Trinity’s Golden Opportunity for Change (March 3, 1981)

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The president of the College fulfills many roles: He is an administrator who is responsible to the faculty and students of the College. And he is an individual who can mold the intellectual texture of this institution.Some controversy has erupted at Trinity over the procedures of the presidential search.

Until this week, the community had heard little or nothing about the search process other than the choice of the five faculty members and the two students who were to sit on the committee. It is not unusual to hear from many administrators, Trustees, and even some faculty that the search must be stringently confidential.

The implication is clear; at the onset, the Trustees and the administration wanted to keep this process close under their auspices and as far away from the College community as was judiciously possible.

However, the very nature and importance of the president’s office at Trinity calls for community awareness of the search process and, when the finalists have been chosen, community involvement. A special meeting of the faculty had to be called in order to assure that the committee was following affirmative action guidelines. After much pressure, the Trustees made concessions to faculty demands.However, this gesture can only be taken seriously if a woman and/or any number of minority applicants are among the five finalists and are then given equal consideration.

With the placement of a new man or woman in the president’s office, Trinity College has a golden opportunity to branch outward, to prove that it is a progressive institution, and to show that It is an open-minded college, in accordance to Its liberal arts tradition. Unfortunately, at this moment, Trinity has never been considered a “liberal” institution. Now is the time to change this.

Trinity faculty and students can change this. They can demand further involvement in the search process. They can demand that the five finalists be presented to the College. Faculty members can adamantly assert that the individual who fills the president’s position affects their very intellectual and academic livelihood. In light of this, faculty should further insist that their five representatives and the search committee be given votes which will weigh equally with those of the Trustees. Presently, this college is an environment which caters to the Trustees, the old alumni of Trinity. It should cater to its faculty and its students, who make Trinity what it is by their desire to teach and to learn. Therefore, they should be consulted from start to finish. They are the ones who are important.