Clayton Palumbo ’29

Executive News Editor

On Sept. 28, the United States Senate voted to pass the Protect College Sport Act by a 77-22 vote. This marks a major moment in the ever-shifting landscape of college sports, with constant conference realignment, playoff expansion and unregulated NIL deals and player transfers. 

When asked about his initial reaction to the bill, Trinity Athletic Director Gavin Viano said, “I don’t think it’s controversial to say that this is being written for the 20 to 80 largest, most lucrative athletic programs in the country, and the NCAA is made up of over 1,100 programs. So we have a very, very public bill, which essentially is trying to legislate one percent — or less than one percent — of the association.” Viano went on to argue that there are more Division I and Division II schools that resemble Trinity than they do Ohio State. When asked whether or not he believed the bill would pass the House, Viano said, “In the two-ish weeks since the Senate passed it, we haven’t heard a word from the house. The speculation was that, as written by the Senate and passed by the Senate, it probably wouldn’t be passed as written by the House. The period of time between the election and the end of the congressional cycle is likely going to be a lot more telling than where we are right now.” Viano reiterated that the issues which may be important for the largest, wealthiest athletic programs in the country — the elimination of waivers, regulations for judges ruling on cases related to the NCAA and increasingly convoluted eligibility rules — are not issues that affect Trinity, or “95 percent of the NCAA” on a daily basis.

Instead, the most important issue regarding the NESCAC right now is whether or not to adopt the NCAA’s new “5-in-5” eligibility rule, which eliminates the traditional red-shirt system and medical hardship waivers, instead giving every student-athlete five years to play five competitive seasons. However, each division has autonomy over their own governance, and Viano shared that at the most recent NESCAC Athletic Director’s meeting, the main focus was whether or not the conference should adopt the “5-in-5” rule, because, as Viano put it, “we don’t have to, and Division III just voted against red-shirting last year, so in a way it feels like we’re basically voting on it again.” The official vote will be cast at the NCAA convention in January.

ESPN mentioned that if the PCSA was passed, the number of roster spots for Division II and III teams would increase, however, Viano stated that “Division III has always had unlimited roster limits,” and that this perceived increase would be purely arbitrary. The only sport in the NESCAC which does not currently operate with unlimited roster limits is football, which enforces a limit of 84 players during the season. This has been the subject of much discussion and controversy; Dan DiCenzo, the Head Football Coach at Wesleyan University, stated in a video posted to The Third Division’s social media pages that enforcing this limit for only one varsity sport “goes against all of Division III’s philosophy and goes against our NESCAC core values.” When prompted on his view of the football roster limit, Viano declined to comment.

Viano reiterated that the true impact of the bill will not be known until it passes through the House, which is unlikely to happen before the midterm elections. He guaranteed that the College and the athletics department remain fully committed to supporting student-athletes and will adapt to fit the current rules and regulations as outlined by the NCAA, Division III and the NESCAC. He added the College will always support student-athletes’ ability to profit from their name, image and likeness if the opportunity is presented to them, while emphasizing that the College has never, directly or indirectly, paid a student-athlete to compete in any way.

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.”

Julianna Williams ’30

Staff Writer

From Oct. 15 to 16, campus became the gathering place for senators, psychologists, state representatives, students, philosophers, lawyers and educators from a coalition of Connecticut schools as the College hosted the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights Community Action Summit.

The conference opened Thursday morning in the Reese Room of the Smith house with breakfast and a welcome delivered by Professor Benjamin Carbonetti, Director of Trinity’s Human Rights program; and Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, Quinnipiac Legal Studies Professor and Connecticut state senator.

The first presentation covered the Hartford Voter Captains Project by Trinity Assistant Professor of Political Science Dang Do and research assistants Chloe Libby ’27 and Malika Rice ’27, followed by a panel of Connecticut Legislatures discussing Criminal Justice practices and reform. Dr Beth Monchun, Executive Assistant to the President at CT State Community College, Naugatuck Valley, reflected on the state of Connecticut partnering with Norway to model some aspects of their criminal justice system, sharing that the panel prompted her to think of ways that Connecticut educational institutions could get involved. “My job is obviously not in the correctional system for the state of Connecticut, but the Community College, along with Trinity, Wesleyan, UCONN, I think even Quinnipiac, they all have programs where faculty from their campuses go into Connecticut facilities and teach. It’s just fascinating to me. I’m thinking about ways to maybe promote us being able to expand that.”

The presentation also resonated with Professor Benjamin Carbonetti, Trinity’s Director of Human Rights Studies. He told the Tripod, “The panel on criminal justice reform really made me think a lot about how we generate the political will to make this change sustainable. And I have a lot of students who ask me that all the time. How do we actually make this change?”

Shared meals, close conversations and the “Fireside Chat” style of many panels provided an intimate crowd setting, making the questions and perspectives of Human Rights students openly welcomed by panelists and participants. Financial Manager and Program Director for the Oxford Consortium, Jessie DePonte reflected, “We got to hear from students directly, which I think is always my favorite part.”

Carbonetti added, “I always tell students that I learned just as much from them as they do from me. The primary thing that often comes up is people asking me really difficult questions and me having to respond to those and being really provoked into thinking through different ways of being.”

Throughout the summit, emphasis was placed on locally relevant topics. As Dr Michael Rooke, President of three Connecticut State Community College campuses put it, “There’s a lot of human rights issues here in Connecticut.”

A panel led by State Senator Bob Duff (D-25) and State Senator Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox (D-22), CT Senate Majority and Deputy majority leaders respectively, on affordable housing led to discussion of Connecticut’s position as one of most racially and economically segregated states in the country. Duff emphasized that “we shouldn’t see Connecticut as absent of problems; there are always ways to improve.”

DePonte reflected on discussion of a recent housing bill requiring Connecticut towns to create and submit their own plans for tackling the housing crisis through increased construction of homes and regulation of affordability. “Talking about affordable housing in Connecticut, I think we were able to not only hear about that, but actually provide insight to the legislators that I hope they take back to the Capitol.” She continued, “I’d love to start thinking about those spaces in my own community. And, you know, Oxford does a lot of great work on thinking about those concepts when we are together in these conferences.”

A panel led by Beth Hamilton, Executive Director of Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, and Krystal Rich, Executive Director of Connecticut Children’s Alliance, focused on the work of the Connecticut Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Council and described the demand for an intersection in legislation and systems for both domestic abuse and trafficking cases. 

Hamilton emphasized the TIP Council’s work in prioritizing the needs of victims with trauma-informed questioning/reporting procedures and pointed out the need to step away from purely reactionary investigations and processes, towards more proactive mental health, sexual violence and domestic abuse services that would prevent instances of trafficking from occurring in the first place.

A presentation by Deborah Goffe, Executive Director of the Austin Arts Center, and Rebecca Pappas, Associate Professor of Theater and Dance at Trinity brought the focus to human rights issues occurring right in our backyard. 

They discussed the stereotypes that Trinity students and administration perpetrate through harmful assumption-based views of our surrounding community with rhetoric about Hartford being a “place of lack.” They explained that the campus community’s narrative of the neighborhood being associated with crime and danger fails to acknowledge nuances like how much of the crime reported on and around campus is committed by students. Goffe suggested a perspective flip, where we dissolve ideas of an “internal” and “external” community and strive for vibrant, creative interactions between Hartford and Trinity. Pappas and Goffe pioneered these interactions through initiatives like Performing Hartford, which supports/amplifies the voices of Black, female and LGBTQ+ artists in Hartford and by establishing the Austin Arts Center as the multi-year residency of the social justice-focused theater company; the Heartbeat Ensemble.

Throughout the summit, an emphasis was placed on the truly interdisciplinary nature of the human rights field. This was put into practice as the conference concluded with a performance of Athol Fugard’s “A Lesson from Aloes,” an introspective play about politics and interpersonal relationships in apartheid South Africa, performed by the Heartbeat Ensemble in Trinity’s Goodwin Theater. As Carbonetti put it in his introduction to the arts discussion, “Storytelling and human rights are intrinsically linked.”

Deponte added that “human rights belong in every field. I think a lot of times we think about human rights as this exclusive humanities field, but it belongs in spaces like STEM and the arts and all of these other spaces because there is always a human element to everything we do.” She opined about the future of human rights practices: “As AI grows and changes, I actually think the human element is going to be more essential than ever.”

Carbonetti shared a similar viewpoint on the evolution of human rights within modern paradigm transformations. “Social media, new technology, cultural practices among young people, even just vernaculars among young people change the things that resonate with them. This is always evolving. There’s not one way to talk about this. And the way that we talk about it right now is going to be different in a year or two.” He also underscored the characteristics that will remain consistent. “A human rights approach to any issue is recognizing the multidimensional aspects of that issue, how many things can affect human dignity and how many different practices are required to raise awareness and generate political will to make change. Ultimately, that’s what the human race is really about.”

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.”

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.

Kashmala Khan ’29

Managing Editor

As the 2026 midterm elections approach, Trinity College students gathered Sunday evening for “Why Voting Matters,” the first event in a week of National Voter Education Week programming focused on voting rights, election administration and the legal challenges shaping the upcoming election.

Held at UMOJA on Oct. 4, the event featured Professor Shane Gleason and Professor Evan Turiano of the Department of Public Policy. The week’s programming is being organized through collaboration between Trinity’s Department of Public Policy and Law, Department of Political Science and Department of American Studies, as well as with TrinVotes!, WGRAC, CHER and Multicultural Affairs, providing voter education and engagement resources.

TrinVotes!, Trinity’s nonpartisan campus civic engagement initiative, was also on-site at the event, providing students with information and resources related to voter registration, identification requirements and voting deadlines.

Gleason opened the discussion by emphasizing that voting remains consequential, even in elections that may appear predetermined. “Even if you disagree with me, I want you to vote,” Gleason said. “And the reason I want that is because voting’s powerful.”

Drawing on his experience working as a political organizer for the AFL-CIO during the 2008 election, Gleason described grassroots organizing and efforts to increase voter turnout. He also discussed the history of voting rights in the United States, emphasizing that access to the ballot has not always been guaranteed. Referencing civil rights leader and former U.S. Rep. John Lewis, Gleason described voting as “the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a democratic society.”

Gleason also focused on the importance of youth participation. He argued that politicians are more likely to pay attention to groups that consistently vote, while lower youth turnout can make issues important to younger generations easier for politicians to overlook.

Professor Turiano then turned the discussion toward contemporary legal challenges surrounding elections. He divided these challenges into two broad categories: disputes over how ballots are cast and disputes over how votes are counted. Among the issues discussed were voter registration lists, mail-in voting, redistricting and partisan gerrymandering. Turiano explained that although voter fraud frequently features in political debates, the actual risk of widespread fraud is extremely low. However, he argued that confusion surrounding election rules can still have significant consequences.

“Confusion can be enough to achieve the ends of the people doing these things [campaigning],” Turiano said, explaining that uncertainty about voter eligibility or ballot procedures could discourage people from participating. The professors also discussed recent federal efforts involving voter registration databases and mail-in voting, as well as ongoing litigation surrounding those policies. Turiano encouraged students to check their voter registration, and for those voting by mail, to request and submit their ballots as early as possible. The conversation later expanded to international students at Trinity. In response to a student question about the role international students can play in political conversations, the professors encouraged students to share their perspectives and engage with people around them while remaining aware of the legal boundaries surrounding political participation for noncitizens.

For Yasmin Saroufim ’30, the discussion provided a useful introduction to an otherwise complicated topic. “I thought it was really useful,” the student said. “Even though I can vote, I’m not very well-versed on it, but I do know what’s going on in the government, so this really helped.” The discussion was the first of several National Voter Education Week events at Trinity. Upcoming programming includes voter education tabling in Mather Hall on Oct. 6, a screening of “People vs. Politics” on Oct. 7 and “Popcorn & Polls,” featuring a screening of “Suffragette,” on Oct. 8.

Isabella Chirkis ’27

Editor-in-Chief

On Oct. 1, Trinity College released its annual Clery Report to the public. The Clery Act is a mandatory public document that all colleges and universities have to disclose to the public. This is a requirement for any college or university that receives federal funding for financial aid, being required to log crime statistics daily as well as actively alert the campus community if there is an ongoing issue. The Clery Report can be found digitally on Campus Safety’s website, but there are hard copies in the Campus Safety building, as it is important to have on hand when students and families visit the College. 

Although the Clery Report is published every year, it contains 3 years worth of data and contains crime statistics directly on or around Trinity College’s campus as well as campus safety policies and procedures. The statistics are calculated based on where Trinity is situated within Clery geography, which includes on campus buildings as well as public sidewalks, streets, parks, buildings rented by Trinity and parks. Some categories of the Act include major offences like robbery, hate crimes, domestic violence, hazing and arrests for drugs or alcohol. 

In an interview with the Tripod, John Tollis, Director of Campus Safety, said “we keep a running public list of crimes reported to campus safety that people can look at on campus safety at any time.” These logs represent daily crime statistics on and surrounding Trinity’s campus. Tollis emphasized the importance of reviewing this report, as it is a helpful family decision as to where parents might want to send their child to college. It is also a valuable resource to know the procedures that Campus Safety makes during an emergency.

When reviewing this year’s Clery report, Tollis commented “It shows the institution is making the right steps.” Although there is a slight uptick on Title IX reports at Trinity, Lauren Diana, Trinity’s Title IX coordinator, emphasized: “there is more trust, more building in that area where you can trust a face and a person and tell them your story and what you went through.” With higher levels of reported incidents, Laura Lockwood, the Director of Women and Gender Resource Action Center (WGRAC) and coordinator for the Green Dot, commented that this means that more people are comfortable coming forward. 

The report also mentions the Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey, which is a state mandated survey biannually that is anonymously sent out to students at Trinity. The results are analyzed by Grand River Solutions, a third party, and show Trinity points of improvement as well as recommendations for ways sexual misconduct can be handled. Diana commented on the feedback and told the Tripod: “We can align them to see what the community needs to provide them and fill those gaps.”

Green Dot training has been implemented for athletes across campus, as Diana believes “the more that we are face to face talking to students about these issues, the more we are out there talking to students and raising awareness.”

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.

Alex Gervais ’28

Managing Editor

Last year, at the end of an interview with the Tripod, Joe Barber remarked, “I don’t know if I’ve ever had a dream job. I just feel like I’ve been really lucky to be in this one.” For those of us in the Trinity community, it feels that we’ve been lucky to have crossed paths with Barber’s 30 years of service to the college and the community. 

Initially coming to Hartford as a member of AmeriCorps, a chance encounter on campus landed him a job as a graduate assistant in the Community Service Office. Since then, Barber has left a true mark on campus, defined both by discrete efforts like the Bantam Bus Pass and the Coop, but also by the impacts made on individuals. The Tripod feels that Barber’s legacy is best honored by hearing directly from the very people he left a mark on at Trinity. Printed below are submissions from alumni and community members about the impact he made on them. A special thank you to Coach John Michael Mason ’12 M’14 and Lilliana Poley ’21 M’23 for bringing together the people that made this article possible. 

“Joe and I began work at Trinity close to the same time. Throughout, Joe has been a friend, confidant, and someone I could rely on for a listening ear, a good laugh, and a helping hand. We share a deep commitment to the students and our work, as well as longevity at Trinity. Can’t imagine the last decades without Joe around!”

Laura Lockwood M’95, Director of WGRAC

“Joe was a constant in my Trinity experience. We got to know each other my freshman year and I will always be grateful for his encouragement. He gave me many opportunities to explore my interest in graphic design and I wouldn’t be where I am today in my career without his support! I was also immensely honored by his endorsement for Phi Beta Kappa. Thank you, Joe!”

Diana Rose Smith ‘19

“Working with Joe has been inspiring. His dedication to Trinity College, community service, and civic engagement has been remarkable and deserves celebration. It has been an honor having you as a colleague for the past five years. Thank you, Joe, for 30 years of service to Trinity, its students, staff, faculty, and the Hartford community.”

Liliana Polley ’21 M’23, Executive Director, Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER)

“Joe helped greenlight a mentoring program that started at MD Fox Elementary and then moved to the Kennelly School. Joe was always there to problem solve and support wide-eyed students.” 

Jake Prosnit ’12

“One of the largest impacts Joe has had on my life is in my confidence in myself. As a student director for Trinity Film Festival, I always looked to Joe’s expertise with planning events and working with a team of students. His advice was always helpful, and he always encouraged me to believe in myself and believe that I was capable of success. His dedication to our event, and most importantly, his students, is apparent in every single one of his actions. Joe has been and continues to be an amazing mentor to so many students, and I count myself lucky that I was fortunate enough to spend so much time working alongside him. I don’t think I would be the person I am today without his confidence in me! Thank you Joe, congratulations on 30 years at Trinity!”

Cecelia Morello ’24

“I will always remember fondly the impact Joe made on my Trinity College student experience through his dedication to community service and involvement in the Trinity Film Festival. It was incredible to be able to witness such dedication, hard work and community building which made it possible to be able to put on community events such as the Trinity Film Festival. I will always look back fondly on these memories and they have touched me deeply as well as given me skills I use daily.”

Shirin Dadina ’24

“Joe has been my noon-time running partner for 26 years, and my partner as liaisons to the cross country and running teams.  I have loved learning all the ins and outs of Do It Day, Ditch the Dumpster and the Thanksgiving Food Drive. Joe is someone who cares about doing good.”

Tim Curran, Vernon K. Krieble Professor of Chemistry

“Joe made such an impact on my life. His office was always a welcoming space with open arms when you needed it most.”

Brooke Agro ’22

“Joe was the most down-to-earth person I knew at Trinity. Oftentimes, it felt easy to get trapped inside the campus bubble, but he was one of the few who reminded me there was a world and community outside it that mattered. One of my fondest memories was during my senior year working on the Trinity Film Festival. It was a particularly stressful year because I was also juggling two theses, but in that community service office, I always felt supported and challenged in the best ways. A lot of the details are a blur, but I clearly remember leaving that office every time believing my ideas were worth building, and that I had people behind me willing to put in the work. What I admired most about Joe is his commitment to service over recognition. He was instrumental in so many things I was part of at Trinity, yet he rarely paused to take the credit he deserved. That kind of leadership and humility is what I try to emulate even now. Joe shows up every day and works to make students’ ideas real. He makes students feel like we matter and have something worthwhile to contribute.”

Bettina Gonzalez ’16

“In addition to the countless hours (above and beyond what 30 years could represent) of work and energy Joe has dedicated to the Trinity community, he is also incredibly fun. He would attend the “coffeehouses” (open mic nights) thrown by The Fred during my time as a student – occasionally gracing us with his unique and spirited renditions of 1980s and ‘90s Billboard hits. The fair and kind way with which he guided the student leadership and residents of The Fred has stayed with me and shapes how I approach being an educator. When I returned to Trinity as a member of the faculty, Joe was one of the first people to greet me with open arms, always stopping to say ‘hi’ and catch up when our paths crossed on campus. He remains one of my favorite people and parts of Trinity. He and the work he does encapsulate what Trinity should always be striving to represent: a tireless commitment to being of service to the community on but especially beyond campus, uplifting students and helping them identify how they and their talents benefit our social good and celebrating being one’s own person and true self.” 

Teri Incampo ’12

“Joe treats everyone like an adult, and being given that level of respect in my first few years at Trinity helped me grow into a stronger leader. Being trusted relatively early on to run a weekly volunteer org. meant a lot to me, and it taught me that supporting community doesn’t just mean grand gestures, but showing up on a consistent basis to help others can make a meaningful difference.”

Dillard Taylor ’12

“As an international student, accommodations when school was not in session was always a struggle. Not only figuring out where to live, but also where to store stuff and how to transport them etc. Outside of the International Center, I am glad Joe was one of the people within the college I could count on to help me through my final process of leaving Hartford. I may be misremembering this, but I believe he offered space within his own place, asked around his peers for any availability and he ultimately helped move my things from my Crescent Street to a temporary location I had secured by then. As a former TFF team member, I was already aware of his generosity towards the Trinity community and those around him, but this specific experience left a lasting impression on me. It demonstrated Joe’s immense heart even beyond the campus, and will remain one of my fondest memories about Trinity and its people.”

Nirina Randrianarisoa ’21

“I have known Joe for over 20 years, and he is truly one of the most compassionate human beings I’ve ever met. As a first-year student, I was introduced to Joe and his office early on. At a time when I was still figuring out where I belonged on campus, Joe provided a safe and welcoming space for me to explore, find community and begin discovering the kind of impact I wanted to make.”

Haben Abraham ’10

For 30 years, the Office of Community Service has been a magnet for idealistic, ambitious students who care about making the world a better place – and that’s a direct reflection of Joe Barber. No matter what club, religious or multicultural organization, athletic team, or Greek society someone may be a part of – there’s a place for everyone in that Mather basement office. Joe has truly created a space where everyone belongs, no one’s afraid of hard work, and you’re guaranteed to make friends and make a difference in your community. As Joe’s grad assistant for three years, I not only learned tactical professional skills like how to stretch a budget and plan large-scale events such as Do It Day and Relay for Life, but also how to rally people and lead with empathy, trust, and authenticity. Joe profoundly shaped my approach to leadership and I’m forever thankful for all he taught me. 

Sarah Hoyle ’05 M’07

Among the many positive memories I have with Joe, the summer of 2011 stands out as one of my favorites. I worked in the Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement with Joe to plan and execute Trinity’s Do It Day. Joe empowered me to coordinate the event and create an opportunity for Trinity students to connect with the Hartford community. I always knew I could rely on Joe for an honest perspective, and it was clear to me that he genuinely cared about making a positive impact—not only for Trinity students, but for the Hartford community as a whole. Working with Joe helped me learn so much about the community I was living in that I would not have known otherwise. The lessons I learned while coordinating Do It Day have stayed with me and continue to influence me throughout my career. I will always appreciate Joe’s commitment to service and the support he provides to students throughout their experience at Trinity. I’ll continue to seek Joe out whenever I visit Hartford or Trinity. No matter how much time has passed, we’re always able to pick up right where we left off. Congratulations, Joe! I’m grateful for your friendship. 

Michael Schlesinger ’12

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.”