Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 38.99
Liaison Hayley Berliner
Submission Date Oct. 28, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Trinity College (CT)
PA-3: Participatory Governance

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.75 / 3.00 Hayley Berliner
Sustainability Coordinator
Finance & Operations
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1

Do the institution’s students have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a student council)? :
Yes

Do the institution’s students have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body?:
No

If yes to either of the above, provide:

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which students are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:
The Student Government Association is our students’ representative body. SGA members also serve as student representatives on standing committees (i.e Summit Facilities Committee and Sustainability Committee) and in numerous other ways collaborate with faculty, administrators, and staff in the work of the college.

Do the institution’s staff members have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a staff council)?:
Yes

Do the institution’s non-supervisory staff members have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body?:
No

If yes to either of the above, provide:

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which staff are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:
There is an Exempt Staff Council and a Non-Exempt Staff Council. Both Councils regularly, have liaisons from the President’s Cabinet, and the Council Chairs meet bi-weekly with the Cabinet Liaisons and the VP for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. Council Members have also met with members of the Board of Trustees this year.

Do the institution’s teaching and research faculty have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a faculty senate)?:
Yes

Do the institution’s teaching and research faculty have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body? :
No

If yes to either of the above, provide:

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which teaching and research faculty are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:
A strong organization of faculty committees is at the core of the faculty's work to govern itself and help advance the college. The faculty meeting is the principal instrument by which the Faculty discharges its responsibility for ruling on curriculum and educational policy, faculty status, aspects of student life which relate to the educational process, and all other matters that fall under the duties and prerogatives of the Faculty. The faculty meeting is also the principal instrument for formulating faculty recommendations to the Administration and the Trustees. Resolutions adopted by the faculty meeting are statements of faculty policy, which bind faculty committees and which serve to express the will of the Faculty to the Administration and Trustees.

Part 2

Does the institution have written policies and procedures to identify and engage external stakeholders (i.e. local residents) in land use planning, capital investment projects, and other institutional decisions that affect the community?:
No

A copy of the written policies and procedures:
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The policies and procedures:
While the College doesn’t officially have written policies and procedures, we have historically gone to the relevant Neighborhood Revitalization Zones committees for projects that intersected with the neighborhoods surrounding the College.

Does the institution have formal participatory or shared governance bodies through which community members representing the interests of the following stakeholder groups can regularly participate in institutional governance?:
Yes or No
Local government and/or educational organizations No
Private sector organizations No
Civil society (e.g. NGOs, NPOs) No

If yes to one or more of the above, provide:

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which external stakeholders are engaged in institutional governance (including information about each stakeholder group selected above):
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Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The College has staff councils – Exempt Staff Council and Non-Exempt Staff Councils – that participate regularly on college-wide committees and other institutional bodies like the Policy and Budget Committee and the Human Resources directed Benefits Committee. There have been Board of Trustee and Office of the President efforts to expand shared governance as a whole at the College since 2017. The College has programmatic governance structures that involve Hartford residents. The Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER) has an advisory committee that has 4 Hartford residents in addition to the Liberal Arts Action Lab (LAAL) that has a committee of Hartford residents who review and score the research questions submitted by community organization. The top 4 or 5 scored proposals get selected each semester.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.