NOVEMBER 27, 2007 PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TRINITY VOLCIII.NO. 10 COLLEGE SINCE 1904 Undeijpradiates Struggle to ^ Renter for Spring Courses As the Student Body Increases, Students Have Trouble Getting Their Required Classes By KRISTEN CARLSON '13 in Hartford has gone up approx- CONTRIBUTING WRITER imately 200 (about 10 percent), while the faculty count has Many students had trouble decreased by approximately the enrolling in any of their top four same proportion," posing an choices for courses during the ever-increasing need to address Advance Registration period for registration issues. According to the Spring 2008 semester, a Registrar Patricia McGregor, the result of an increasing student class sizes of incoming Trinity body and a decreasing faculty. students seeking degrees over Members of the Trinity commu- the past years have increased nity have been raising concerns from 2,033 students in the fall about class registration for next of 2002, to 2,164 in the fall of semester following Advising 2007. The problems these class Week e-mails that they received size increases cause are reflected from the Dean of Faculty and in the comments of many mem- E.G. Caner the Registrar on Nov. 9 and bers of the Trinity community. ; The annual fall dance concert, Converging Rhythms, showcased a variety of choreographies from different cultures, pg 11. • Nov. 13, respectively. Christina Gustavsson, an Trinity's current class regis- undeclared sophomore, dis- tration procedure is based on cussed the difficulty she has had Students Battle Poor Oving Conditions two main components. First, in registering this semester, par- Wheaton and Cook Dormitories Face Challenges with Mold and Mice there is a pre-registration period, ticularly in regards to enrolling in which students register based in Psychology of Gender By ELIZABETH ANDERSON '10 After inspecting the bath- hopes to refute claims of the on class year, giving seniors the Differences. She described how CONTRIBUTING WRITER room, the Facilities department mold as being toxic, and assures most priority and freshmen the this "is frustrating because I'm decided that the bathroom students that it does not pose least. Second, each class is alpha- considering psychology as a Students living in Cook and would need to be closed down serious health threats. "The betically divided into sections major, and was hoping this class Wheaton have been experienc- for a minimum of two weeks to mold that has made the news as that rotate each semester. Due •would help me make up my JRg QSgligSU,ce in responding , ,fix the problem. After dis- 'toxic' mold is one type. p£ .jfa&viAgfm&QfM' faeHjltjs. arxd. an ipin,^»f-*/W9aen considering the to their reports of mice and cussing the situation with resi- species (out of millions) that increase in students, the func- current system of priority given mold, respectively. They feel as dents and the Resident takes many years to infiltrate an tionality of the system during to upperclassmen, which she though the school's response Assistant, it was decided that the area that is allowed to remain Spring 2008 registration has agrees with, Gustavsson also has been inadequate and are left most appropriate time for deal- wet for a long time, such as a been fraught with significant dif- expressed, "It's important to wondering what are the appro- ing with the problem would be pipe leak inside a wall that is ficulty. • remember that freshmen and priate steps to take. over winter break. never fixed. It is a rare occur- Dean of Faculty Rena Fraden sophomores need to be free to Since last year, students have In the meantime, Trinity's rence to have such a problem explained, "over the past five explore in order to decide on a reported the presence of black Environmental Health and years, the undergraduate student mold growing above the showers Safety Manager, Karen Misbach, see MOLD on page 9 FTE (full time equivalent) count see ADMIN, on page 9 in the Wheaton first floor bath- room. Additionally, and per- haps consequently, the ceiling is Trinity College Receives Ten-Year Reaccredidation falling apart. There have been By SARAH HARVEY'11 Trinity College in meeting its processes, intellectual and com- existence of evaluations already ongoing complaints regarding CONTRIBUTING WRITER mission. munity engagement, and urban under way, it did help to consol- the manner in which the school A steering committee of fac- and global engagement. idate the information and pro- is dealing with the situation, Recently, Trinity College ulty members was created to According to the self-study, vide the means to think about a according to a Resident officially received confirmation draft the self-study to submit to these three areas were chosen in range of issues and their rela- Assistant who wishes to remain that the Commission on NEASC for the reaccreditation. order to, allow the College to tions to each other. Some of the anonymous. Though the mold Institutions of Higher Vice President for Planning, "focus the intensity of the self information collected was from is not deemed as toxic, one resi- Education (CIHE) of the New Administration, and Affirmative study process on the three areas documents "that might other- dent has supposedly reported England Association of Schools Action and Associate Professor with which it has most struggled wise have been lost or forgotten that his eyes burn and become and Colleges (NEASC) of Mathematics Paula Russo and over the past decade." Russo on various people's computers bloodshot when he showers. approved Trinity's 10-year reac- Associate Professor of English said that these are all matters in and bookshelves," according to According to Facilities, there credidation. This reaccreditation and American Studies Margo which the College "expects to Russo. The completion of the exist millions of species of mold comes after submitting a sub- Perkins co-chaired the commit- make progress in the near self-study has been useful in that and mold is a very common stantial self-study of its mission tee. The' goal of the self-study future." The study was drafted it created a library of types of occurrence in moist places that to NEASC and hosting a visiting was to address the strengths and with information from past reports and documents from the are hard to ventilate, such as team for three days last April. weaknesses of the College. The reports as well as information past 10 years, all of which can be bathrooms. The difficulty of The visiting team consisted of a self-study was presented to the from individual groups and used by the College community removing the mold in Wheaton group of faculty and representa- campus community for review committees on campus. in future reports. While the is exacerbated by the fact that tives from peer institutions, and before it was submitted to . Senior Director of reaccreditation process did not doing so requires replacement of was chaired by the president of NEASC. Institutional Research and necessarily bring to light many the ceiling. As there are no Middlebury College, Ronald The study acknowledged the Planning and a member of the new discoveries, it did provide other men's bathrooms in the Liebowitz. The team interviewed standards provided by NEASC steering committee Kent Smith, the College an important oppor- clarified that while the study did building, and. the process is and met with members of the and also emphasized thre"e spe- tunity to explore the strengths not bring much new informa- expected to be lengthy, students Trinity community to form their cific areas selected by Trinity, tion to the forefront due to the must wait until winter break. own opinions on the success of including planning and budget see COLLEGE on page 8 tHmmmmmmmmmm «MMK> Editorial 2 Women's Basketball Opinions: Effectiveness of Campus Safety's transportation questioned, page 3 Opinions 3 A Announcements 6 wins against News 7 Jl Arts 11 '** m Cazenovia in NYU Announcements: Keep your mind sharp, play our crossword puzzle, page Features 17 r* If Tip-Off Tournament," Sports 24 page 24 Features: Johnny Williams discusses race and Greek life on campus, page 17 www.tnmtytripod .com J The Trinity Tripod EDITORIAL •> Course Offerings Satisfactory? Bill Cosgrove '08 Lauren Turlik '09 In our last editorial, the Tripod posed Or will class sizes continue to increase? EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MANAGING EDITOR the question: "What are we paying for?" Furthermore, next fall the faculty will After it was discovered that many first implement writing, foreign language, and year students were unable to enroll in any global course requirements for the class NEWS EDITORS OPINIONS EDITORS FEATURES EDITORS of their top four courses during advanced , of 2012. Will this cause students to James Kukstis ''10 Mike Robinson '08 Lizzie Brown '09 registration, we thought it was pertinent encounter even greater difficulty Jordyn Sims '10 Krystal Ramirez '10 Aileen McBride '09 to ask whether or not the high costs of a enrolling in courses in the future? ARTS EDITOR SPORTS EDITOR e STAFF WRITERS Trinity education were worth it if a stu- Perhaps the most important question Sara Yoo '08 Stephanie Apstein '10 Carver Diserens '09 dent could not take the courses he or she is this: What safeguards are in place to Matt Fuentes '09 wanted to. This week, however, the Tripod prevent similar problems from occurring PHOTO EDITOR SENIOR EDITORS Anne Benjamin '10 is glad to report that the College will be in the future? Erin Caner '10 Jason Acunzo '08 Anne Bouthilette offering 30 additional courses next spring The answers to these questions are Ashley Bell '08 '10 to meet student demand (see unclear and may not be answered for a ANNOUNCEMENTS Nora Harrington '08 Priyanka Jotwani "Undergraduates Struggle to Register for few years.