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Trinity College Holds Community Meeting

Comes As Police Investigate Assault On Student

By Jeff Cohen

April 12, 2012

More than a month after a Trinity College student was assaulted just off campus, the school hosted a meeting this morning with community stakeholders.

Mayor Pedro Segarra, two state representatives, police, and members of the city council attended the meeting at the Studio at Billings Forge in Hartford. The college wanted the event closed to the press.

But after the meeting, college President James Jones said the assault wasn't the reason for the meeting.

"We're here because Trinity wanted to listen to all of our friends in the community. The mayor was here, we had representatives of all of the volunteer organizations in the south end of the city. They're our neighbors and friends and we wanted to talk to them about the relationships between Trinity and the neighborhood and how we could improve what we do. And how we could get the story of what Trinity does every day in Hartford out in a better way."

And that was a consistent theme from people leaving the meeting -- that the college needs to better promote the good things it does in the community, especially in a time when it attracts attention for not-so-good things, like last month's assault.

There's still no word on just who assaulted student Christopher Kenny. But some in Hartford have previously said they felt the neighborhood was wrongly taking the blame. Jones said the meeting didn't necessarily stem from that incident.

Cohen: And what did you hear?

Jones: Ways in which we desperately need to improve the communications.

State Representative Kelvin Roldan attended the meeting. Trinity is in his district. He said it's not just about increasing communication. It's about getting the college more involved.

"There is this lack of communication and there is this lack of engagement, which Trinity was very famous for during the Learning Corridor days. And here we are today, and that needs to be fixed."

Hartford police say they're still investigating the March assault.