Shaun Stuer (’13)
As many of you know by now, the Trinity campus suffered an incredibly sad and serious incident in the early morning hours of Sunday March 4th. A Trinity student, Chris Kenny, was attacked and beaten by a group of five unknown suspects on his walk home along Allen Place. The Hartford Police Department quickly assigned the case to their Major Crimes Division to show how seriously they are taking this assault. The resulting injuries that Chris suffered left him barely recognizable and hospitalized. After several hours of facial reconstruction surgery, Chris was stable and in rising spirits. Shortly thereafter, he was released from the hospital to his parents, who brought him back to his Florida home for rest and recovery.
The outcry from the student body in response to this despicable and cowardly act has been unrelenting. First, came a critical email to the entire student body from a close friend of Chris, condemning the vague and unclear email response generated by the Trinity College Campus Safety office. Next, came a student-organized rally with a two-fold purpose: (1) to show support for Chris Kenny and his family, and (2) to give a voice to the student body concerning issues of safety. The rally, which was attended by students, faculty, administrators, and trustees alike, had an estimated 700 people in attendance. While the rally was open to all persons interested in expressing their views, a monolithic viewpoint drove any in attendance to the conclusion that Trinity is not a safe place. For anyone living, or considering living, at Trinity in the near future, this prospect is a scary one that requires immediate and substantial steps to fix.
Many students demanded action and called for more campus safety officers at night; we got them, along with a healthy dose of Hartford police officers. The students cried out for patrols of the Allen Place and Crescent Street areas, and we got that too. But why, the students asked, did it take such a heinous incident to move the administration to act? Why can’t the administration take a proactive approach to dealing with issues of importance on our campus? Unfortunately, I believe that all the cries for a safer campus only covered up a deeper and more fundamental problem within Trinity: communication (or the lack thereof). Most students are not aware that the administration had just completed an external audit of campus safety, with the plan to make substantial changes. These are exactly the type of proactive steps that many students implored the administration to take.
It’s easy to forget, but Trinity suffers from the same difficulty as any other large organization: change does not come easily. Unfortunately, obstacles arise and must be overcome. There are two keys to successful triumph over these obstacles. The first is to be proactive: anticipate challenges before they arise and implement changes accordingly. The second is to communicate: keep everyone throughout the organization ‘in the know’ about important developments. Most of the complaints uttered by students over the past ten days dealt with the first stipulation. While Trinity is not blameless in this regard, where they truly failed was in the latter point. From the original Campus Safety email to the fact that President Jones attended the rally but stood quietly idle, it is clear that the administration does not appreciate the value of good communication. Much of the outrage and anxiety felt by Trinity students could have been more easily managed if the administration had only been as honest and clear throughout the whole ordeal.
I just hope that our calls for safety do not overshadow an equally important plea. In the future, Trinity would do well to respect the importance of good communication.