The Tripod

The Princeton Review recently rated Trinity College as number one in the "Town-Gown Relations are Strained" category. Considering its efforts to connect students with the greater Hartford community, the College questions the validity of the ranking.

President James F. Jones regards the publication by The Princeton Review as "one of the most untrustworthy in the country since the methodology is flawed, to be generous." He said, "The Princeton Review will often hire not well-trained staff, who will then take up positions outside dining facilities of various schools across the country, ask students coming and going specific questions, and then assemble the data as if authoritative surveys have been conducted across a statistically valid cohort." Also, the conclusions run counter to findings of scientifically drawn surveys conducted by the Office of Institutional Research.

The Princeton Review's conclusion that the College's relationships with the local community are strained (that students do not "get along well with members of the local community," as explained by The Princeton Review) is of particular concern given Trinity's extensive efforts to interact with the city of Hartford. Trinity has made an effort to include the community in its own internal improvements. The two most visible examples of this are the availability of Trinity's library and computer resources, and the new Community Sports Center to Hartford residents.

Program Coordinator for Urban Academic Engagements Elinor Jacobson further expressed, "I find it somewhat mystifying that there is a perception that Trinity has strained 'Town-Gown Relations' given that fact that literally hundreds of students are working with community partners and organizations each semester [...] provid[ing] continued support of the Trinity College Boys and Girls Club and the Trinfo Café,"

Jones commented on other ways that Trinity has connected to its surrounding community. "Sometimes in any given academic year 80 percent, more or less, of our student body will be involved in something linked to the city of Hartford: Boys and Girls Club tutoring, the recent involvement of the Hartford Public Schools with the Koeppel Community Sports Center whereby 1,036 children have come to Trinity to learn to skate, many of whom have never been on the ice before in their lives, or the involvement many members of our community have with the Park Street renovation project, and all the rest," said Jones.

"Perhaps The Princeton Review staff who have somehow managed to come up with such a finding came to campus and found three or four students leaving Mather who were just having a bad day," Jones hypothesized.

Jacobson believes that Trinity's "Town-Gown Relations are Strained" title is undeserved, especially considering the College's continued developments. "We [as a College] are doing more now than ever [...] We continue to forge new relationships each semester with community partners and develop new collaborations with people and organizations in Hartford."

On April 17, Trinity's faculty voted on an urban engagement requirement, which did not pass. Jones stated, "the vote on the Hartford requirement was as close as I have ever seen in my career: 77 in favor, 80 against. From many members of the faculty who have discussed the requirement with me, it is clear that had the word 'urban' been used rather than an exclusively Hartford focus, the requirement might have passed." The requirement's failure serves to further illustrate somewhat of a secondary focus on the Hartford community.

Jones also thinks that "Trinity is a vital part of Hartford, and, as The New York Times article recently stated, schools located geographically in more remote areas of the U.S. are now trying to find ways to make urban issues more relevant to their student bodies." He continued, "There are a great many intersections between Hartford and Trinity, and this has been a distinguishing characteristic of the College for a great number of years now."

Director of Community Service and Civic Engagement Joseph Barber and Dean of Students Frederick Alford declined to comment for this story. Princeton Review Press Representative Harriet Brand could not be reached by press time.

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