Photo Credit: Sabrina Codrington ’25
Savannah Brooks ‘26
Managing Editor
Following her final Board of Trustees meeting as President of Trinity College, outgoing President Joanne Berger-Sweeney sent an email to the college community on May 1, 2025, in which she recapped a number of recent events and developments, including her signing of a letter rebuking the Trump administration. Throughout her email, Berger-Sweeney made several references to the Trump administration’s recent crackdown on higher education, before expressing that “partnering with other institutions is more important than ever.” On April 22, 2025, Berger-Sweeney and Trinity joined over 500 other U.S. institutions of higher education in signing a public statement entitled “A Call for Constructive Engagement,” where the collective wrote that they “speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education. We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses. We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding.” The letter called for “constructive engagement that improves our institutions and serves our republic.”
Following her thoughts on the letter, Berger-Sweeney wrote a “reminder” to the campus community: “Should immigration officers appear on our campus, community members should immediately contact Campus Safety (ext. 2222), who will be in close contact with our general counsel, Dickens Mathieu.” While there have been no reported incidents on Trinity’s campus, student visa holders at colleges and universities across the country have been targeted by ICE for often minor criminal violations (eg. traffic infractions) which they sometimes had not been charged for. After restoring student visas in an abrupt change in order to create a new policy, the Trump administration released a draft of a new policy that would see international students lose their legal status along with their visa, meaning that students would no longer be permitted to stay in the U.S. to finish their degree if their visa was revoked.
In her email, Berger-Sweeney also announced that Trinity has a balanced budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, but will hold off in finalizing its FY26 budget due to projected deficits “exceeding $10 million.” Berger-Sweeney cited “smaller enrolled classes, growing costs of financial aid to maintain accessibility, rising costs driven by needed and required maintenance of facilities, a large debt service from the early 2000s coming due, and other economic uncertainties” as reasons for this deficit. Trinity’s Board of Trustees voted to “approve tuition and fee increases for FY26 and a capital budget of $5 million,” and Berger-Sweeney noted that they expect “additional clarity” regarding the FY26 budget in mid-June.
Trinity is also continuing to work on “creating a policy regarding student demonstrations” following a number of campus protests in the past two years, the most notable being the encampment which stood on the Main Quad in May of 2024. The policy will be added to the social code and is currently expected to act as a guide for students who aim to organize a protest or demonstration. The draft allows “expressive activity,” meaning anything that can be classified as a protest or demonstration, to take place in “designated areas” where it “cannot disrupt or obstruct the regular and/or essential operations of the college from taking place or prevent others from fully taking part in the learning process, programs, events, scholarly research or the administration of the college.” The draft of the policy identifies “classroom/academic buildings during instructional hours,” “athletic and performing arts venues during an event,” and “private offices, libraries, residence halls, mechanical rooms, labs or IT areas” as “prohibited areas.”
The draft policy identifies manner parameters in addition to place parameters. Manner parameters prevent demonstrators from blocking entrances or exits to buildings, “obstruct[ing] an individual or group from moving freely about campus or viewing and hearing a speaker,” “using amplified sound without prior approval,” being violent or threatening, “damag[ing] property,” or wearing anything that “prevent[s] campus personnel from identifying the person as a member of the college community.” Enforcement will include a verbal warning before the disciplinary process is carried out.
Berger-Sweeney additionally shared that faculty members Clark Alejandrino, Catrina Bacote, Arianne Bazilio, Clayton Byers, Belén Fernández Milmanda, Gabriel Hornung, Lina Ma, Juliet Nebolon, Ibrahim Shikaki and Shunyuan Zhang have received promotions.
