Marking milestones
This is not just any year at Trinity College, it’s a year with many milestones reminding us of our shared recent histories. As you know—and as we’ve been highlighting in the pages of this magazine—we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of coeducation at Trinity and honoring in numerous ways the women pioneers who paved the way and the men who supported them. Our Women at the Summit initiative spans 18 months, and this fall we are launching a task force on the status of women at Trinity, among other activities.
At Convocation, we officially kicked off the start of the academic year and welcomed the outstanding Class of 2023—Trinity’s Bicentennial Class! We introduced our new students to a host of Trinity traditions, including the Luther-Roosevelt stone, which this year is 100 years old. And we invited back for this special ceremony the entire Class of 1973, who, 50 years ago, enrolled as our first fully coeducational class. The women in that class made history when they signed the Matriculation book in the fall of 1969, and we wanted to honor that history and thank them for their contributions in making Trinity what it is today. How wonderful it was to connect these two classes in person. They may be separated by half a century, but they are now forever linked by Trinity and by tradition.
Coeducation isn’t the only 50th anniversary we’re celebrating. Two other Trinity treasures are hitting the half-century mark: Cinestudio, the jewel of an independent movie house that sits in the heart of our campus and is one of the most highly regarded art house cinemas in the country, and our beloved Rome Campus, home to the Trinity in Rome program that has been a defining and often transformative experience for so many members of our community. We will be celebrating both of these anniversaries in the coming months, so stay tuned!
All of these important Trinity anniversaries, as well as ones being marked more broadly—the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, the Stonewall uprising, and the massive march in Washington to end the Vietnam War, just to name a few—are a reminder of just how progressive that time was and the significance of change occurring in those years. Much of that change was propelled by activism, optimism, and a vision for a better world. Today, as we look toward our Bicentennial in 2023, I am inspired by the boldness of our predecessors and proud to join with all of you in continuing their legacy.
While I’m celebrating milestones with you (including having completed my first five years as your president!), I can’t help but mention one more. It was 20 years ago that Trinity’s men’s squash team under legendary Coach Paul Assaiante won its first national championship. That win in 1999 began what would become the longest unbeaten streak in all of college sports, and it was the first of 17 national championships for men’s squash! We have so much to be proud of and grateful for as members of this extraordinary community. We share a remarkable legacy and look forward together to a very bright future!