Students hoping to take a break from the noise of the Main Quad on Saturday wandered over to the LSC Quad around 3 p.m.  to relax in the sunshine and enjoy some live music, as opposed to the dance music blasting from speakers and coming out from dorm room windows.

The Windham, Conn. indie-blues band Speakeasy took the stage first.  Front man Max Loignon, backed by bassist Matt Samiotes and drummer Alex Smith, belted out songs that ranged in style from rock with a touch of country to hazy ballads. 

The weather was perfect for Frisbee or football, and students took advantage by starting up games as Speakeasy put down a shimmering beat.

Next up was the Brooklyn indie-rock band Fort Lean. Led by singer and guitarist Keenan Mitchell, who was sporting a wild mane of bleached blonde hair, Fort Lean racked up the intensity and had the crowd bopping up and down for the entirety of their set. 

Mitchell was very grateful to perform, expressing his gratitude in the form of “thank-yous” to the crowd after each song. He also called out fans who seemed particularly excited to be there, saying “I’m going to sit with you later!” to a fan who gave him a shout-out after a particularly fun song. 

Keeping to his word, Mitchell walked about the crowd after Fort Lean finished their set, playfully interacting with his newly converted fans.

The headliner, Philadelphia, Penn. art-rockers Man Man, graced the crowd with schizophrenic beats that pulled the crowd off of their beach towels and onto their feet. Using unconventional instruments such as xylophones, the five-piece group who go by the names Honus, Pow, Chang, T. Moth and Jefferson provided a full set of entertainment. 

They created strange vocal effects by slapping their throats while singing in one particularly bizarre opening song. 

By the concert’s end a formidable crowd had gathered in front of LSC, all delighted by the excitement and enthusiasm put forth by the performers. The free show was sponsored by The Mill and WRTC Hartford and was attended by Trinity students as well as members of the Hartford community. The Mill plans an outdoor concert open to all students and community members every year for Spring Weekend.

ALYSSA ROSENTHAL ’13

NEWS EDITOR

On Friday, Apr. 13 nearly 200 students and members of the faculty, staff, and the Trinity community gathered to participate in the 11^th annual Take Back the Night, an event created to increase awareness of sexual assaults and violence that occur on college campuses and to teach students how to react and work to decrease the number of incidents. Director of the Women and Gender Action Resource Center (WGRAC) Laura Lockwood called the event “an opportunity for students to debunk myths and learn the facts about sexual assault on campus; to meet SART members and learn about reporting options; to create a safe space for students to tell their stories; and, to end the silence and create a campus-wide movement to end sexual violence, sexual harassment, stalking and domestic violence, and the environment which perpetuates them.”

The event was sponsored by various diverse groups and student organizations, including WGRAC, Students Against Sexual Assault (SASA), Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), the football team, the Muslim Students Association, and Hillel, among others. Lockwood said the event “brings together athletes, Greeks, multicultural houses and organizations, arts and theater groups, activist students of all stripes plus many who simply want to end student-on-student crimes and improve the campus climate.” SASA is the group that primarily organized the event.

The theme of this year’s event was “Sexual Assault is a Campus Safety Issue.” SASA Coordinator Jasmine Owarish-Gross ’12 said “We picked this theme in order to get people to realize that student-on-student crime does not just include physical assaults or acts of aggression but also sexual assault/rape, which means that as a college campus we need to take a stand against all types of student-on-student violence, which includes sexual assault/rape.”

The night began with a welcome and introduction by the event’s Emcees, Oludare Bernard ’14 and Adolfo Abreu ’15. The introduction was followed by an address by College President James F. Jones, Jr., who spoke about the need to end the culture of silence surrounding issues of sexual assault and violence. Next Paul Stellar ’13, a representative of the Men Against Rape program at the University of Connecticut, urged participants in a self-written poem to understand that sexual assault on campuses and across the world is not just a women’s issue, rather it is everyone’s issue.

Andrew Bannon-Guasp ’13, who spoke a little later in the program, explained that men are victims of rapes and sexual violence far more often than most people realize, and that sexual assault is a frequent element in hate crimes against LGBTQ persons. Bannon-Guasp is currently enrolled in a course through the Lufkin Foundation to become a state-certified sexual assault counselor. This year’s event also had more men participate and perform than in past years, which shows that sexual assault is not just a women’s issue. Speaking from the point of view of SASA, Owarish-Gross said “As a group, even though we are apart of WGRAC, we acknowledge that males can be victims of sexual assault/rape and sexual abuse, despite the fact that most people think that SASA is only a group that advocates for women.”

Lockwood, who is also the Coordinator for SART, followed Stellar with an introduction of the team and the reading of various statistics to improve education and awareness of those in attendance at the event. Lockwood said that only about 20-30 percent of survivors of sexual violence report the incident. About 50 sexual assaults occur on our campus annually, she added, and an average of five are reported each semester. She also said that one in four females are victimized at some point during their college years. “To protect students who have survived acts of sexual violence or other types of violence, and secondary survivors (friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, partners), from being re-traumatized at this event,” Lockwood added, “we alerted as many students as possible that phrases and words at this event may be emotionally triggering.”

An interactive improvisation skit came after Bannon-Guasp’s presentation. Performed by Associate Professors of Theater and Dance Barbara Karger and Michael Preston’s class called “Improvisational Theater and Social Change,” the skit was about why victims and survivors of rapes and assaults often do not report their attacks. Lockwood said that this class, together with Bantams Negating Traditional Stereotypes (BANTS), WGRAC’s bystander behavior training group, “focus not only on prevention sexual violence and misogyny but also acts of racism and homophobia – basically working to improve campus culture and climate through active rather than passive behavior.” The class, which is in the Theater and Dance Department, was created after WGRAC invited an improv drama troupe to perform at First Year Orientation in 2011. The troupe teaches students how to become active bystanders in situations that lead to sexual violence by bringing them on stage and having them act out the part. “Active bystander behavior is the leading preventative method of prevention of sexual violence on college campuses,” Lockwood said. “WGRAC offers bystander behavior training workshops, and this class will be performing for student groups and classes next year.”

Faylis Matos ’12 read a poem titled “Take Back My Night,” and Myles Bristow ’14 read one called “To All the Women I’ve Loved Before.” The Dischords sang “A Change is Gonna Come” by Seal, and the Shonda Steppers performed a piece. Salima Etoka ’15 read “Over It,” a piece written by Eve Ensler, the playwright of The Vagina Monologues. Joseph Laws ’12 was the final performer, and he contributed a self-written on student-on-student crime at Trinity. Laws also touched on the notion that sexual violence is not solely a women’s issue. The event was closed with a moment of silence honoring survivors of sexual assaults. “The event builds community, and seeks to mobilize the community,” said Lockwood.

Dr. Tennyson O’Donnell was recently appointed as Allan K. Smith Lecturer in English and the new Director of the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric. O’Donnell will arrive on campus and begin the Directorship in July 2012.

A national search was conducted to fill this position, and search chair Associate Academic Dean and Professor of English Sheila Fisher called the applicant pool “very strong.” Aided by a search committee made up of Associate Professor of Psychology Dina Anselmi, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Neuroscience Bill Church, Allan K. and Gwendolyn Miles Smith Professor of English Paul Lauter, First Year Program Dean Margaret Lindsey, Associate Professor of English David Rosen, Associate Professor of Theater and Dance Katharine Power, and Professor of Philosophy Maurice Wade, initial interviews were conducted both at Trinity and at the Modern Language Association Convention in Seattle in January. 

Dr. O’Donnell was one of four finalists chosen from this round of interviews, and each finalist was “invited to campus for a two-day campus visit that involved meeting with constituencies from across campus who are involved with fostering strong writing across the disciplines,” according to Fisher. During his visit, O’Donnell gave two presentations. One, which was open to the entire campus, discussed his vision for the Writing Center, and the second explained how he would teach a composition course and his methods for training Writing Associates. “What made Dr. O’Donnell stand out,” said Fisher, “was a combination of his training, his expertise, and his vision for the Center.”

According to an email sent to the Trinity community, O’Donnell received his B.A. in English from Brigham Young University – Hawaii, his M.A. in English at California Polytechnic State University, and his Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric from Syracuse University. He specialized in composition pedagogy, writing program administration, and rhetorical theory. O’Donnell comes to Trinity from Mississippi State University, where he is an Assistant Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center. According to Fisher, “he built the Writing Center from the ground up and took it from 300 visits in its first semester to more than 3,000 visits during his later semesters as Director.” One of O’Donnell’s recommenders said he built the Writing Center at Mississippi State into “a visible, integral part of the University’s desire to improve writing across all disciplines and all levels.”

Fisher said O’Donnell is “eager to be at a liberal arts college because of the ability it will provide him to work closely with students and faculty colleagues across the disciplines.” She added “he will bring to the Writing Center his solid grounding from his work at Mississippi State as well as ideas for innovative programs and pedagogy that he can explore with the input and support of the Writing Center faculty,” which includes Principal Lecturers in the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric Cynthia Butos, Irene Papoulis, and Robert Peltier.

ALYSSA ROSENTHAL ’13

NEWS EDITOR

            More than 100 faculty members gathered together for the Presidential Mellon Grant-funded faculty retreat in October 2011 to discuss how to make Trinity a better institution academically and socially by its 200^th birthday in 2023.  The result was the creation of six proposals, set to be launched in the spring of 2013, “designed to increase student engagement with academic pursuits, in theory and in practice,” according to Dean of Faculty Rena Fraden. Though still a work in progress, these programs are designed to give students more opportunities to challenge themselves academically, take charge of their educations, and ensure that they have had the best experience possible in their four years at Trinity.

            At the retreat in October, faculty members compared pedagogical values and aims in teaching in order to create a list of common goals to work towards. According to Fraden, these include “more collaborative learning and teaching for both faculty and students; enhanced research experiences for students; more intensive advising of students; and deeper connections between the academic and social lives of students.” Fraden said that faculty “did not feel it was important that all students enjoy the same experiences but rather that we highlight and make possible at Trinity many different kinds of intellectual communities,” so students can “become self-reflexive about their education [and] become independent learners.”

            Following the establishment of these common goals, the Ad-Hoc Trinity Mellon Committee called for proposals that would further them, and after receiving 11 chose to fund six. Fraden called the funded proposals “consonant with the values and themes expressed at the retreat.”

            The first proposal, written by Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Urban International Studies Garth Myers and Professor of History and International Studies Dario Euraque, is the Co-Curricular Initiative on “Cities.” Myers said that the main goal of the program is “to carry students to a consciousness that fuses urban challenges in our city, state, region and country with a compassionate vision of the parallel dilemmas out in the wider urban world.” In order to do so, students will be invited to enroll in any of the 28 classes that will be associated with the initiative and to attend urban-themed events held throughout the year. These events would include films, musical and artistic events, and seminars, and would culminate in a major symposium in the spring of 2013. There would also be a new 0.5 credit course for students enrolled in any of the Initiative’s courses to supplement their experience. According to Euraque, the program is based on a year-long academic initiative that took place in the 1997-1998 academic year.

            The Problem Based Learning Collaboration will involve classes all focused on some aspect of Health and Human Rights. Authored by Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Sarah Raskin, Charles A. Dana Research Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Human Rights Program Sonia Cardenas, and Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Joan Morrison, the proposal “would allow students to more closely identify with their major discipline while using that information to learn across disciplines, [and] it would present a real application of this knowledge to solve real-world problems,” according to the written proposal. The three classes involved would be divided into small groups, each with students from each class, and each student would make a unique contribution to solving the problem they were given based on their academic focus. Raskin believes the program “will allow students to understand that their expertise is important, but also to see that by working with others they can get a broader sense of how to use the material that they are learning in class.”

            The Common Intellectual Experience for First Year Students is a film series course “designed to extend the first-year seminar into the spring semester and to bridge the gap between first-year students’ intellectual lives in and out of the classroom,” according to co-author First-Year Program Dean Margaret Lindsey. The students involved would be expected to attend six film screenings and six one-hour discussions over the course of the semester. The films, specifically selected to provoke debate and discussion, would deal with “a profound human experience, an ethical dilemma, a natural phenomenon and/or a contemporary societal problem,” according to Lindsey. Associate Professor of Biology Kent Dunlap, Assistant Professor of English Prakash Younger, and Assistant Professor of Psychology Nicole Dudukovic are also principle authors of this proposal.

            The Community Based Research proposal was written by Associate Professor of Economics Carol Clark, Associate Professor of Educational Studies Jack Dougherty, Associate Professor of Political Science Stefanie Chambers, Assistant Professor of Psychology Laura Holt, and G. Fox and Company Professor of Economics Diane Zannoni. Through this program, students would have the opportunity to take part in year-long research projects utilizing members of the Hartford community and local organizations. Students would receive credit for their project, along with an expense grant to carry out their research.

            The fifth proposal is the Advising Portfolio. Created by Professors of Engineering John Mertens and Dave Ahlgren, this program would give select students the opportunity to work closely with a faculty member over their four years at Trinity and to build an electronic portfolio of all their best work that could be easily sent to potential employers at the end of their college career. Mertens said the program’s vision is for each faculty member involved to have a diverse group of 12 students, three from each class, who would meet four times a semester. As part of the program, for which participants would receive 0.25 credits each semester, students would have to complete certain tasks each year; for example, sophomores would have to write a proposal for acceptance into their chosen major and all seniors would have to present their senior exercise or project publicly. Though many particulars are yet to be determined, Mertens believes the program would “build a lot of links that don’t exist now.”

            The final funded proposal, authored by Director of Leonard Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life and Professor of Religion in Public Life Mark Silk, is the Social Organizations: Theme Houses. The program hopes to eventually establish up to 12 theme houses, each “devoted to a particular area of activity or interest, not departmentally linked but designed to engage students and faculty around common intellectual/cultural interests,” according to the written proposal. Each house would have a student board and also 10-15 affiliated Faculty Fellows. The proposal states that the theme house system would function “both as a social alternative to the fraternities and as the locus for interaction between faculty and students,” and that it “would be the kind of bold move that outside observers would immediately recognize as representing a fundamental transformation of Trinity College.”

            In a letter to the faculty, Fraden stressed that while the success of the projects themselves is important, “what is crucial is sustaining the spirit of experimentation itself and the great fun of discussing and trying something new.” Part of the Mellon Grant money has been set aside to bring in consultants to evaluate the success of the programs and to fund a follow-up retreat in a year to evaluate the progress being made. “We will know we are on the right path,” Fraden said,” if our students begin to talk about the various projects – Trinity in 2023 (T23) – they are engaged in with us and with each other. That will be the sign of our greatest success, now and up to 2023.”

Hundreds of Trinity College students, professors, administrators, and alumni congregated on the quad during common hour on Thursday, March 8 in support of, in the words of Arthur Chou ’14, “a friend, classmate, and fellow Trinitarian” who was the victim of a merciless assault that occurred the previous weekend. The “Rally For Kenny” was formed in response to the severe incident occurring on March 4, at around 3 a.m. Chris Kenny ’14, who while walking near the north end of campus with a friend, Timothy Suspenski ’14, was hospitalized after being viciously attacked by six assailants. The mission statement of the rally, written by Matt Tesone ’13 and Ben Green ’14, clarified that its’ intentions were “two-fold.”  Green revealed the event was created as a “showing of support for Chris Kenny and his family” but also insisted the purpose of the demonstration was to be “a student-run forum” meant to “give a voice to the student body in improving our safety and security.” The rally was organized by Chris’s closest friends, Chris’s St. Anthony Hall brothers, and other concerned students over the course of a few days to promptly address the student body’s interest in ensuring a safe campus.

The well-run, well-attended rally was an effective platform for students to articulate their overwhelming sentiment of anger and frustration regarding current campus security measures in place. A majority of students agree that a “near-death incident” should not have been the “tipping-point.” Students, dressed in royal blue “Rally For Kenny” t-shirts, some holding signs that read, “We have the right to feel safe” and “3/4/12 Not just another email,” met to exchange ideas about how to proceed, how to make Chris feel safe when he returns, and how to make the entire student body feel reasonably safe and secure.  

Several students took the podium, addressing an emotionally charged audience before the Bishop Brownell statue. Maria Young ’14, a recent victim of an attack on campus before the Kenny assault, gave a heartfelt account of her robbery at knifepoint, and how it has deeply affected her time here.  She discussed her disappointment with campus safety’s insufficient response, insinuating that the school is not meeting expectations to make students feel safe.  Young feels that “the administration is more concerned with the image of the College than with actually protecting and listening to students.”  Other students reflected on the administration’s unacceptable handling of Kenny’s attack and how poorly it was communicated to the Trinity College community. Gus Dangremond ’14, speaking on behalf of a student who wished to remain anonymous, said that the initial email sent out hours after the assault lacked key detail and was  “essentially a four-line insult to Chris, his family, his friends and the rest of the student body.”  Another student, Stephen Smith ’13, reiterated how sad the tragedy was, found it deplorable that Chris’ parents were only informed about their son at 10 a.m. the next day when Chris himself called his mother before going into surgery for several hours, and questioned why a meeting was not held on Sunday to quickly address the “severity” of the incident.

At the rally, many students offered several ideas for how to improve safety on campus.  Better lighting, additional cameras, and an improved shuttle system were proposed by Chanel Palacios ’14 who also urged that students should never be refused rides or escorts across campus. Additionally, students asserted that demands for additional safety were not an attack on the Hartford community or to be interpreted as “racist” or “elitist.” Chou said, “We do not blame Hartford as a whole but we castigate the few who do inflict acts of violence upon us.” Similarly, Alberto Martinez ’12 refuted issues that he depicted as undermining the necessity of a campus safety reevaluation.  He contended that the argument there are more crimes committed by Trinity students was unrelated to the greater issue of safety, especially in the wake of Kenny’s unwarranted beating. Martinez received a great amount of applause after he emphatically denounced the racial and ethnic argument that has “framed” the discussion stating that the student body is only concerned about the fact that students are being attacked and not about the race of the attacker.

Other students raised the controversial notion of further isolating the college campus. Trey Zenker ’15, offered a dramatic and detailed plan, proposing, “Trinity College abandon the overly idealistic open campus policy” and administer a “secured campus policy” as a solution to the “security nightmare.” Members of the Hartford community would not be refused entrance to campus but would be accounted for, just as they are upon entrance into the school’s library.

Board of Trustees Chairman Paul Raether ’68 whose three daughters graduated from Trinity, spoke after the students. He ensured that the students’ demand to provide increased security measures was  “completely acceptable.” He stated that the Board of Trustees, who held a meeting on Saturday, are open to all suggestions but that it is imperative for everyone to be thoughtful and to maintain and improve the reputation of the school. He also said that it is essential to work together, not against each other, to help solve security issues.

President James F. Jones Jr. sent an email informing the Trinity College community of Chris Kenny’s assault Tuesday afternoon. Jones outlined the steps that the college will take to improve safety on campus. Such measures include hiring ten more “law enforcement professionals” in addition to the five Campus Safety officers recently hired. The administration is also reviewing an “audit by a panel of external campus safety professionals” that made several suggestions, most notably, that a “senior professional” be hired who will have the role of leading in maintaining a safer campus.  In addition, the school has sent a request to external consultants to aid in crime prevention through “environmental design” which consists of “barriers, lighting, cameras, landscaping and monitoring access.” Jones understands how important it is to listen to all the members of the Trinity Community who have voiced concerns and possible solutions, but he has said that the “first priority” of the school is implementing the initiatives he described. 

The “Rally For Kenny” pushed for a prompt reform to campus safety so that the college’s policies no longer reflect what many students feel have been retroactive responses in the past. Trinity is located in Hartford, reportedly the 19th most dangerous city in the United States, with crime rates well above the national average. Over recent years Hartford resident-against-Trinity student crime has seemingly increased both in frequency and in violence. While short-term solutions to campus safety and security must be found, long term solutions should also be considered. The rally was the first step to a discussion that must be had, not an argument won.

How will the institution improve relations with its’ surrounding Hartford community? Can students attempt to extend an olive branch to Hartford residents and what form would that take? Should more student-run initiatives be organized that integrates them into the Hartford community, not just the Trinity community? Students understand most Hartford residents are not resentful of them and encourage their presence, which could promote business and economic growth in the city. For those who do begrudge Trinity and what they represent, how will Trinity College constructively change their perception to make those Hartford residents feel recognized by the College and students feel recognized by the Hartford community? Chris Kenny’s wounds will heal, but Trinity students, parents, faculty, administrators, and alums all hope the college’s relationship with Hartford has not been permanently scarred.

On Thursday, Feb. 16, at 4:30 p.m. in the Rittenberg Lounge of Mather Hall, students and faculty gathered for the opening event of an art exhibit entitled, “Uganda Reflections.”  The photos that are now on display in the Mather Art Space capture the students’ experiences in a recent service trip to Uganda. Trinity’s own Shawna Berk ’13, Rebecca Levy ’12, and Jillian Zieff ’14, who were joined by students from Wellesley College and Babson College.  At the event last week, Trinity students presented some of their personal reflections from the trip and described what they saw and learned from their experience over winter break. 

The trip was coordinated by Director of the Trinity College Hillel House Lisa Kassow, who was also responsible for putting on the event.  In addition to taking the pictures and putting them on display for the Trinity community to see, Kassow went above and beyond in preparation for the afternoon’s activities. 

Before the event, she asked Chartwells Chef Brendan to prepare some Ugandan inspired appetizers. “We were presented with beautiful platters of scrumptious fruits, vegan vegetable stews and chapatis (similar to a lightly fried pita, served at every meal) inspired by a photograph of a feast we had at the home of our guide, Samson Shadrak,” Kassow said. Kassow and the students were intent on giving those in attendance a memorable and moving insight into what life is like in Uganda and what they got out of their short experience in Africa.  Kassow organized this trip because of her daughter’s experience two years ago going to Uganda with the American Jewish World Service. 

In this most recent trip, students went to eastern Uganda to visit with a Jewish community called the Abayudaya, Ugandan for “Jewish.”  The group left the states on Jan. 5 and returned Jan. 16.  Though the objective of the trip was not clearly defined, it quickly become obvious that their help was much needed and appreciated.  Before setting out to Uganda, students thought they would be tutoring children in basic math. 

However, according to Kassow, “when we got there we were told there were other more pressing needs.”  Their first assignment was with the Hadassah Primary School, where the group was asked to paint the dormitory and classrooms, clean the library, and dust hundreds of books, all of which were in poor condition. 

At the event, the Trinity students reflected on what they saw on their trip that was particularly moving.  There is no running water or electricity in the community, and water is drawn from a nearby well.  The quality of life is much different than anything in the United States, and the group helped as much as they could in the eleven days they were there by cleaning and renovating some large, common spaces that members of the community frequently use.  In addition to doing service work, the students were also exposed to the religious aspects of the community that are particularly important to its members.

Though several participants on the trip are Jewish and it was organized through Hillel, some students were not familiar with Jewish practices.  Nevertheless, everyone participated in the Shabbat service, and even those that did not practice a religion found it to be a very powerful experience. “After services, the people congregate outside under a tree for an hour or so of Torah talk,” Kassow said. “Rabbi Gershom leads a discussion about Moses. How did Moses present himself to Yitro? As a Hebrew? As an Egyptian? The whole community is engaged in this highly passionate, literate exchange of knowledge and ideas. They discuss the concept of free will, while the Americans are getting increasingly hungrier in the heat. And then we all eat lunch together – goat.” 

The major differences in values in this community gave the students a new perspective and respect for the Jewish culture in other countries.  According to Kassow, “Meeting a viable, well established, indigenous African Jewish community that integrates the Jewish concepts of tikkun olam and tzedek – repairing the world and social justice – into every aspect of their community life had a profound effect on all of us.”   The art exhibit will be open for public viewing until March 2.

In the past few months between the White Paper and the new social rules, there has a definite feeling of social change on campus, so what would you tell students about the direction of social life at Trinity? 

The unveiling of Trinity’s ecological footprint began on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012, with the return of RecycleMania. Trinity’s campus community will put its environmental awareness to the test, along with 630 colleges and universities slated to participate in the friendly competition, which was designed with the intention of promoting recycling on college campuses by using pure competition as an incentive. According to the tournament’s website, its other goals are to call attention to campus recycling programs, to advocate colleges to “measure and benchmark” recycling efforts, to provoke waste reduction, and to simply engage in fair and friendly competition. Trinity first participated in the contest in 2009, and after a brief hiatus, the school has decided to re-declare their participation for 2012. This year, the College decided to enter the competition in partnership with Aramark, the company that now manages the campus’ Buildings & Grounds office. According to Trinity’s Sustainability Coordinator Karen Misbach, the College hopes to “promote recycling and improve our collection systems through this joint effort.” Misbach will oversee Trinity’s participation in RecycleMania. The competition will span a period of ten weeks. Throughout the contest, the community will be updated with reports delineating the amount of cardboard, bottles, cans, and paper collected for recycling. Trinity’s recycled trash will be measured and recorded with the help of the CT Resources Recovery Authority, which will submit weekly reports to RecycleMania regarding the quantities of trash and recyclable materials that the College disposes of. After the ten weeks have elapsed, each campus’ recycling performance will be evaluated based on the total amount recycled per capita. Whichever campus yields the largest per capita figure will be crowned the winner. The reward for the national champion is national recognition, the right to hold the Waste Minimization Trophy for the entire year, and a customized award assembled from recyclable materials. President James F. Jones, Jr. stated in a campus wide email that he believes the real effort of the contest to be “each member of our community doing their part in making sure any waste material that can be recycled is set aside in a recyclable collection container.” President Jones also noted that the ultimate goal is that participation will instill better environmental stewardship within the community. If you would like to get involved with the program, or simply have a question, you can contact Misbach. If not, you can stay updated on Trinity’s progress through the RecycleMania website, www.recyclemaniacs.org.