Board of Trustees Discusses Capital Campaign

Brendan Clark ’21
Managing Editor

The Trinity College Board of Trustees met earlier this month to address key issues facing the College, including the upcoming capital campaign and ongoing issues of shared governance. The Tripod spoke with  Chair of the Board of Trustees Cornelia P. Thornburgh ’80 about the conversations and objectives the board seeks to accomplish in future meetings.   

The board, meeting Feb. 7 through Feb. 9, had discussions of the capital campaign at the forefront of the agenda. The discussions were led by “trustees and campaign co-chairs Jeffery E. Kelter ’76, P’18 and Kathryn George Tyree ’86,” according to an email from Trinity College President Joanne Berger-Sweeney. Deferred maintenance was also an element of the discussion, added Thornburgh, with “residence halls viewed as a campaign priority.”

The plan for improvements is “not flushed out and is part of a larger framework,” said Thornburgh. In order to accomplish this, Thornburgh added that the coming months will include conversations through “meetings on campus with various constituents and potential town halls” to shape the board’s objectives and move into the “nucleus phase” of the campaign. 

The campaign was also at the center of an “afternoon discussion on framework on Thursday.” Berger-Sweeney characterized the campaign as “a critical endeavor toward achieving one of the pillars of Summit, our strategic plan.” Thornburgh echoed this sentiment, adding that the framework for the campaign flows directly from the strategic plan.” Further, while the campaign is “primarily endowment focused,” it is also student-centered, with an emphasis on financial aid and scholarship, according to Thornburgh.

Shared governance was discussed during the trustees’ Governance Committee meeting and over lunch with many student groups, according to the email. Thornburgh stated that she “gives a lot of credit to President Berger-Sweeney for encouraging the board to think more about this notion of shared governance.” This February’s meeting also saw extensive participation from the Student Government Association (SGA), whose members were involved in the discussions.