Tripod Editorial: Support Systems and Preventative Measures

Adulthood

When you leave everything 

is fragile—

birds nests are taken

between screaming metal teeth.

I cannot stop touching my face

and finding new roughness 

there to dig out.

My nails and tongue are

urgent and heavy.

A lens has escaped my

reading glasses.

Everything is fragile,

and lucky. 

Each known is brittle.

Everything can be walked 

along barefoot. Everyone 

is walking barefoot. 

–Caroline Richards ’22

The past two weeks have hit the Trinity community hard, leaving students, faculty, and alumni alike with heavy hearts. It can be especially difficult in times such as these to remember to take care of ourselves and each other, but this is what we need the most. If there is any lesson to be learned after enduring great adversity and grief, it is the power of resilience and support from loved ones. This support can be found through the simplest of gestures, like a “good morning” text to a friend you haven’t heard from in a few days, or a simple “I love you” before leaving the house in the morning. Expressing the slightest interest in someone else’s day, how they’re feeling, or what they’re doing can make the gravity of whatever you might be feeling, feel a little more light. Aside from what thinking about others can do for you, these acts can truly change the course of someone else’s life. 

In trying times such as these, the Trinity College community has generally been supportive and resilient. However, there are always ways in which we can improve, as individuals offering each other support and as an institution as a whole that is responsible for ensuring the safety of students. Tragedies, although sometimes unavoidable, can at times be avoided altogether through prudence and caution on the part of those involved in ensuring public safety. Some suggestions to keep in mind as we move forward and try to move on include measures that could be brought up to the city of Hartford. Safety precautions including, but not limited to, speed bumps on Allen Place and Summit Street, traffic lights on New Britain Avenue that can be reset so that they are not merely blinking lights during nighttime hours, potential speed bumps on New Britain Avenue, as well as a crossing guard or Campus Safety officer stationed near Crescent Street on busy nights that students frequent the campus bar, The Tap, would all help to prevent another tragedy. 

Real, tangible changes can and should be made through city council, the mayor’s office, a grant from the state led by Hartford’s state representative and/or state senator, or from the federal government led by Hartford’s congress representative or Senator Murphy. We as students can spearhead this change merely by utilizing online resources provided by the Connecticut state government. Once we gather the facts and have real, informed conversations centered around change and preventative measures, we can guide administrative figures at Trinity towards what we as students need to feel safe on this campus. 

Ultimately, it is up to us as students how we respond to these events to make a positive impact.  

-KJN and DJN