Finley Leger ’29

Contributing Writer

Coming off a dominant 45-0 shutout against Williams, the Trinity football team showed no signs of slowing down on Saturday. Facing the Hamilton Continentals who rank third in the NESCAC scoring offense, first in passing offense, third in offensive efficiency and second in both third down conversion percentage and red-zone offense, Trinity relied on the exact blueprint that fueled their previous blowout: setting a fast pace, attacking early through the air and playing relentless defense to secure a 37-6 victory.

The win extended Trinity’s historical dominance over Hamilton to 31 straight wins, a streak dating back to 1994 the last time Hamilton won and improved their all-time record against the Continentals to 46-11-1.

Heading into Saturday, Trinity knew Hamilton would bring a potent offensive challenge. Hamilton entered the matchup averaging a conference-best of 331.7 passing yards per game, ranking them first in the league for passing offense behind 2025 All-NESCAC quarterback Luke Kurzum ’27 and high-powered receivers Mitchell Ivatts ’29 and Matthew Kearns ’28. However, Trinity’s game plan focused on making Hamilton one-dimensional, disrupting Kurzum without allowing explosive downfield plays, taking away receivers Mitchell Ivatts and Matthew Kearns, winning third downs to force quick punts or turnovers, leaning on a defense yielding just 4.7 points per game to prevent a shootout and carrying over the same “110%” aggressive mindset that worked against Williams.

That carryover mentality paid dividends from the start. After Trinity’s defense forced an early turnover on downs, the offense ignited. Quarterback Jaxon Carroll ’27 (#12) opened up the passing attack immediately, finding Jack Tosone ’27 (#20) over the middle for an 11-yard strike resulting in a first down. Moments later, Carroll connected with Patrick McCaffrey ’27 (#4) on a 23-yard gain for another first down. Striking while Hamilton’s defense was on its heels, Carroll capped off the fast drive by hitting Tosone over his shoulder for a 51-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0.

Trinity’s defense quickly took control of the game script. By neutralizing Hamilton’s run game and containing Kurzum in the pocket, Trinity forced Hamilton into obvious passing downs and stalled their high-powered rhythm. Later towards the end of the first quarter, Carroll (#12) threw another deep pass to McCaffrey (#4) for 32 yards into the red zone, setting up a 32-yard field goal by Tyler Beliveau ’28 (#84) to extend the lead to 10-0.

In the second quarter, Trinity’s offensive line began wearing down Hamilton’s front. Pushing downfield after an initial completion to Nolan O’Brien (Grad Student.) (#11) and a penalty that pushed Trinity back, Carroll reconnected with O’Brien for 31 yards and dropped a 27-yard deep middle pass to Cooper Edwards ’28 (#88) down to the 1-yard line. Running back Josh Woodford ’29 (#22) finished the drive by scoring a touchdown, extending the score to 17-0.

Hamilton briefly answered with a touchdown by Connor Laverty ’28 to narrow the score to 17-6, but Trinity quickly blocked Carmelo Velardo’s ’27 extra point attempt. Following the kickoff and a 13-yard return by Cooper Edwards (#88) to Trinity’s 35-yard line, Trinity responded with a heavy dosage of power running. Leaning on Tosone (#20) to stretch the edge and carry the ball downfield, Trinity capped off a physical drive with a 1-yard touchdown by Tosone (#20) to make it 24-6.

Before Hamilton could recover, Trinity’s secondary delivered a game-altering sequence right before halftime. Defensive back Marshall Rice ’28 (#21) read Kurzum’s pass along the left sideline, picking off the throw and racing 36 yards for a pick-six to blow the game open at 31-6. Hamilton attempted a late drive before the break, but Shane Mosia ’27 (#35) intercepted Kurzum’s pass in the end zone as time expired to close out a dominant opening half. 

The second half turned into a defensive clinic. Trinity’s front seven kept constant pressure on Kurzum, preventing him from connecting with receivers Ivatts and Kearns for major gains. Pass rushers Charlie Newhall ’28 (#10) and Nolan Eilender ’29 (#44) recorded key sacks, forcing an intentional grounding penalty that derailed Hamilton’s momentum.

On offense, Trinity sustained control by mixing physical running with efficient passing. Carroll (#12) connected with Nick Behrens ’27 (#2) for 29 yards, and a steady dosage of runs from Woodford (#22) set up his second 1-yard touchdown run of the day in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring at 37-6.

By taking away Hamilton’s top playmakers, controlling third downs and executing their individual assignments with precision, Trinity proved that their strategic foundation from the Williams game was no fluke. With two straight dominant performances in the books, Trinity continues to establish itself as a powerhouse this season.

Talia Cutler ’27

Editor-in-Chief

A page found in Trinity’s Watkinson Library was recently confirmed as a rare, previously unrecorded 15th-century printing connected to associates of Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press. 

The paper is a proof page of an early schoolbook used for teaching Latin, first written by Aelius Donatus. “This particular edition is one we have not known about until now,”  the Watkinson Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian Eric Johnson-DeBaufre told the Tripod.

The page was discovered in the fall of 2025 in a scrapbook devoted to pieces of binding waste collected by William Cowper Prime, founder and chair of the Art History Department at Princeton University and the first vice president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was also the brother-in-law of the first librarian of the Watkinson library, James Hammond Trumbull. When Prime died in 1905, he left these books to the Watkinson library, where they have sat in storage conditions ever since. 

When library assistant Celia Lanza ’26 found the page while cataloguing the archives last year, she thought the page and other scraps looked like “trash.” Eric Johnson-DeBaufre has worked at the Watkinson library for seven years, and recognized the “trash” as something special. “All type has particular characteristics. If you’ve looked at a lot of these things, your eye develops.” 

Last summer, Johnson-DeBaufre was enrolled in a rare manuscripts class at Princeton University, where he studied manuscripts and proof pages like the one discovered in the library: “The first thing I thought was that I’ve seen this ‘P’ before,” Johnson-DeBaufre said of the germanic gothic type. 

This print was by Foust and Schӧffer, friends of Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press and namesake of the rare and incalculably valuable Gutenberg Bibles. The page is likely from the beginning of printing in western Europe. 

Manuscripts this old are typically found in fragments — a complete page is an exceptionally rare find, according to Johnson-DeBaufre. “In the United States, this doesn’t happen, […] the idea that we could find something from this period of printing in America is unheard of — astonishing […] No one knew some of the incredible things that were inside these scrapbooks,” he said, gesturing at the collection of William Cowper Prime’s books in front of him. 

The Watkinson Library was founded in 1858 but did not move to its current location at Trinity College until 1951. Since then, the library collects, preserves and catalogues rare books and art. The proof page, Prime’s scrapbooks, and other rare prints and books are available to view by appointment in the Watkinson Library for anyone at Trinity College. “My favorite thing about working in the Watkinson is the students,” said Johnson-DeBaufre. “I love when someone comes in and gets excited about something in our collection.”

The proof page is just one of many rarities housed at the Watkinson, including a proof print of Durer’s “4 Horseman of the Apocalypse,” leaflets of the Gutenberg Bible and James Audubon’s exceedingly rare “Birds of America.” “We have stuff in our archives only seen in museums,” Johnson-DeBaufre told the Tripod. “There are always new things to find out.”

Zeeva Haviland ’30

Contributing Writer

For the last nine months, the HartBeat Ensemble, a community theater based in Hartford, Connecticut, has called the Austin Arts Center on Trinity College’s campus home. Moving to Trinity’s campus in Jan. 2026, the 25-year-old company has made it its mission to make accessible art in the Hartford community and is “dedicated to creating provocative theater that connects our community beyond the traditional barriers of class, race, geography and gender.” From shows that address social justice issues to inclusive ticket pricing, the HartBeat ensemble strives to connect the community across traditional social barriers. 

“A Lesson From Aloes” is one of these shows. Taking place in apartheid South Africa, the show illustrates the harsh reality of life in a police state, consisting of 3 characters: Piet Benzuidenhout, an Afrikaner; Gladys Benzuidenhout, Piet’s English wife; and Steve Daniels, Piet’s friend and a black activist who was just released from prison under a banishment order. 

If you are looking for fast-paced entertainment, this show is not for you. However, if you are looking for a show that makes you think critically and addresses key issues of racism and policing, “A Lesson From Aloes” is for you.

While the first half of the show is extremely slow-paced and, frankly, a little dull, it does introduce the suffocating and paranoid atmosphere of apartheid South Africa. The seemingly endless time dedicated to talking about aloe plants highlights Piet’s struggle to find himself after being ostracized from his activist group due to suspicions of Piet being the police informant. Piet’s dedication to the aloes serves as his shield from needing to address his isolation and highlights his survival. The aloe plant is known for its ability to survive in extremely harsh conditions and parallels the rigid and oppressive system of apartheid South Africa. 

Despite the first half of the show being very drawn out and full of awkward silences, Brian Jennings’s (Piet) and Rebecka Jones’s (Gladys) performances were excellent and truly heartfelt. While watching Gladys’s mental breakdown and her husband’s heartbreak at his inability to help his wife, I could truly see the terror and long-lasting consequences of living through a police raid. 

Where the show truly picked up was in the second act when Godfrey L. Simmons Jr. (Steve) took the stage. As he entered the stage, Steve and Piet greeted each other; their joy and laughter were contagious across the audience. As Steve struggled to determine if Piet was indeed the informant that landed him in prison, the air on the stage quickly became uneasy. The tense discussions between lifelong friends highlighted the paranoia and distrust; these were caused between friends due to living in a police state with constant raids and oppressive racial classifications. The passion and fear that Simmons was able to convey through Steve illustrated the harsh reality that many parents faced due to the oppressive regime, where parents were forced to leave the only place they had ever known to protect their kids from state-sanctioned violence.

While not the most entertaining show, “A Lesson From Aloes” tackles critical issues relating to Apartheid South Africa and state repression and racial violence across the globe. Although taking place 60 years ago, many of the socio-political and psychological issues addressed in “A Lesson From Aloes” are still relevant today.

Cam Guendner ’30

Staff Writer

On Wednesday night, one of Trinity’s most notable alumni told a packed Washington Room that getting waitlisted, rejected and bombing the LSAT is what propelled him to success later on.

On Oct. 14, students, faculty and members of the community filed into Mather Hall’s Washington Room for the inaugural TrinTalks event featuring Trinity alumnus Danny Meyer ’80. Meyer is best known for co-founding the modern burger chain, Shake Shack, and his New York Times best-selling book, “Setting the Table.” He is the founder and the executive chairman of Union Square Hospitality group. Meyer found his way “back home” to Trinity while in the midst of a lengthy promotional tour for his new book, “What Could Possibly Go Right?” Meyer, the restaurateur and entrepreneur, sat down with President Daniel Lugo for a conversational interview that shed light on his professional experiences during and after his time at Trinity as well as the writing process behind his new book. 

President Lugo began the interview by asking Meyer about his early days at Trinity, to which Meyer quickly replied that he is forever grateful for the admissions officer that got him off Trinity’s waitlist. To the audience’s surprise, Meyer’s college acceptances did not reflect the career that he would later go on to create. Meyer emphasized that being waitlisted by Trinity and rejected by two other schools only spurred him to further take advantage of the opportunities presented to him while in college. “That Danny Meyer was a spring that was completely compressed and didn’t even know it,” Meyer said when asked about his freshman self. “And it was when I got to Trinity that I was finally ready to let go of it.”

When President Lugo posed the question as to how he made the jump from a bachelor’s degree in political science to a career as a restaurateur, Meyer revealed that contrary to popular belief, his first loves were writing and politics, and that he initially was deciding between law and journalism school for post-grad. Yet, he later told the crowd that his dreams of law school were cut short due to his poor LSAT score. Although his college journey began with some setbacks, Meyer looks back on these failures with admiration, “It didn’t seem like anything was going right when I got rejected from two colleges and waitlisted here, and yet nothing could have been more right then how it all turned out.” 

Throughout the course of the interview, Meyer recounted the extensive number of jobs he worked before finding success in the restaurant business: a tour guide in Rome for his father’s travel business, a top salesman at a company selling electronic shoplifting prevention tags and, right out of college, field director for John B. Anderson’s 1980 presidential campaign in Cook County, Chicago. Meyer described these early experiences as not a waste of time, but rather opportunities to learn more about people and how to make them feel seen. 

He stressed how important it was that things didn’t go his way, as he would have never found his passion in the restaurant industry. Despite early setbacks, Meyer described his mid-20’s as a time for development, and attributed these years to his later success in the field of hospitality. Connecting his time managing political campaigns with his early years in the restaurant business Meyer said, “The only way I could motivate people who were volunteers was via the common purpose we were all working towards, which was to get this guy elected…so from the get-go I treated all of our employees at Union Square like volunteers.” This valuable lesson he said he took from being the boss of twenty volunteers right after graduating from Trinity.

Without spoiling the premise of his newly released book, Meyer delved deep into his business philosophy. He recounted his early adaptations of typical hospitality practices and the eventual creation of his model, “Enlightened Hospitality”. The key topic that he focuses on in his 2006 book, “Setting the Table,” “Enlightened Hospitality” is what Meyer said he attributes to all of his restaurants’ success. Meyer stated that this logic is anchored on the idea that, “Our first customer is my employees because our paying customers are not going to have a better experience eating here than these people are having working here.” After Meyer gave the crowd a sneak peak into what they may encounter within “What Could Possibly Go Right” and answered a few questions from the crowd, Meyer finished the talk by answering one last question from President Lugo: “If you could give your college senior self a piece of advice, what would it be?” Meyer answered simply, “Try to make wise choices, because every time you make a wise choice you open windows of opportunity.”

Sajja Ranjit ‘29

Executive Features Editor

In an increasingly polarized political climate, with the Trump administration continuing to reshape higher education through federal funding cuts and efforts to influence campus policies, questions surrounding the independence of academic institutions have taken on renewed urgency.

Against this backdrop, Professor of Political Science Isaac A. Kamola’s work examining the relationships between political power, economic interests and higher education has taken on renewed significance. “Political forces and economic forces are deeply intertwined with each other,” Kamola told the Tripod. This connection, which first drew him to the topic of political economy as an undergraduate student at Whitman College, continues to shape his scholarship and work at Trinity.

Kamola first encountered political economy in a course that examined the work of Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Studying the two thinkers side by side gave him a framework for understanding the political and economic debates beyond the classroom into everyday life. “That class more than just about any other really helped me explain the world,” Kamola said. “I could read the newspaper. I could see the political debates that were taking place and understand the different kinds of arguments that were being made.”  The experience continues to shape his approach to teaching political economy, a subject he plans to teach again in the spring. 

Political economy, as Kamola describes it, challenges the idea that markets and politics operate independently of one another. Instead, it emphasizes that the two are closely connected: political institutions create the rules and conditions that shape how markets operate, while economic relationships influence how political institutions distribute resources and exercise power. “There is nothing like a kind of a naturally existing market that free floats kind of out there in the world,” Kamola said. Instead, he argues, markets are shaped by political decisions and institutions, just political systems are influenced by economic relationships. 

This understanding also intersects with Kamola’s research into higher education, particularly how academic institutions and the knowledge they produce are shaped by broader political and economic forces. That interest extends to his role as director of the American Association of University Professors’ Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom where he works to defend the principle that teaching and research should be guided by scholarly inquiry rather than political pressure.

“Academic freedom is not the claim that professors can say whatever they want without consequences,” Kamola said. Instead, he explained that academic freedom depends on the ability of faculty members to make decisions about research, curriculum and hiring processes according to scholarly expertise and professional standards rather than outside political or economic interests. “Academic freedom comes from the premise that teaching and research can’t serve the common good if it’s not directed by the facility themselves.” Kamola said. “For example, if I am a climate scientist and British Petroleum is paying for my research and is telling me what I can and can’t say, then I’m no longer serving the interest of knowledge, of my discipline, of my field, my students. I’m instead serving British Petroleum.”

Kamola expressed concern that these principles are increasingly threatened by political efforts to influence higher education. He pointed to actions by the Trump administration and state governments, particularly in Florida and Texas, as examples of growing political pressure on academic institutions. Through the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, Kamola works to address these challenges by raising public awareness, developing resources for faculty, conducting research and building partnerships with organizations committed to protecting academic independence. The center is currently working with its second cohort of 12 fellows from institutions across the country. Its initiatives also include webinars, public presentations and a podcast aimed at broadening conversations about academic freedom.  

For Kamola, these concerns extend beyond faculty members to the student whose educational experiences depend on the ability to engage freely with challenging ideas. He described conversations with peers in states such as Florida and Texas who have begun censoring their own teaching out of fear of political retaliation. “The ability to have academic freedom, and to express ideas really in the classroom without fear of retaliation, is essential for the learning conditions of students,” Kamola said. 

He also emphasized the importance of student activism, pointing to Trinity’s history of organizing around issues from the apartheid in the 1980s to racial justice and more recent demonstrations concerning the genocide in Gaza. For Kamola, college campuses provide students with opportunities not only to engage in academic inquiry, but also to develop the necessary skills to participate in life and advocate for change. “The students already know what needs to be done, and I would just say keep doing it.” Kamola said. 

This emphasis on student engagement also informs his efforts to expand opportunities for studying political economy at Trinity. Through a developing political economy research lab, Kamola hopes to bring together students and faculty from different academic disciplines to examine the relationships between political institutions and economic systems. “Political economy is a very interdisciplinary field,” Kamola explained, noting that scholars in economics, American studies and political science approach similar questions from different perspectives. 

Rather than confining the study of political economy to individual departments, the lab aims to have collaboration among students and faculty across different academic backgrounds. “The idea is to bring together scholars and faculty and students from lots of different majors and disciplines to ask these questions,” Kamola said. 

Still in its first year, the lab remains in the early stages of development, with Kamola emphasizing the importance of incorporating student and faculty input in shaping its direction. The subjects he is open to exploring are between Trinity and the surrounding Hartford community, particularly how regional economic dynamics influence local institutions. 

Ultimately, Kamola hopes his work will encourage students to recognize that political and economic structures are shaped by decisions that can be challenged and changed. “The existence of billionaires, for example, is a policy choice,” Kamola said. “If those policies were to change, then the economic structure would also change.” By understanding the relationships between political and economic power, he hopes students will develop not only the tools to critically examine the world around them, but also the ability to identify where they can make the greatest impact.

Carlos Fonseca ’30

Staff Writer

From studying bees on an island in Panama to painting landscapes and leading Trinity’s Caribbean Students Association (CSA), Yasmin Barnes ’27 has spent her college years pursuing interests that often take her beyond the classroom. A biology major with a passion for ecology and art, Barnes has embraced opportunities that have shaped both her academic interests and personal life. I had the pleasure of speaking with her about her research, experiences abroad, involvement at Trinity and her advice for younger students.

Barnes’ fascination with nature began during her childhood in Texas, where she often found herself observing insects and other wildlife. Her family’s Panamanian roots also exposed her to environments that encouraged her curiosity about the natural world. “I would watch [the insects] and then I would think to myself, what’s going on in their worlds?” she recalled. “I think I never lost that.”

At Trinity, Barnes has pursued this curiosity through research with Professor Benjamin Toscano, whom she began working with during her freshman year. Her research examines how predators influence aquatic ecosystems, particularly how predatory stoneflies affect smaller insects and algae growth. Barnes explained that her work involved constructing experimental equipment, placing it in streams and observing how organisms responded to the presence of predators. Her team’s findings suggested that the presence of predators could affect the behavior of smaller organisms and the growth of algae, with these effects persisting over time.

Her interest in ecology also took her to Panama, where she conducted research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute under Dr. William Wcislo. Working on an island in the Panama Canal, Barnes studied bee metabolism and how social interactions might affect energy expenditure. Using specialized equipment, she measured the bees’ oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production to better understand their behavior. The opportunity came after Barnes reached out directly to a researcher, something she encourages other students interested in research to try.

But Barnes’ curiosity isn’t limited to scientific research. During her junior year study abroad programs in Cambodia and Panama, she became increasingly interested in the relationship between people and their environments. These experiences also strengthened her appreciation for art, which she sees as another way to connect with the natural world. Barnes enjoys painting landscapes, particularly those that remind her of places she has visited. She also practices insect photography. Recently, she created a photography display featuring insects and plants from the native garden outside Trinity’s Life Sciences Center, hoping to encourage students to appreciate the wildlife around them. “I think art is a language to reach people beyond words,” she explained. When she isn’t painting or photographing nature, Barnes also enjoys psychological horror films, particularly “Hereditary.”

Another important part of Barnes’ Trinity experience has been her involvement in CSA, where she currently serves as president. She first joined the organization during her freshman year after a teaching assistant encouraged her to attend. As a student with Panamanian roots, she quickly found a sense of belonging within the group. “I really just fell in love with the group because it felt like home away from home,” she recalled. Barnes described CSA as an important part of her college experience, highlighting the friendships and leadership skills she has developed through the organization. As president, she hopes to maintain that welcoming environment for other students while celebrating Caribbean culture and strengthening the organization’s connection to the broader Hartford community.

Looking ahead, Barnes hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology, focusing on native pollinators and sustainable food systems. She is also applying for international fellowships that would allow her to work with nongovernmental organizations before graduate school. Her experiences abroad have encouraged her to consider how scientific research can address environmental challenges while benefiting the communities affected by them. “I want to really make a systemic change and help people as much as I can,” she explained.

Reflecting on her time at Trinity, Barnes emphasized that some of her most meaningful experiences have come from unexpected friendships and opportunities. She recalled forming close relationships with students from countries such as Pakistan and Mongolia, people she might never have met otherwise. These connections, alongside her research and involvement on campus, have helped her find a sense of belonging at Trinity.

For underclassmen, Barnes encourages students to reach out to professors and take advantage of opportunities outside their comfort zones. She believes some of the most meaningful college experiences come from trying something new: “Do the random things, because those are the things you remember.”

Alex Gervais ’28

Managing Editor

“They’re just trying to get as much out of us for as cheaply as possible” – a Trinity RA.

On April 23, 1971, Trinity announced its first Residential Advisor (RA) program. The program replaced a one-year attempt at Residential Coordinators, and a former system of Junior Advisors who played the role of a modern day RA, but had no concrete responsibilities. The college’s first RAs were paid $500 to be put towards room and board (71% of the cost of on-campus housing in 1971), were expected to give up “limited weekends” and attend weekly meetings. 

Today, RAs at Trinity today make $6000 a year in biweekly stipends (along with $100 in Bantam Bucks) and have a broad range of responsibilities listed in their contract, including doing rounds of their residential communities, remaining on-call for assigned nights from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., running programming in their building and meeting weekly with housing staff. According to the contract, these duties are intended to sum up to 10 hours a week when aggregated across the entire academic year.

To better understand the true scope of these responsibilities, the Tripod spoke to seven RAs in on background interviews. The Tripod attempted to reach out to more, but many declined to speak with the Tripod for fear of retribution from Trinity’s Housing office (also known as the Bantam Network). The Tripod has omitted the names of the RAs interviewed in an effort to protect their on-campus employment. 

Newly this year, RAs are required to meet with each of their residents for one-on-one conversations early in the semester. These conversations were initially intended to be monthly, but were changed to be on a semester basis after complaints from RAs that monthly conversations would monopolize their time. RAs are expected to attempt to make contact for conversations three times, and can only stop initiating contact after a third failed attempt. These conversations were not specifically included in the RA contract, one RA saying about them: “going into this, I had no idea this would happen.” Another felt that they were “spending all day just knocking on people’s doors, hoping for [an] answer,” and that “[residents] don’t want to talk, I can’t force them to.”

The conversations are intended to be unscripted and “organic,” but RAs must file a report on Housing’s internal system after each conversation and ask specific questions. If an RA refers a resident to resources like the Counseling Center, they must include that in their report. 

RA compensation does not include the cost of on-campus housing. In the past, Housing has been reluctant to include free room-and-board as a part of the RA pay structure as some RAs have different scholarship funds they can pull from that may help cover the cost of housing, however current RAs consistently expressed frustration with paying for housing. One RA in speaking about a conversation with a first-year parent said: “I honestly didn’t have the heart to tell them that the pay that I get for being an RA is not even half of what it costs to pay for housing at this school.” Another asserted: “I don’t think the RA pay necessarily helps all that much either because I don’t think they allow for the stipend to go towards [the] cost of attendance.”

In calculations done by the Tripod, an RA who fully completes their duties will work at least 580 hours over the academic year. This number is inclusive of time spent on-call; the typical RA is on-call two to three nights every two weeks. Trinity’s RA contract stipulates that, “[w]hen on duty, RAs must stay within the assigned neighborhood from the start of the shift at 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM the following day.” 

Still, Connecticut law exempts “any individual employed as a head resident or resident assistant by a college or university” from minimum wage requirements. The US Department of Labor’s regulations state: “Students enrolled in bona fide educational programs who are residential assistants and receive reduced room or board charges or tuition credits are not generally considered employees under the [Fair Labor Standards Act]. They therefore are not entitled to minimum wages and overtime under the FLSA.” Trinity RAs do not receive reduced room and board charges or tuition credits, but instead a stipend payment.

The contract also stipulates dates for which RAs must remain on campus, specifically for semester close. Typically, RAs are expected to complete rounds to shut down their building at noon the day after the last day of finals, often staying on-campus until 5 p.m.. The day stated in their contract for the 2026-27 school year is Dec. 23, the last day of finals. This year, RAs have been asked by housing to stay on-campus through Dec. 24, Christmas Eve, to do typical shut down. RAs were initially told that if they left campus before Dec. 24 they would lose their final paycheck of the calendar year, but Housing walked back that decision, instead mandating that RAs stay only until 5 p.m. on Dec. 23 to fulfill their contractual obligation. Multiple RAs credited RLC Jess Gardner for Housing changing that informal mandate. In prior years, RAs have been fully under contract for semester close. 

As of publish, RAs have not been issued a new contract that reflects working on Dec. 24 or adding their additional responsibility of one-on-one conversations with residents. The lack of a new, clear contract was reflected by RAs, one asking when on-call if they are “technically paid for those whole hours?” Another said that “a lot of the work that [Housing] wants [RAs] to do this year, it wasn’t in the contract.” The same RA reflected on their position: “it’s no longer become something that I take pride in.” 

The Bantam Network, the staff responsible for housing at Trinity and administering the RA program, has shrunk in recent years. In Oct. 2022 there were five employees on staff, including two Residential Life Coordinators (RLCs) and three higher level administrators. At the time the Dean of Student life, Dr. Jody T. Goodman, was also the Director of the Bantam Network. Today, there are only three employees on staff, an associate director and two RLCs. As of publish, the Director of the Bantam Network has remained listed as an open position on Trinity’s job posting site since July 2, as does an RLC position (although at least one RLC position seems to be in a late round interview stage according to sources close to the process). Both of the roles currently do not list a salary, despite a Connecticut law that took effect Oct. 1 stipulating that compensation must be disclosed on job listings. Trinity’s executive leadership team currently has nobody publicly listed with housing, the Bantam Network or residential life as under their umbrella of responsibilities. 

Across the NESCAC, RAs have begun collectively bargaining for improved pay and working conditions. Wesleyan and Tufts have unionized their RAs, both represented by OPEIU local 153. Wesleyan’s RAs unionized after flooding the night of first-year move-in at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year forced them to work in emergency conditions, receiving a beach towel as compensation for their extra time worked. Their union, WesUSE (Wesleyan Union of Student Employees), was eventually voluntarily recognized by Wesleyan. WesUSE negotiated RAs a yearly stipend of $13,085.58 for the 2025-26 school year, with a stipulation that stipends would be increased for the 2026-27 school year at the same rate as Wesleyan’s cost-of-attendance. They receive per-diem pay for time worked outside of regularly scheduled hours and receive higher pay upon an RA gaining seniority, a system Trinity phased out this year. The union also negotiated a formal grievance system that involves a third party arbiter if the contract is broken. 

While there have been efforts in the past to unionize RAs at Trinity, even as recently as 2025, none have been successful thus far. 

The Tripod spoke to Luca D’Agruma, a member of the United Student Labor Action Coalition and a representative for WesUSE. D’Agruma stressed that changes to federal priorities reflect on how colleges and universities interact with their student workers: “Under the Biden administration, they had felt that they needed to respond mostly positively because they knew that they would have a federal government that would stand up with workers and especially student workers… A lot of universities right now don’t want to be seen as enabling the Trump administration’s reckless cruelty and brutality across the country. If a university would oppose their student workers’ basic right to make a decision affecting their working conditions, a right that should be and is at least formally enshrined in federal law, if the university were to challenge that, it would basically be Trinity going to the Trump administration and asking for the Trump administration to attack their own student workers.” 

The Tripod reached out multiple times to the Bantam Network requesting interviews and comment on this story and others involving residential life at Trinity. As of publish, the Tripod has not received comment. 

If you are an RA or a PRIDE Leader and would like to talk to the Tripod on background about your experience with housing, reach out to Alex Gervais ’28 or Talia Cutler ’27 through a non-Trinity communication method. You can also submit a tip with your name and number through the Tripod’s tip form on our website and an editor will reach out to listen to your story.

Clayton Palumbo ’29

Exec. News Editor

Aanum Khan ’30

Staff Writer

Trinity’s community is no stranger to protest. From crusades for Black students’ scholarships in the ‘60s to more recent moves by SFJP, student activism has certainly been visible in the Bantam experience. In May of 2024, the Main Quad housed a pro-Palestinian encampment known as the “Liberation Zone,” which culminated in a meeting with then-President Joanne Berger-Sweeney. In October of that year, pro-Palestinian Trinity students assembled outside of a Board of Trustees dinner. Twelve students involved later received warning letters due to their presence and chanting. The matter remains relevant to this day.

Friday, October 2nd, was International Day of Non-Violence, an opportunity, according to the United Nations, to “disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness” and “to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence.” In accordance with acknowledgements around the globe, a group of “Concerned Trinity Students” staged a non-violent protest of their own, organizing a scavenger hunt around campus where members of the community could find stuffed animals and paper teddy bear cutouts that in turn were attached to papers which read out facts of the genocide in Palestine. For example, two of the cutouts read “Some 4,622 Palestinians were held without charge or trial at the end of the year 2025,” and “More than 13,000 children were admitted to hospitals with acute malnutrition resulting from Israel’s blocking of aid supplies.” (Both quotes attributed to Amnesty International)

In a statement posted on the doors of Mather Hall, the concerned students encouraged the administration to also participate, saying “to the administration, feel free to join in, and hopefully you’ll learn something along the way.” The administration did not reply publicly.

This protest comes eleven months after Students and Faculty for Justice in Palestine staged their ‘chalking’ protest, which elicited a swift response and condemnation by College President Dan Lugo and his administration. Lugo wrote in an email to the community, “While we recognize that freedom of expression is a cornerstone of our academic mission, the manner and location of these postings conflict with the standards that safeguard respectful and open inquiry.” The SFJP Protest was less educational and more directed at Trinity specifically, with messages such as “Trinity suppresses freedom of assembly,” and “Disclose, divest, protest.” 

The administration’s response sparked backlash from students, faculty and the broader academic community. One month later, Garrett Gravely from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) wrote an article arguing against the administration, stating: “Without the freedom to express even inoffensive political convictions, the promise of free speech is meaningless. America’s colleges and universities cannot conceivably function as insulated vacuums for discussion on topics of national and international importance, especially in service of such a broad and spontaneous edict.”

In FIRE’s latest College Free Speech Rankings, Trinity fell 42 places. The report, published by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), ranked the College 223rd out of 261 colleges and universities. Trinity, with a score of 55 and an “F” speech climate grade, now is the lowest-ranking school in the state of Connecticut.  

FIRE’s rankings evaluate students’ perceptions of free expression across several categories, including administrative support, comfort expressing ideas and political tolerance. Trinity saw substantial drops in each of these areas compared with last year.

The College ranked in the bottom 25 schools for “Administrative Support,” which measures students’ perceptions of whether administrators support free expression. Trinity also faced the sharpest decline in the “Comfort Expressing Ideas” category, falling 171 places and placing our school in the bottom 25 nationally.

The College’s “Political Tolerance” ranking dropped 103 places, also placing Trinity in the bottom 25. According to FIRE, the category measures students’ willingness to host controversial speakers and engage with differing political viewpoints.

For some students, the ranking has affected how they perceive their own ability to speak openly on campus. “[It’s] unbelievable. I’m saddened by the drop in the rankings, and seeing Trinity ranked lower makes me feel less comfortable and safe speaking my mind,” said Roshni Puvanaraj ’30.

The FIRE results come as Trinity has recently implemented a new policy governing student protests and demonstrations. The policy is intended to protect students’ right to protest while also ensuring that demonstrations do not interfere with other students’ ability to receive an education. Co-Presidents of Student Government Association Sriram Jetty’ 28 and Maddison Petrow’ 27 collaborated closely with school administration to craft this policy. “As Student Government, we want students to understand the policy, feel comfortable raising concerns and continue to see Trinity as a place where different perspectives can be expressed and discussed,” Jetty said. Jetty described the policy as a “work in progress” that will be reviewed annually to ensure its guidelines remain fair to students.

Now, FIRE notes that there is “student discomfort” when sharing views, more so than even our peer NESCAC schools. 

The new policy provides one current example of how Trinity is addressing questions surrounding student expression, while FIRE’s rankings offer a broader measure of students’ perceptions of free speech on campus and the efficacy of various approaches to student activism. Although the rankings do not capture every student’s experience at Trinity, the results point to a year-over-year decline in several areas related to free expression. As the new protest policy takes effect, its implementation and annual review will provide another opportunity to examine how students experience free speech on campus.

Julianna Williams ’30

Contributing Writer

“With great power comes great responsibility,” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” calls into question what exactly it means to have “great power,” whether it can be classified as “good” or “evil,” and how society determines who wields it. 

Marvel’s latest film, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, maintains the characteristic blend of intense action, emotional depth, and lighthearted humor, although this time a darker tone of solemn despondency pervades the atmosphere. Four years have passed since “No Way Home”, and Tom Holland’s potent portrayal of the physical, mental, and emotional growth of our beloved Peter Parker since the conclusion of the previous film makes it clear that Spider-Man is no longer the squeaky-voiced, mischievous teenager we once found so relatable. 

That is not to say the character is not still strikingly humanized and real—in fact, he may be more so as he grapples with amplified versions of real-world struggles. Spider-Man pulls audience sympathies with his insistence on being “fine,” while suffering loneliness, heartbreak, sensory overstimulation, physical pain, self-doubt, and resistance to change that leads to repression of his own power.

This repression of power is echoed in Sadie Sink’s exquisite performance as Jean Grey. Her portrayals of rage, grief, sorrow, and vulnerability can be seen as heart-wrenching reflections of real power dynamics as she struggles to maintain autonomy in a world where certain systems and institutions would prefer to own, control, and suppress what she is capable of. 

Characters like Ned, Yelena, and Frank provide the comedic relief to this emotional tension, although not every joke lands perfectly to the critical eye, and some of the obvious product placement is more humorous than Spider-Man’s awkward moments (do that many people even own Samsung Galaxies?).

The film is well-paced and not fully time-linear, as flashbacks and memories help to flesh out some of the events between the last scene of “No Way Home” and the exposition of “Brand New Day.” As Spider-Man swings through New York, sweeping shots of the cityscape and immersive close-ups pull viewers directly into the onscreen action. With some hallmarks of Cretton’s work from “Shang Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings” revealing themselves in increased martial-arts based stunt work, “Brand New Day’s” fight scenes rank among Marvel’s most engaging and dynamic.

The film certainly hits home in a world where people are growing increasingly isolated from one another in fundamental ways. Perhaps it’s the current mental health crisis that makes “Brand New Day’s” depiction of telepathy–control of thoughts through self-doubt and negativity–so emotionally captivating.

With isolation recurring as a melancholic theme throughout the film, the persistent loyalty and companionship between our favorite characters is all the more heartwarming. As viewers witness such acts of sacrifice and support, they leave grateful for their own circles of friends and family, impacted by the film’s reminders that no one, not even Spider-Man, can do everything on their own.

Whether you’re a die-hard Marvel fan who will be able to spot every comic book easter egg, an enthusiast of fast-paced action, are looking to root for the characters you’ve fallen in love with, or are simply wondering what all the fuss is about, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is well worth a watch.

Clayton Palumbo ’29

Exec. News Editor

One year after she said goodbye to the Trinity community in what was billed as a ‘retirement’, President Emerita Joanne Berger-Sweeney (known affectionately as ‘JBS’) is back to work, this time as “President-in-Residence” of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Established in 2001, the Judith Block McLaughlin Presidents-in-Residence Program brings distinguished college or university presidents to Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) to teach courses, attend classes, meet with students in private office hours and advise students on formative academic and career decisions (gse.harvard.edu). When asked about the appointment, Berger-Sweeney told the Tripod, “It’s a significant honor. To have been asked to do this, and to be able to share insights with the next generation of higher education leaders at Harvard, it feels pretty significant.” Berger-Sweeney also shared that she was offered the position before retiring, but decided to defer the opportunity to ensure she could be fully present in her responsibilities at Trinity.

After she announced she was retiring officially, HGSE called again, and this time Berger-Sweeney agreed enthusiastically at the suggestion of two mentors who had previously served as President-in-Residence: Diana Chapman-Walsh, President Emerita of Wellesley College; and Lawrence Bacow, former Chancellor of MIT and President Emeritus of Tufts University. Bacow would later become President of Harvard University, after serving as President-in-Residence of HGSE. Berger-Sweeney noted that she had the opportunity to begin her tenure at Harvard directly after her time at Trinity came to a close, but chose instead to take a year off before beginning: “I could have potentially started September of 2025, but I was just tired.
Being a president is a very hard and draining job, particularly in this political environment. 
So when I was invited a year ago, I just said, ‘I’m sorry. I need to take a break.’ But after a year, I thought I had the energy and I was still close enough to the presidency that I thought I could offer helpful insights to graduate students.”

Now that she is nearly a month into her time in Cambridge, Berger-Sweeney is settling into her role, interacting with students and teaching a course on Higher Education Leadership. She admitted with a laugh she’s a bit ‘out of practice’ as a professor. In her 11 years at Trinity, she taught only one course, a neuroscience class on learning and memory, which was held on Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the circumstances provided their own set of challenges, Berger-Sweeney was in her ‘wheelhouse,’ saying, “when I’m teaching neuroscience, I am very much in my comfort zone. I taught neuroscience for 15 years at Wellesley College.” Now, while teaching about leadership, “the kind of evidence that you use and how you prepare a course is quite different than how I would prepare one of my science courses. The courses that I teach now are very much case studied based.”

During her time in Hartford, Berger-Sweeney cherished the individual interactions that a tight-knit liberal arts environment like Trinity provided. Looking ahead to the upcoming year, she remarked that she is most excited to form similar relationships with her new students, saying she is excited to “get to know these students better, to hear their stories, why they’re interested in higher education, at a time when it seems as though higher education is so fraught, in which there is some perhaps lack of trust in society about higher education, it’s so interesting to get to know the individuals and what inspires them.” When asked what advice she would give to students in today’s world, she noted how important it is to have an open mind and to be a continuous learner. “When I stop learning, I will die.”