Interested in participating in Trinity’s first-ever campus-wide squash tournament which also happens to benefit a good cause? Then register today for the First Annual ConnPIRG Campus Climate Challenge Squash Global Warming Tournament! It’s only $15 to play, and no experience is required! For more information, contact me, Bryce Blum, or Maggie Thomas!
After seeing the high student demand Trinity’s two Zipcars have gotten, we’re adding another one! This one will be conveniently located in Mather parking lot, and we expect it to be on campus by the time we get back from winter break. If you haven’t yet signed up for a Zipcar membership, go to www.zipcar.com/trinity — it’s only $35 to start, and that amount goes towards driving credit! Zipcar is wheels when you want them, at the rate of only $8 an hour or $65 per day! Give it a try!
For the third time, I met with a person from the administration to discuss the issue of PAC access to residence halls. Amy DeBaun, Director of Residential Life, explained the history of dormitory access here at Trinity, going from keys to codes to network cards. A disdainful but strong theme iterated during the code access period was once again the sharing of codes, for which there is actual data (not made available to me, except as a citation for the fact that every month tens of PAC’s are replaced). Actually, an interesting data point brought up was the fact that during code access, access was granted to an individual only for his/her own dormitory; only since the advent of network cards was it viable to allow students universal residence hall access (i.e. due to the very nature of the cards being networked). Thinking about it in this way, the PAC dorm hall access is sort of a step backwards. Taking it from the angle of safety, I pressed the point that a student losing their ID card would be very much at risk from all sorts of malevolent forces with no way to get to the safety of the dorms especially at late night, should such a terrible circumstance ever arise. A terse but admittedly adequate response to this concern was that such a student should simply call campus security, from either a personal phone or from the “safety phones” installed around campus (yellow poles). This would actually be quite a bit troublesome, but campus security is required to assist any student in getting in to their residence halls when such troubles arise. I cannot question this logic. A major aspect of this brought up was the financial requirements needed to even undertake the project. It cost the college quite a huge amount to actually install the card networks and to continue this takes quite some resources. However, the administration holds these costs justified due to the safety they seem to provide. To actually add PAC access to dorm would require eventually going to each dorm individually and programming all of them individually to the regular inhabitants and also to reprogram every year, on a manual basis. In this sense, the network cards are easier. In addition, with the financial tragedy that we are currently experiencing and the resultant cutbacks, no such action would be technically feasible. In summation, the administration has answered rejected this venture at all levels for myriad reasons, but mostly because they believe in the cards and refuse to implement PAC access to residence halls. There is apparently little that the student body can do to sway this opinion. At this point, I am currently marginalizing this issue, for I have met with all the top people in charge of these things, and also waiting for results from the student survey.
One of the items I’ve been working on with the SGA is trying to find creative ways to foster student-faculty interaction outside of the classroom. Obviously, a major benefit of attending a small, liberal arts college like Trinity is the expanded opportunity it provides for students to converse with professors both in and out of the classroom. Although we have some ideas that we’re currently exploring, any additional suggestions on this topic would definitely be welcome. Please let us know!
Recently, I met with Colleen E. Stewart who is in charge managing ACIS (Locknetics) at our college to discuss in depth the details of residence hall access, especially as relating to entry by code instead of simply ID card. Declaring that access by codes instead of ID card would not be enacted, she stated that the main reason for this had to do with security, to the loss of convenience. Apparently, until 2002, there had been exterior building access using codes as well as card readers with magnetic stripes. However, there had been many reports of people being reckless with codes and sharing them with others, including people not even in the school despite the warning that such actions were strictly inadvisable. One incident in particular cited was that of an individual who gave the code to a “beau” and ended up having that particular code revealed across campus to quite a few people (I am not revealing the specifics). It seems that one or a few people spoiled it for everyone. In support this, statistics were also revealed that about 20-25 codes are replaced/reset per month due to complaints of compromise and “mistaken sharing”. Of course, the idea of sharing codes on this level, since codes can actually simply be passed on by word of mouth, email, or text, is one that is completely unappealing. The ACIS manager said that one of the main reasons that ID cards are required is that they can not exactly be shared easily, since they require physical presence for the proximity reader to work not just a numerical code or any such thing. Needless to say, the inconvenience of the cards are also the safety of them. Secondarily, supposedly because of the ID system, Trinity College is ranked number 23rd safest of 135 colleges according to Reader’s Digest. This obviously not a ranking the school administration would like to lose. Thirdly, the ACIS manager also iterated that the reason for having ID cards supersedes simply dorm access as ID cards are necessary for very many different actions on campus, such as food, etc, and cannot consider reasons why a student would not have it on them. It seems that in some ways accidents are not excusable? But, the main point seems to be that making dormitory access to easy for students would be making it easier for a lot of other personages to access the dorms as well, through diverse methods mostly having to do with finding out codes. Upon the last word, the ACIS manager revealed that in the future the college plans to make access to other facilities and residence halls, perhaps even rooms, more exclusively by ID cards for students and faculty. I personally am not completely convinced of the reasons provided and will seek additional information from other sources. If additional clarification is needed, please contact me as all the info presented to me is not necessarily present here.
The following is a letter that was sent out to the entire student body a few minutes ago:
Our campus is in a critical period right now. The actions, or inactions, that we, as students, take in the coming days will define us in more ways than we know. The issue of racism at Trinity is particularly visible right now, and while it is not a new one, we have an opportunity before us to send a clear message that we stand for compassion and inclusiveness, not for racism and bigotry.
Everyone at Trinity seems to have a different opinion about how to deal with the racism that faces us, and everyone seems to have different ways of coping with it, but let us not allow these technicalities to distract us from the real issue before us. Often times, when we feel hurt, we need to find a source for our anger, and in times like these, we pick a person to wrongly blame. At this time, no one knows who posted the offensive TrinTalk post except the author him or herself, and we hope that you will all dismiss any rumors that you may have heard about its authorship.
Today, Monday, October 27, 2008 we will be standing together, as members of the Trinity College family to show our friends and classmates that we want Trinity to be a truly welcoming and inclusive place. So, please join us at 5:00pm on the Mather Quad (in front of Austin Arts) to stand in solidarity with all those who have been hurt by racist or otherwise offensive statements at our precious institution. Trinity is our college and let’s claim it as such.
Peace,
Rosalia Abreu ‘11
Ibrahim Diallo ‘11
Marston Hefner ‘12
Adam Katcher ‘12
Tomas Kavanagh ‘11
Channon Miller ‘11
Shannon Smith ‘12
Bryan Wedeen ‘12
Andrea Wise ‘11
Monday, Oct. 27th.
5pm.
Mather Quad.
Please join us, members of our beloved Trinity, to show our classmates and friends who have been hurt by acts of racism and bigotry on our precious campus, that we are united together, and that we want Trinity to be a welcoming and accepting place for ALL.
In today’s issue of the Hartford Courant, there is a photo and caption about Trinity’s First Annual Campus Sustainability Day, held yesterday on the grassy knoll in front of Mather. Click here to see the picture and read about the event!
I had a meeting earlier this week with the Director of IT and he has promised that at least 50% of the dorms on campus will have wireless access by the time we get back from winter break in January. The rest will be done by the beginning of the 2009-2010 academic year. Just thought I’d share the exciting news!
Just wanted to remind everyone that the voter registration deadline for the state of Connecticut is Tuesday, October 21. For most other states, the deadline has already passed, so if you’re not registered, do so! You can pick up a form in the FACES Lounge (downstairs Mather) and fill it out and ConnPIRG’s New Voters Project will deliver it for you straight to the Registrar of Voters’ office.
I know there are many people eager for recycling bins in Jarvis, and I just wanted to let everyone know that the Facilities Department and the Recycling Task Force are working on it, but because Jarvis was being renovated over the summer, it was not included in the first order of bins that are currently being distributed. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to e-mail me at Krystal.Ramirez@trincoll.edu.
See John McCain and Barack Obama duke it out one final time! Free snacks and beverages will be served! Join the Public Policy & Law Department and ConnPIRG’s New Voters Project in the Washington Room at 8:30 PM! See you then!
Christina Conti and I were interviewed about our views on the current campaigns, specifically John McCain’s choice of running mate, and we have quotes in an article titled, “To Liberal Female College Students, Palin No Feminist.” Read the article here and see what other CT undergrads had to say!
Presidential candidates Obama v. McCain, Round 2
8:30 PM in the Washington Room! Free snacks and beverages!
As a new member of SGA I want to discuss what I think it means to be a senator. Few actually understand the expectations and responsibilities of SGA senators. I for one had no idea what I was getting myself into when I showed to my first meeting. Despite my impulsive decision, SGA has opened up doors of opportunity for me that I never even knew existed. By the end of my first meeting as a senator representing the class of 2011, I knew that my decision to run for senate was a good one. As a senator for your class you serve as the voice of the Trinity community. You also are responsible for joining at least one of the many SGA committees. So far we’ve brainstormed quite a bit on things we’d like to see improved or implemented within the Trinity community. The amount of amazing ideas that surfaced when we did this was quite impressive. The ideas are then separated into the various committees by subject in order to be discussed and then possibly pursued.
Additionally each committee is expected to develop and pursue their own ideas. I sit on the student life committee. I also ran for the budget committee as a senator and ended up getting elected. Students really fail to recognize the amount of power they have. By being on SGA I am experiencing the amazing opportunities that Trinity has to offer, many of which go unnoticed by the majority of Trinity students. If anyone reading this is interested in hearing more (and there is alot more!!!) about what its like to be on SGA please please please do not hesitate to contact me. As a brand new member who is involved quite a bit from the get go I think I can offer anyone interested, a unique perspective. Call me at 8589228277, or just email me at Timothy.Stiefler@trincoll.edu
