Social atmospheres: Trinity’s vs. others

by Annelise Gilbert ’17
Managing Editor

While I was tempted to avoid the stress of traveling and stay on campus for Trinity Days, I decided to visit my friend in Washington D.C. because I hadn’t seen her since my freshman year. The last time I spent a long weekend with her at Georgetown I remember being thrown off by the “early” pre-games (9 p.m.) and conversation heavy parties. It was easy to consider this different college environment as a “lame” party scene in comparison to Trinity’s late night fraternities and (sometimes) drug-happy students; however, I genuinely enjoyed my visit. My second trip was even more eye-opening, with a drastically more appreciative tone.

Because I was at Georgetown from Friday afternoon through Monday evening, I was able to experience academic, extracurricular, and social spheres. I was shocked to witness how involved every single person was. One of my friend’s roommates spent at least 15 hours a week working with the Model United Nations (MUN) organization. Another traveled almost every weekend for an ultimate Frisbee club tournament. My friend runs, swims, and bikes for the triathlon team. Involvement in extracurriculars has a huge influence on their social lives.

Saturday night, the MUN roommate hosted a party for MUN, and my friend and I went to a party for the triathlon team. Although Trinity fraternities and sororities do develop their own social networks, it is rare to hear about an SGA, Finance Club, or even Tripod party. While I’m unsure of the percentage of Trinity students involved in at least one club or organization, I have the impression that the number of students involved in multiple organizations/clubs is small, and a large percent are not involved in any. Maybe that’s why clubs and organizations don’t seem to have much of an influence on students’ social lives.

Since one of the most frequent complaints at Trinity is that fraternities are the only social option on weekends, it would make sense for students to become more involved in clubs and organizations as an alternative. Although it isn’t mandatory to hang out with people in any organization one is in, the social atmosphere would definitely be different and not so dependent on fraternities. That might be an eye-opening change.