New International Student Advisory Board Requests Official Recognition and Approval From SGA

Kip Lynch ’22
Staff Writer

The Student Government Association convened on Sunday, Feb. 3, in order to listen to the International Student Advisory Board’s request for approval and recognition, to meet with Dean of Students Joseph DiChristina, and to hear committee updates.

The International Student Advisory Board (ISAB) was created last year during the spring semester by International Student Advisor of the Office of International Students and Scholars Katie Clair, as well as several international students. As an organization created by and for international students, the board aims to help international students assimilate into the Trinity community through a series of interviews held every semester in order to better understand the problems that international students face. With the board composed of representatives of each class, it aims to display the diversity of foreign students at Trinity College. The group is different than International House (iHouse) in that iHouse attempts to expose Trinity students to international cultures through hosting events, whereas ISAB aims to integrate international students by providing an outlet for expressing issues that international students might encounter in their transition to a new environment.

The SGA met with Joseph DiChristina, Dean of Campus Life and Vice President for Student Affairs, in order to discuss the presence of substance abuse on campus as well as the administration’s plans for renovating Trinity’s campus. In order to better understand the presence of substance abuse at Trinity College, the administration plans on hosting representatives from the Hazelden Betty Ford Center who will listen to students’ experiences with alcohol and drug abuse and report to the administration on the extent of the problem while keeping students’ identities anonymous. Dean DiChristina also revealed the administration’s plans for renovating a variety of buildings on Trinity’s campus. While the administration has decided to renovate buildings such as iHouse and House of Peace, as well as the bathrooms of Mather Hall in an effort to become more gender-inclusive, it is planning on closing Boardwalk and Park Place for the 2019-2020 school year while it inspects the costs and benefits of spending around $2 million for buildings that only have 40 rooms.

The Student Government also heard updates on the Budget Committee’s provision of expensive textbooks in the library in subjects such as calculus and economics.