVID-19. Review ry email, “March 11 marks promise of bringing the ting by Trinity’s COVID-19 On the day prior to LIZ FOSTER ’22 a full year since Trinity pandemic under control.” BITS & PIECES EDITOR Tripod Odds page Trinity’s Finances In and Ends editor COVID Test Results: Liz Foster ’22 retrospectively reviews Kanye The Pandemic World Feb. 22 - Feb. 25 West’s master- GARRETT KIRK ’24 only NESCAC school on the 9 piece LP. list with a negative outlook. NEWS EDITOR Bates lies slightly above Nearly a year has Trinity and Conn, possess- NESCAC passed since the significant ing an A1 status. It’s im- financial changes brought portant to note that all of on the pandemic, thus the the NESCAC schools-- in- Spring Tripod undertook an exam- cluding Trinity--fall under ination of the state of Trini- what Moody’s calls the “in- n=2333 ANNA BAUER ’23 ty’s finances over that time. vestment grade” category, SPORTS EDITOR In March of 2020, per which is its highest debt Moody’s Investment Ser- rating. The Tripod vices, Trinity’s bond rat- One report from Moody’s page reviews the ing was downgraded one at the time of the downgrade state of NES- notch, from an A1 to an A2. said that “[t]he downgrade CAC sports Trinity’s bond rating is at is driven by the heightened at the onset the lower end of the NES- competitive challenges that 0.13% Positive of the spring CAC peer group, sharing will continue to suppress semester. A2 status with Connecti- revenue growth and pricing 95.29% Negative 1 cut College. Amherst leads 1 flexibility. As a result, the ■ To Our Readers: all schools with a rating of College’s operating perfor- 0.13% Inconclusive Keep your eye out for the Tripod’s Aaa, followed by Williams mance and debt affordabil- ■ Sunday morning feature series on possessing an Aa1 classi- ity will weaken for a third 4.46% Invalid issues of importance and interest to fication, while Hamilton, consecutive year in fiscal ■ the Trinity community. Check it out Colby, Bowdoin, and Tufts 2020. Restoration of stron- In total, Trinity has conducted 2,333 PCR tests between Feb. on Instagram or our website, all have Aa2 recognition. ger operating cash flow 22 and Feb. 25, with an overall positive test rate of 0.13%. The Below this foursome lies trinitytripod.com. margins is unlikely over inconclusive test rate was also 0.13% while the invalid and neg- Middlebury and Wesleyan the next several years due ative test rates were 4.46% and 95.29% respectively. As of Mon- This week, the Tripod considers the with grades of Aa3. Despite to ongoing low revenue day, March 1 there were 8 active student cases,. 7 students in history of one of Trinity’s memorable being rated higher than see BOND RATING on page 4 isolation, and 12 students in quarantine due to close exposure. presidents, Flavel Sweeten Luther. Trinity, Middlebury is the Published weekly at Trinity College, Hartford, CT TRINITYTRIPOD.COM 2 MARCH 2, 2021 The Cautious Optimism This Term Trinity Tripod We gather once more on actions of students who are eryone feel somewhat safer. Trinity’s campus this semes- showing care and concerns Perhaps the adminis- Established in 1904 ter for another semester that for each other” rather than tration will meet the mer- “Now then-Trinity!” is certain to bear little rela- “focus[ing] on some mis- its of this expectation with tion to where we were more takes that have been made.” consistent and transparent Editor-in-Chief than a year ago at this time. We, for our part, remain enforcement. We were heart- BRENDAN W. CLARK ’21 As the President remarked optimistic that this semes- ened to see that the College Managing Editors in her email to students ter might show some im- had been forthright in re- yesterday, it was only on provement in the overall leasing the number of stu- KAT NAMON ’22 Mar. 11 of last year that our rate of infection. In the last dents who had actions taken DANIEL J. NESBITT ’22 world was thrown into cha- semester, we began with a against them for coronavirus EXECUTIVE EDITOR os and campus as we know guarded editorial and pre- violations. Again, this marks KIP LYNCH ’22 it was appreciably altered. dicted a dismally high num- a reversal from the course of The Tripod gladly ob- ber of cases. For the most the fall and suggests to us an serves that Trinity has taken part, those predictions were interest in greater transpar- NEWS EDITORS SPORTS EDITORS proactive steps to differen- borne out: we saw the high- ency. It is our hope that this JACK P. CARROLL ’24 ANNA BAUER ’23 tiate and improve the coro- est number of cases in the commitment extends to in- GARRETT KIRK ’24 MATEO VAZQUEZ ’21 navirus protocols of the last NESCAC, extended periods quiries this fall and is reflect- semester. Certainly, what of remote learning as the ed if outbreaks or other mo- OPINION EDITOR A&E EDITOR we had long called for in semester was interrupted, ments of tension should test SKYLER SIMPKINS ’23 JOEY CIFELLI ’23 many an editorial and opin- and a significant October the structure of the system. caroline richards ’22 ion has been realized: dai- outbreak that overwhelmed By all accounts, the reali- FEATURES EDITORS ly updates to testing. This campus facilities and ty of the semester remains to KATIE CERULLE ’22 SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER was a sensible action and caused widespread concern be seen. We hope that—with MAURA KEARY ’22 alexandra boursican ’23 one that was long overdue amongst the student body. the onset of vaccines nation- BAILEY MCKEON ’22 to bring our testing proto- The notion that last se- ally and the steady decrease OLIVIA PAPP ’23 BUSINESS MANAGER cols and our administrative mester was a “success,” in recent weeks of Connecti- DIVYANSH GAUR ’21 transparency to what we propagated by some, con- cut’s overall positivity rate— bits & pieces editor expect from an institution. tradicts the plain facts. The the semester might see an LIZ FOSTER ’22 With this in mind, stu- fall has afforded us many improvement and our own dents and faculty can pro- lessons and we are pleased positivity rate may remain ceed this semester with a to see that the administra- low. Still, we urge against better sense of where we tion has attempted to be complacency, both of the The Trinity Tripod has been published by the students of Trinity Col- stand and can better pre- proactive and learn from administrative variety and lege since 1904.