The Importance of Recycled News

Talia Cutler ’27

Executive Opinion Editor

There is no denying it — every day at Trinity is a slow news day. Trinity’s sluggish campus environment is typical of that of a small college. A club hosted a dinner event, a band played at the Mill, a student got an award, a team won a game and someone is mad about the state of the political system. There, a full issue of the Tripod, from News to Arts to Features to Sports to Opinion. 

This is not a recent or original revelation. Student and former Tripod editor Elizabeth Perry ‘98 wrote in a Tripod editorial “How Can We Learn From Each Other?” that “Trinity students and administrators are creatures of habit…. [E]very semester, the same issues arise. Drinking, Greek life, diversity, apathy, safety, dorm damage. These are not new topics, but each year there is a new twist on the old themes.”

This may be endearing to some — us “creatures of habit” inhabit a small, predictable and relatively safe space for our college years. Campus problems, while relatively minute, transcend time and remain relevant and relatable throughout years of matriculation. Yet, the constant-ness of these prevailing central issues for decades upon decades can be troubling to confront. Why is Perry’s list (written over 25 years ago) one that could have been written yesterday? Trinity spends $30.1 million on a new addition to our athletic facility while Jones is infested with mold. Trinity hosts alumni events while having a serious issue with faculty retention. There is a housing crisis while dorms Boardwalk and Park have sat empty for six years on Vernon street, awaiting a long promised demolition to make space for a new dorm. Resources are being thrown into the void while the capital-I Issues of this campus fester unattended. An age old problem, yes, but why? Where is the rah-rah commitment to betterment?

The infrastructure of campus, both literally and figuratively, is crumbling. In the winter of my freshman year, my dorm bathroom ceiling caved in, leaving a sizable hole above the tile. With the (rusted and rotting) pipes exposed, it began to leak. Maintenance’s fix included positioning two empty recycling bins beneath the leak, and that is how we lived for the next several months. Upon applying more pressure for a solution sans cartoonish buckets, my roommates and I were told simply that “there is no leak” in our dorm. This Orwellian response is indicative of the larger culture on campus — an aversion to a permanent fix, the denial of issues that permeate student life. 

I try to sympathize (to the extent that I can) with administrative efforts to improve the quality of campus life for students. Yet, I feel that there must be a willing ignorance at play — the Issues have not changed, as Perry pointed out. How hard would it be to improve first-year housing? More or less taxing than, say, spending two years ‘renovating’ the LSC quad? 

The “new twists on old themes,” while frustrating and somewhat boring at times, are essential to keeping an open conversation about accountability from the college. Recycled news is indicative of a stagnant administration, one unwilling to address issues that are important to students. In order to improve itself both in the academic and interpersonal realms, Trinity has to make a commitment to change in a tangible manner. While I’m sure the open-air terrace of Ferris (to come in the summer…we think) will be nice, perhaps the grocery list of maintenance items should come first: Greek life, safety and dorm damage. (Oh my!)