Tag: Trinity

What is going on at Trinity Hall?

The Guardian has reported that Cambridge college Trinity Hall is to target “elite private schools” for student recruitment.

To the disquiet of many college fellows a memo from director of admissions Marcus Tomalin, argues that:

The best students from such schools arrive at Cambridge with expertise and interests that align well with the intellectual demands of Tripos courses

specifically including subjects including languages, music, and classics.

He recommends that the college develops a “targeted recruitment strategy” for UK independent schools that focus on these (and a handful of other) subjects where the university already sees more than 40 per cent of applications come from independent schools, and that these efforts are further reinforced by a specific concentration on specific schools that have “sent plausible applicants to Cambridge” in the past.

To be very clear, there is nothing in the memo to suggest that this will be done to the detriment of other students. And the interventions recommended – contacting the schools to let them know about what Trinity Hall offers for these subjects, creating webinars or other social media material for those subjects and alerting those schools – are hardly evidence of discriminatory behaviour.

Reading between the lines, this is less an effort to get more independent school kids into Cambridge and more an attempt to encourage the ones that are applying for these subjects anyway to consider Trinity Hall rather than one of the other 28 available colleges.

Applying for these courses

Music at Cambridge more generally is a very specialised endeavor. Applicants require either A level music or a grade 8 music qualification at merit or above, with those seeking to make a “strong application” recommended to add other A levels in English, history, mathematics, or (“ancient or modern”) languages. All this is on top of “general requirements” that include an acquaintance with the standard (classical) musical repertory, play to a grade 5 or above standard at the (piano) keyboard, and some basic knowledge of counterpoint.

Your application will include the submission of two school essays in music and two harmony exercises. If shortlisted for interview, you would be required to take a written assessment (harmonisation of a chorale melody, recognition of musical forms, and chord analysis). All this for a chance at one of the one to three places a year available at Trinity Hall.

For the three year course in classics you would instead need an A level in Latin (“if you do not study Latin but instead study Classical Greek, please contact us for advice”). There are between two and four places on the course available each year.

The other route mentioned in the memo, the four year modern and medieval languages course (incorporating a year abroad), is much larger than these more specialised subjects – with between six and eight places available every year at Trinity Hall. Candidates for this four year course need an A level in at least one of the languages they want to study, and a “strong application” would have another. A portion of the interview would be conducted in one of these languages.

By the numbers

I mention all this to illustrate just how few students these measures would potentially have an impact on. The numbers of students that would meet the entry requirements for these courses are vanishingly low – and the subset of those that would consider the course at this particular Cambridge college as their first choice is even lower.

In 2025 just two students applied to music at Trinity Hall (four were accepted, the college clearly topped up via the winter pool). Six applied to the three year classics programme (two offers, two acceptances), while twelve applied to modern and medieval languages (six offers, four acceptances).

Overall, Trinity Hall saw 617 applications in 2024 (the last year of data available at this resolution), made 139 offers, and accepted 107 students. This is at the lower end of Cambridge colleges For independent schools, the numbers were 118, 31, and 28 – for UK maintained (state) schools it was 281, 78, and 53. Less than ten of these state school acceptances were in the music, classics, or languages courses we are concerned with – based on a very low level of applications to these courses from such backgrounds (we’re facing the HESA-esque rounding to the nearest five for low numbers problem here).

A failure?

It would be tempting to make an argument that this represents a failure in access and participation. But it is also very possible that this is not a failing on behalf of the university. There are very few schools (independent or otherwise) that can prepare people for these particular entry requirements, and that’s before we get into family and social backgrounds that are able to support sustained musical practice, or learning multiple (ancient or modern) languages.

This isn’t the case for all courses. Trinity Hall (like other selective, prestigious providers) does a huge amount of work in broadening access and participation to undergraduate study. It works with potential applicants from underrepresented ethnic groups, and works particularly with schools in Bristol and the South West.

A Trinity Hall spokesperson told me that:

There has been no change to Trinity Hall’s widening participation policy. This modest additional activity is aimed at ensuring we get the best applications from talented students from all backgrounds. The college is very proud of the progress it has made in widening access. Average admissions from state schools at the college in the past 3 years has been 73 per cent and Trinity Hall admitted 20.4 per cent of its UK students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds last year, an increase on previous years.

Language about “reverse discrimination” is unhelpful. If there really is reverse discrimination a look at recruitment to these courses at Cambridge suggests it isn’t working very well. As applicant numbers are falling, to various degrees, for classics, languages, and (classical) music across the sector, Trinity Hall (like providers of all types) is looking to maximise recruitment by making an effort to encourage students already likely to apply – in this case, students almost certain to apply to Cambridge in the hope they would choose Trinity Hall rather than St John’s or Clare.

This is not a replacement for broader and more sustained work on access: it is simply evidence that recruitment pressures (and the linked financial pressures) are everywhere.

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January 8, 2026
Higher education postcard: Trinity College, Oxford

Well, it’s nearly the end of the year, and this is the final higher education postcard of 2025. And as is traditional, this is a bit of a Christmassy edition.

But when exactly is Christmas? We can imagine that record keeping 2,000 years ago was not as punctilious as the demands of today’s HESA return, and so the question of the precise date of Christmas is a good one. It was fixed as being 25 December by Pope Julius I, who was particularly pontifical between the years 337 and 352.

As well as fixing the date of Christmas, Julius weighed in on the Arian controversy. Arianism, named for Arius, a Christian clergyman from what is now Libya, held that Jesus was created by God and is thus distinct from God. Which is somewhat at odds with the notion of the trinity (the oneness of God, son and holy spirit) which was part of the Nicene creed. And which in turn was the start of a more managed approach to religious doctrine by the Christian church and the Roman empire. (Don’t worry, there’s not a test).

Julius was thus a defender of the Trinity, and so it is to a Trinity that we turn. Specifically, Trinity College, Oxford.

This was founded by another Pope. Sir Thomas Pope, one of Queen Mary’s privy counsellors. In 1555.

The idea was to provide for the training of Catholic clergy. It used buildings which had previously been occupied by Durham College, Oxford – which you may not have heard of, because it was founded in 1291 and closed in 1545. It was owned by Durham Priory, and abbey associated with Durham Cathedral, and served as a college for monks studying at the university. Durham Priory was dissolved in 1540 and the college followed suit five years later.

Durham College was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, St Cuthbert, and the Holy Trinity, and it is suggested that the new college was called Trinity College to reflect the last of these.

Anyway, the new college was established, and used some of the Durham College buildings, which still stand today. Although, sad to say, I think that they are hidden in the picture postcard, extending perpendicularly from the other side of the ivy clad building on the left. I think.

The college thrived in a way which its predecessor didn’t. In 1882 the college admitted men of all faiths and none, removing its CofE test. In 1979 it did the same but for women.

A few snippets will help to give a flavour of Trinity.

In 1618 the president of the college, Ralph Kettell, was concerned about students drinking in town. His plan: to brew beer in college instead. This sounds good in principle, but the plan backfired when the cellar he was having dug for the purpose caused the college’s hall to collapse.

Saint John Henry Newman, at the time plain John Henry Newman, was a student at the college, and made his first Anglican communion there. He was also, many years later, the first honorary fellow of the college, and this gesture – which aimed for reconciliation between the university and the future saint – was much appreciated by Newman.

Oxford colleges’ academic performance is ranked in the Norrington table. Norrington was Sir Arthur Norrington, President of Trinity from 1954–69. And the University has a nifty little Tableau presentation, which might appeal to certain wonks frequenting these parts.

Alumni include three former Prime Ministers – Pitt the Elder, Lord North, and Spencer Compton (who I had never heard of), and two splendid fictional characters: Jay Gatsby and Tiger Tanaka, the Japanese spymaster in You Only Live Twice.

Here’s a jigsaw of this week’s card. And, as a bonus here’s another of Trinity, this time with the college arms.

The card above was unposted, but the card with the college arms was sent in 1905 to a Miss Jones in Weybridge. As best as I can make out, it reads:

Still alive, but not much thinking going on. When do you contemplate sailing and how do you think we are going to be consoled for the loss? Have not sent you many of these Pcards, they will come along slowly. I have been up again this week, feel tired of everything, today may have better time later. Kind regards etc

May I wish you all the best for the Christmas break, whether you’re with family, working all the way through, or just trying to escape from it all. Thank you for reading my posts, and I’ll be back in the new year.

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December 19, 2025
Trinity College bans political activism over chalkboard messages

Imagine wearing an “I Voted” sticker to class and having the school investigate you for it. Or handing out pocket editions of the Constitution on campus for Constitution Day, only for your school to deem this disruptive.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Juneteenth. Labor Day. Columbus Day. Connecticut’s Trinity College seemingly prohibits on-campus celebrations of all these federal holidays. (Don’t even get us started on t-shirts that read “Reagan-Bush 1984” or “Nevertheless, She Persisted.”)

On November 7, individuals identifying with Students and Faculty for Justice in Palestine left chalkboard messages around campus while classes were out of session. These messages read, “Trinity is suppressing freedom of assembly,” “Disclose Divest Protest,” “Trinity Invests in Genocide,” “You are on stolen land,” and “Free Palestine.”

Message left by Students and Faculty for Justice in Palestine on a chalkboard in Seabury Hall. (@sfjp_trin / Instagram.com)

That evening, Trinity President Daniel Lugo emailed the campus community, announcing an investigation of the messages for disruption, intimidation, and harassment. Then came the anti-speech money quote: “Our Student Handbook and employment policies clearly prohibit political activism within academic settings.”

No nuance. No qualifiers. Just a blanket ban on political activism anywhere “academic.”

There’s only one problem. FIRE couldn’t find any such rule. In fact, Trinity’s official policies affirm the importance of free expression and academic freedom, and — to its credit — the school’s time, place, and manner rules largely track First Amendment standards. Although Trinity is a private college and not legally required to protect students’ First Amendment rights, it laudably promises to uphold students’ expressive freedom in its policies. So last week, FIRE wrote to Lugo, urging him to make good on these commitments.

FIRE calls on Trinity to end its investigation into the matter and remove any existing policy prohibiting “political activism within academic settings.”

Lugo’s letter said that the college community “deserves to teach, learn, and work in spaces free from intimidation, harassment, or disruption.” We certainly agree, but this letter errs in suggesting that the chalkboard messages should merit punishment. On the contrary, the after-hours commentary doesn’t come close to a material and substantial disruption. Even if they did, it still wouldn’t justify outlawing all political speech on campus.

The chalkboard messages weren’t harassment either. Harassment requires content so objectively offensive, pervasive, and severe that it effectively denies students equal access to education. There is no evidence these messages rise to this level of unprotected speech.

Nor are they intimidation. Unprotected intimidation (i.e. a true threat) requires a serious expression of intent to commit unlawful violence, and a conscious disregard of the potential for that expression to put its recipient in fear of serious physical harm. Again, nothing of the sort here.

Viral video appears to show Trinity College singling out one student’s political dorm display for removal

Without the freedom to express even inoffensive political convictions, the promise of free speech is meaningless. America’s colleges and universities cannot conceivably function as insulated vacuums for discussion on topics of national and international importance, especially in service of such a broad and spontaneous edict.

Political activism has always been part of campus life in the United States. Without it, groups from Students for a Democratic Society to Turning Point USA wouldn’t exist, and George Carlin’s most legendary, politically charged bits (including his landmark UCLA set) might never have happened.

Trinity’s overbroad language puts America’s long and proud tradition of fostering political engagement in jeopardy, and that is cause for alarm. Accordingly, FIRE calls on Trinity to end its investigation into the matter and remove any existing policy prohibiting “political activism within academic settings.”

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December 8, 2025
Week in review: Trinity Christian closes as other colleges make cuts
Most clicked story of the week:

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated $387 million in unrestricted funds to eight historically Black colleges and universities in recent weeks. Each institution described their donation as one of the biggest, if not the biggest, in their history. Scott, who is largely out of the public eye, does not announce donation values unless the recipients do.

Number of the week: 900+

The number of layoff notices the University of Southern California has issued since July. The private institution’s leadership said last week that it is “on track” to eliminate its longstanding deficit by the end of the fiscal year, following the significant cost-cutting measures.

Cuts and Closures
- Trinity Christian College, in Illinois, announced it will shutter at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year, citing ongoing financial issues such as persistent budget deficits and falling enrollment. In addition to establishing teach-out and transfer pathways, the private liberal arts college is allowing students to go over course load maximums with the goal of graduating as many as possible before closing.
- Another religious college in Illinois, the University of St. Francis, is taking steps to address budgetary issues. The university has laid off 18 staff and administrators following a $9 million deficit in fiscal 2024. It also notified “a number of faculty” that it was not renewing their contracts, which Joliet Patch reported as affecting another 18 employees.
- The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is facing pushback against its chancellor’s proposal to eliminate six academic programs. An internal advisory group voted to oppose ending four of the programs and raised concerns with the methods and pace UNL’s leadership used to decide which degrees should be on the chopping block.
Guidance for college leaders
- Colleges undergoing significant restructuring must be prepared to “craft a positive narrative” about it and their involvement, according to the latest edition of the regular opinion series Merger Watch. Throughout mergers, acquisitions and even closures, college leaders need to own these narratives — or others will craft them instead, writes Ricardo Azziz, a consolidation expert who pens the series.
- A federal judge on Thursday ruled the Trump administration must fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the government shutdown — a decision the government has already appealed. Given the legal back-and-forth, it’s unclear when SNAP recipients will get their benefits, warned The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs, a resource and policy center at Temple University. The center is offering administrators and campus leaders a toolkit to help support food-insecure students during this “period of uncertainty.”
Quote of the Week:

This is the end of an era. Even if things settle out, the damage has already been done.

Michael Lubell

Physics professor at City College of New York

Under an August presidential order, Trump administration political appointees at federal agencies now have the power to ensure grant awards align with the federal government’s “priorities and the national interest” and don’t promote undefined “anti-American values.”

Academics and researchers like Lubell are raising alarms that the change — yet another significant departure from scientific funding norms — will erode U.S. research.
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November 10, 2025
Trinity Christian College to close at the end of the academic year
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Dive Brief:
- Trinity Christian College plans to close after the 2025-2026 academic year amid mounting financial issues, the private liberal arts institution said Tuesday.
- “The board has worked faithfully and tirelessly to consider every possible option in the face of significant and rapidly evolving financial challenges,” Acting President Jeanine Mozie said in a video message.
- In explaining why it was closing, Trinity, based near Chicago, cited persistent deficits, falling enrollment, shifts in charitable giving and financial challenges since the pandemic.
Dive Insight:

Trinity said it worked with advisers on possible solutions to its financial struggles, including “significant programmatic changes” and strategic partnerships with other institutions.

“However, there is no sustainable path forward for our beloved institution,” Mozie said in the video message, in which she appeared with board chair Ken Dryfhout.

Between fiscal years 2020 and 2024, the college’s total assets fell by nearly 14% to $72.3 million. Much of that decline came in its cash holdings, which fell by nearly $8 million during that period, to $5 million. Trinity also reported operating deficits every year during that time.

In June, Trinity reported that it could fail to meet bond requirements for cash on hand and a metric measuring its ability to pay its debt obligations. The college said at the time that it was soliciting donors to help it meet the covenants.

Many of Trinity’s financial woes stem from its shrinking student body and the pressures on small liberal arts institutions. Already small, the college’s fall enrollment dropped to 883 students in fall 2023, a nearly 22% decline from five years prior, according to the latest federal data.

Enrollment declines hurt Trinity’s revenue. In fiscal 2024, net tuition and fee revenue stood at $12.1 million, roughly 14% less than 2020 levels.

The revenue drop also came after a period of steep inflation in higher education and the broader economy. At Trinity, total expenses rose at nearly the same rate as revenue declined between fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2024, reaching $32.9 million.

Mozie was appointed acting president, replacing Aaron Kuecker, just two months before she announced the college’s closure. Prior to that, she was Trinity’s chief operating officer.

Founded with a nondenominational Christian mission, Trinity elected its first board of trustees in 1959. It soon opened a two-year college with just five faculty members and roughly three dozen students on a former golf course, using a renovated clubhouse and pro shop. By 1971, the institution was issuing four-year degrees, and it added graduate programs in 2012.

Trinity plans to hold its last commencement next year for the class of 2026. It is allowing students to take above the max course load per semester to graduate as many as possible, with the rest offered teach-out and transfer options.

The college has teach-out agreements in place for most undergraduate programs with regional neighbors Saint Xavier, Calvin and Olivet Nazarene universities. It is working on agreements for many of its remaining programs.

Trinity said it plans to sell its property after closing to repay its debt. As of fiscal 2024, Trinity owned property and equipment valued at $44.2 million and owed $14.8 million in bonds.
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November 5, 2025
Trinity Christian College Announces Closure

Trinity Christian College outside Chicago will close at the end of the current 2025–26 academic year due to insurmountable financial pressures.

The college announced the move Tuesday, citing a litany of challenges, which include “post-Covid financial losses; persistent operating deficits; a decline in college enrollment and increased competition for students; and a shift in donor giving and financial circumstances,” according to a statement from officials posted on a frequently asked questions webpage.

Acting President Jeanine Mozie said in a video message that the Board of Trustees considered multiple options to address “significant and rapidly evolving financial challenges,” but ultimately, there was “no sustainable path forward for our beloved institution.”

The FAQ page noted that the Board of Trustees considered “significant programmatic changes, strategic partnerships, and the like” but “determined that these and other alternatives were insufficient to overcome the college’s deficit” and sustain Trinity’s mission over the long term.

The closure announcement follows a recent leadership change at the college. Former president Aaron Kuecker resigned in August after less than two years in the top job but nearly 14 at Trinity altogether. Multiple staff members were also reportedly laid off in August.

A review of the college’s finances shows that Trinity operated at a loss in eight of the last 10 fiscal years and relied significantly on a small pool of donors. An estimated 76 percent of all financial contributions came from just three donors in 2024, according to Trinity’s latest audit.

Trinity also had less and less cash on hand. According to the audit, “cash and cash equivalents” fell from nearly $7.2 million in fiscal year 2023 to just under $5 million—a drop of nearly 31 percent. Trinity also had a meager endowment, valued at $11 million at the end of the 2024 fiscal year. (A recent study found the median endowment across the sector is $243 million.)

Bondholders warned the college in June that Trinity was at risk of violating its financial covenants because of its limited liquidity, according to publicly available documents.

Both faculty numbers and student head count had dropped in recent years, bond documents show. Both of those numbers have been in decline in recent years with total faculty falling from 145 to 126 and enrollment dropping from a total head count of 1,068 in fall 2019 to 872 last year, despite a recent tuition reset to attract students. Trinity aimed to hit 1,081 students by the 2027–28 academic year, financial documents show.

Trinity was founded by Chicago businessmen in 1959 and is located on a 56-acre campus in Palos Heights, Ill., outside Chicago, which was recently estimated to be worth $25 million.

College officials announced teach-out and transfer agreements with Calvin University in Michigan as well as Olivet Nazarene University and Saint Xavier University, both of which are in Illinois.

Trinity follows several other small, cash-strapped Christian colleges that have announced closures this year, some of which have shut down abruptly, such as Limestone University and St. Andrews University. Siena Heights University, a Roman Catholic institution, also announced plans to close. On the secular side, Northland College in Wisconsin closed earlier this year, and Pennsylvania State University announced plans to shut down seven rural campuses by 2027 after years of shrinking enrollment.

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November 4, 2025
Higher education postcard: Trinity College, Carmarthen

It is 1848, and a spectre is haunting Europe. If you’re Karl Marx, that spectre is communism. But if you’re a member of the god-fearing gentry in west Wales, that spectre is the lack of education!

Here’s the South Wales and Monmouthshire Training College, later Trinity College, Carmarthen, later still part of University of Wales Trinity Saint David. It was opened in 1848, following the efforts of the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church in England and Wales (they loved a snappy title in the nineteenth century). The National Society, as it was better known, had been established in 1811 to promote a religious education, mostly via Sunday schools. And there was a counterpart – the British and Foreign School Society for the Education of the Labouring and Manufacturing Classes of Society of Every Religious Persuasion – established in 1808 and 1814, which did the same but with less religion.

I’ve written before about how education policy in England and Wales developed slowly, and that compulsory, free education for children was a long time coming. The efforts of the National Society and the British and Foreign School Society had a big impact. And they included not only the operation of schools, but of training colleges for teachers.

Let’s take in the report from the magnificently named Monmouthshire Merlin of Saturday 4 November 1848 to get a flavour of the excitement in Carmarthen:

OPENING of the TRAINING COLLEGE CARMARTHEN.

This interesting event, which was anxiously looked forward to by the clergy and members of the Church Establishment in the Principality, took place on Tuesday week. The weather was very unpropitious; heavy showers descending the whole of the morning, which greatly marred the appearance of the imposing spectacle, and no doubt hindered many distant clergymen and gentlemen, as well as a great number of the respectable inhabitants of the town, from joining in the procession. At eleven o’clock the procession moved from the Town-Hall in the following order:

Police Constables of the Borough.

The Mayor and Corporation.

The Magistrates.

The Welsh Education Committee.

The Principal, Vice-Principal, and Master of the Training College.

The Clergy, in their gowns.

The Gentry and Inhabitants of the Neighbourhood. &c., &c.

After the procession reached St. Peter’s Church, divine service was performed, and the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of St Da vid’s preached an excellent sermon, with his usual eloquence and ability, from the 12th chapter of the Romans, and the 6th, 7th, and 8th verses. The collection at the close of his lordship s eloquent appeal amounted to £ 67. 14s. 4d., a much larger sum than had ever been previously collected at St. Peters Church on any occasion. After the conclusion of the service, the procession was not re-formed; the parties departed, and proceeded towards the Training College, to partake of the cold collation which had been provided at that place. No ceremony was performed at the college, in connection with its opening, any farther than the throwing open of the doors to admit the visitors and others interested in the proceedings. The place is now ready for the reception of pupils, as the masters are in residence, and the arrangements are all complete. From the celebrity of the principal. and the salubrious situation of the college, we have no doubt that many will avail themselves of the opportunities now offered to them at this Training Institution. The building of the college is finished in the best style of workmanship, is replete with every convenience required by the pupils, and it reflects great credit on the architect and others concerned. The Model Schools are also in a state of great forwardness; and as the workmen have now been transferred from the Training College to them, it is expected they will be ready for opening in a very short time.

Romans chapter 12 verses 6, 7 and 8, by the way, read as follows:

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;

8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

The college did well. In 1967 there was an entrance examination for places, with tuition fees waived, and travelling expenses for successful students, as noted by the Carmarthen Journal of 26 July 1867. Note that the better students were given more money for travelling expenses; and that “all persons of good health and character” did not include women: the college first admitted women in 1957.

The college formally changed its name to Trinity College Carmarthen in 1931, although it seems likely that the name was used informally before then. I have seen, for example, a newspaper article of 1894 referring to its as Trinity College Carmarthen; and the postcard itself is certainly earlier than the 1930s.

Like most colleges, over time it grew, added new subjects and generally thrived. The college building expanded from that shown on the card, with other facilities and residences. In 1990 it became affiliated to the University of Wales, and became a full member college in 2004. By this time, of course, the University of Wales was in a degree of turmoil, with exits as well as entrances. Trinity gained degree awarding powers in 2008, became Trinity University College in 2009, and in 2010 merged with St David’s College – or University of Wales Lampeter – to form University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

Its most famous alumnus is arguably Barry John, one of the great fly halves of the legendary 1970s Welsh rugby team, and the punchline to Max Boyce’s Hymns and Arias.

The card was posted, but sadly the stamp has been removed, so the postmark is missing. It was sent to Mr Williams in the Cottage Hospital, Caernarfon. The original message in Cymraeg is below. As best as I can tell, the first part reads something like:

The weather for pilgrims far away is very good. We will be coming home next weekend.

(This probably isn’t entirely right.)

And then I can’t make out the words in the second half, so no chance of a translation, however bad. Can any reader do this?

Here’s a jigsaw for you too.

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January 17, 2025