Construction Dominates Campus
Landscape
- With one building under construction, another underway next month, and plans for future
buildings in the works, the Trinity campus will be home to trucks and cranes as well as
its student body for some time.
- Right now the area where the Summit Street residence halls are being built is the most
noticeable construction site on campus. The Summit Street dorms will eventually be three
residence houses that are placed around a "piazza-style" courtyard. The building
should be completed and ready to live in by next August. Vice President and Chief of Staff
Ron Thomas comments, "Construction is currently on schedule."
- The new dorm is part of the plan for the "Tutorial College" slated to start
next year. The Tutorial College is a program for students who will "Work
collaboratively throughout the year on interdisciplinary projects," according to Vice
President of Student Services Sharon Herzberger. This program will be for 50 sophomores
who live together in the dorm, and will also house the offices for the program and
possibly housing for visiting or current faculty in the Tutorial College. The other two
halls have not been assigned a theme, but ideas for a "music hall" and a
"wellness hall" have been mentioned. Herzberger says, "There is an ongoing
process of talking with students and faculty on how best to use the houses."
- Students living near the site, especially those in Jackson Hall, have a proximity to the
construction that can mean extra noise. Some have complained in the past about the noise,
and as a consequence the construction itself is not supposed to start before 8:30 am.
"We are aware of the fact the construction puts a burden on some. We are working with
the SGA to determine the housing that was inconvenienced, and it will factor into the
lottery system," says Herzberger.
- Preliminary construction is also underway on an expansion to the library. The sectioned
off pit of dirt outside the library is where the relocation of the underground utilities
is taking place. Thomas comments, "Before any building could begin, all utilities
needed to be moved and upgraded." Full
story...
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Health
Center Implements Change
- With the reorganization of student services this year, the administration took the
opportunity to improve the medical office, reconstructing it under the title of Health
Center. For a long time students have had mixed emotions about what such an important
facility should provide. While much of the debate has been over the availability of
certain medicines and services, there has always been underlying problems surrounding the
issue of insurance.
For the time being, the Health Center's main task is to make
students aware of the policy that their attendance at Trinity entitles them to. More
detailed information is currently available at the Center, but it can be summarized as
this: Our insurance will pay up to $500 worth of expenses for treatment of accident and
sickness care. This is essentially a per incident basis, so it is not limited to $500 for
the entire year.
- This insurance is available regardless of preexisting plans you may be listed under at
home or at work, and is also under your name and not sent home unless requested by the
student.
- The five hundred dollars is, of course, just a figure. The insurance policy in some
cases, will pay up $10,000 dollars of care if the student can claim no other insurance. It
is also limited in some capacities, in that while it will cover up to 500 dollars, only
150 of that is applicable to emergency room expenses. Martha Burke, a Nurse Practitioner
who is also the new Director of the Health Center, feels the policy is an excellent
benefit, even if has its limitations. "The policy is an accident and sickness policy,
which is great, except it can only cover those areas. Some of the major aspects of medical
care, prevention for example, are not covered at all."
- The Health Center says that although there are major limitations to the policy, there
are also benefits. For one, the policy, like any insurance, does not restrict claims to
injuries or sickness occurring during school or classes. In fact the policy is in effect
year round and covers accidents and illness no matter where they occur, including off
campus. So a student on spring break who, for example, falls from their hotel window in
Florida while trying to moon the beach is covered. This example is good to demonstrate the
second major benefit of the policy. Since the policy belongs to the student, all
correspondence for illnesses and accidents is covered by the policy exclusively. Thus a
student will not have to explain how they fell into a planter in the hotel's courtyard. Full story...
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Food service
employees at Trinity College are currently negotiating a new contract with their employer,
Sodexho-Marriott. Sodexho-Marriott employees are organized under the Local 217 HERE (Hotel
Employees Restaurant Employees) union. 
