Letter From the Editor: Shame on the Board of Trustees

Olivia Silvey ’25

Editor-in-Chief

On Friday, Sept. 27, a group of student representatives had a scheduled meeting with the Board of Trustees Investment Subcommittee. Less than 24 hours before that, we were informed that the meeting had to be rescheduled for almost a month later, Oct. 17. The meeting agenda included brief but important topics: our previous demands of divestment and disclosure that we had been pushing for since last fall.

By “we” I mean the group of students on campus representing a larger coalition who have been tirelessly organizing against Israel’s genocide in Palestine. Since Oct. 7 of last year, the organizing has come in many forms: protests, op-eds, walkouts, teach-ins, SGA resolutions and of course, the encampment in May. As some of you may remember, the encampment’s disruption of Honors Day is what first brought us into intense negotiations with administration on our demands. These negotiations are what brought us to the Friday meeting. 

I doubt any members of the Board read these editorials – but if you’re reading, shame on you. We can never be sure if the last-minute rescheduling was genuinely necessary, just a tactic to get us off-balance, something else or both, but regardless, the Board should be ashamed of its evident lack of respect for the students of Trinity. 

A small group of us tasked with creating and performing the presentation to the Board, myself included, spent the last three weeks perfecting a 20 minute presentation on why Trinity should tell us if it’s invested in companies that kill children, and why it should take that money out. At times, it felt ridiculous begging the Board to align itself with ethical investment principles and stop endorsing the mass murder of children. Yet, we knew this was a huge opportunity and we couldn’t waste it, no matter how exhausted, frustrated, emotionally fraught and angry we were. According to CFO Dan Hitchell, this will be the first time a group of students attends an Investment Subcommittee meeting to present demands. This is a problem in and of itself: why has the highest governing body on our campus historically refused to meet with those most directly impacted by its decisions?

Maybe you’re thinking, “the Board rescheduled, what’s the big deal?” To that I say, timing is everything. Our next meeting is scheduled for the first day of the Board’s biannual meeting on campus, Oct. 17, which means that it has now become much, much harder to demand an actual vote on disclosure and/or divestment. Part of me strongly believes they knew exactly what they were doing in rescheduling this meeting, using the classic stall tactic that was often used when Trinity students were demanding divestment from South Africa in the 80s and 90s. 

Or, maybe you’re thinking, “no one asked you to do this work, so why are you complaining?” I have a few things to say to that, the first being another question right back at you: Have you ever cared about something and put in the work even without a grade, or money or a networking opportunity at the end of it? I say that not to sound morally superior, but as a genuine question – are there things that you feel a duty to make happen without something in it for you? That is how I feel about the work that we are doing. In the activist community there’s a commonly said phrase: “If not me, then who?”

That’s not to say I’m not getting something out of this intense, real-world work. I have some of the smartest, most caring, trustworthy, enjoyable, honest people working beside me. It’s incredibly invigorating to know that there are others who care about people outside the Trinity bubble, who care about our planet and our wellbeing. Like I said before, this work is also just flat-out emotionally draining. I don’t know what your Instagram feed looks like these days, but every time I open social media I am hit with a wave of fury and grief. Israel is invading Lebanon, murdering hundreds of innocent civilians (just like the violent state has been doing for years). The death toll in Palestine is estimated to be from around 330,000 to even 600,000*. I feel like I am being crushed by the never-ending martyrs and pain – hence why being surrounded by this group and doing this work is so important. Everyone should find themselves comrades that are also, wonderfully, your best friends. 

Let’s return to the Board meeting. Regardless of what you’re involved in and what you care about, the blatant disrespect from our governing body towards us students should anger you – and worry you. What if it was you presenting on a different urgent crisis, one that was killing your loved ones on the daily? Would you shrug it off, or would you keep holding the school accountable? I am choosing the latter. 

It’s time for us students to remember the power we have on campus. The Board is our “governing body,” but who is the governed? Who are the ones living the day to day life on this campus, the ones directly affected by decisions made without us ever being present? Let’s remember that Trinity would not be Trinity without us students. We have more power than we think. Let’s wield it. 

With peace, love, grief and fury,

-OPS

*I am delighted to see that this number is spurring such an intellectual discourse on Yik Yak. I encourage everyone who is confused, outraged and skeptical of this estimate to look further than the “objective” and “neutral” newspapers that are continually using the same estimate of 40,000 deaths. Israel has destroyed Gaza’s ability to keep track of their martyrs, and many journalists who were reporting these numbers have been murdered. If reading the sources I cited (or maybe I’m just making numbers up at this point?!) still enrages you, I encourage you to write a Letter to the Editor (yes, you will have to attach your name to it).