The Tripod

Issue date: 4/18/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Liz Johnson From left to right, Secretary Paige Corbin '09, VP of Finance Robert Lynch '06, Senator-at-Large Zachary Contreras-Gould '07, President Narin Prum '06, and Executive VP Will Servos '06 of the Ad Hoc Trustees Committee.

The Student Government Association hosted the first Trustees and Student Leadership Meeting last Wednesday in the Vernon Social Center. The Trinity College Ad Hoc Trustees Committee presided over the event, which gave students the opportunity to voice concerns to be compiled into a comprehensive report to be presented to the Trustees at their next meeting. The initiative for such a forum began on March 10, at the Board of Trustees meeting, when the Trustees inquired on what the students were thinking.

The committee hopes to create positive dialogue between the Trustees and the students, something that has not occurred in recent history. Zachary L. Contreras-Gould '07 emphasized that the dialogue would only be positive, and stressed the need to create constructive suggestions and comments to aid the Trustees. In an email sent out on March 29 to the Trinity community on the upcoming meeting, Contreras-Gould wrote, "The meeting is not intended to directly solve the problems that are brought before the panel but is intended to give a voice to those problems -- a voice that will be heard by the Board of Trustees in an official report that will be composed by the Committee." He went on to suggest that if the report results in a positive outcome, there is the possibility for similar discussion forums in the future. "I think that if this report turns out to be successful, there is the possibility for more forums like this in the future. These might be held on a biannual basis, once each semester."

With over 200 students present at the meeting, there was a strong representation from the various factions of the College. Kathryn West '07, noted that "Greeks, geeks, jocks and tree huggers were represented at the meeting." Many students were intrigued by the chance to communicate with trustees, whom students thought were distant figures, "far removed from the daily life of Trinity," as one student said. One enthusiastic member of the audience, Alec MacColl '09, stated, "I was glad to know that the trustees were concerned about their communication with students, and I was interested in expressing my own unique opinion in the debate." Other students, like Michael Lenihan '07, were afraid that the trustees would hear these concerns, but there would be no action. "I believed that there were some pressing issues that the students were facing and that should be brought to the attention of the Trustees. Many times, meetings are held and great ideas are generated, but then little action is taken to carry out suggestions. I think that if the Trustees are really motivated to help the College out, they will listen to what students have to say."

Continued...

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