Policy on Demonstrations and Protests Added to Student Handbook

Savannah Brooks ’26

Editor-in-Chief

On Aug. 25, 2025, the Dean of Students Office e-mailed Trinity students to notify them of the new changes coming to the 2025-26 Student Handbook, which included a “Policy on Demonstrations and Protests.” This type of policy is new to the Student Handbook, and was added after about 10 meetings during the 2024-25 academic year of a committee made up of students, faculty and staff, including Kevin McMahon, Eric Galm, Isaac Kamola, Ethan Rutherford, Maria del Carmen Flores, Jason Rojas, Joe DiChristina, Ava Caudle ‘25, Manuela Rodés ‘26, Sabin Mitchell ‘25 and Mya White ‘25. The policy was additionally approved by a small group of trustees, former President Joanne Berger-Sweeney and current President Dan Lugo.

The Student Handbook is revised every academic year to enumerate “community standards guidelines, policies, and procedures… as a foundation on which to structure your daily interactions,” according to the 2025-26 handbook. This is the first handbook in recent years to feature an in-depth policy regarding protests. The policy was conceptualized due to 12 students in October of 2024 receiving admonitions (formal warnings from the administration) a protest outside of a Board of Trustees dinner. The admonitions were dropped from students’ transcripts in January of 2025.

The new Policy on Demonstration and Protests aims to “establish content-neutral time, place, and manner guidelines and an approval process for conducting campus protests, demonstrations, and expressive activities in ways that maintain order and safety and do not obstruct or disrupt the educational mission and regular and/or essential operations of the institution.”  Most notably, the policy outlines that students must provide at least three business days advance notice to the College in order for their protest or demonstration to occur (although the policy does provide protections for more spontaneous actions), and requires that demonstrators request permission to be masked. The Advance Notice of Demonstrations/Protests form, which asks for the sponsoring organization, contact information for the key organizer, proposed and alternative dates, times and locations and anticipated number of participants, will be added to the student handbook website. After the form is submitted, it is reviewed by Associate Vice President for Student Life Maria Del Carmen Flores and Dean of Community Life and Standards Robert P. Lukaskiewicz within two business days “in most cases.” If a proposal is rejected, students can appeal. An appeal is reviewed by DiChristina, who will respond within 16 hours. 

In a forum discussion held on Sept. 22, members from the committee gave statements and answered questions in front of a group of Trinity students, faculty and staff. Questions posed mostly pertained to the masking policy, and committee members expressed that the policy was in place in order to ensure safety, so that Campus Safety can identify protestors as members of the campus community. In response to a question posed by the Tripod regarding how Campus Safety officers are trained to identify who is or is not a part of the campus community, DiChristina responded, “Our intent was to make sure that the students who are organizing protests are here on our campus. We’re here to support them.”

During the forum discussion, McMahon and Kamola expressed that, since the policy is due to be reviewed each year, students should be sure to convey any discontent they have with the policy with the administration, the SGA or any other body that can create a paper trail. “All policies are trial and error,” McMahon said. “It is something that should be flexible or should be changed if certain things don’t work.”