I am a 1995 graduate from Trent University, or as I like to say, Traill College. I recently graduated from the University of Texas School of Law, a graduate school of 1500 people. In both institutions, I learned about justice and injustice, and the importance of school spirit.
I lived at Catherine Parr Traill for all of my three years at Trent. No, it wasn't because I had some great affinity for Marriott's cuisine, nor because of some extreme admiration for taking the bus up to main campus to get library books. It was because of the people, the traditions, the faculty, the atmosphere of Traill. I spent many days sitting on the front porches of Scott House and Kerr House with my friends, watching a volleyball game or people sledding down the hill on the food trays. I was lucky enough to have the room at the top of Scott House in my last year of Trent; it became a hotbed of political activity as I met with other student senators and college presidents to work on formulating the Trent Central Student Association. (Upon a little further reflection, that effort also stemmed from what we perceived to be a very serious constitutional violation, but by the student administration.) I remember bands playing and dances being held in the Scott House cafeteria, and the nights in which at least two or three parties were going on in every house on Traill's campus (except the sombre Kerr house). I think back to how even though I decided to stay on residence, I never lost contact with my Traill friends from first year; most were living in the houses and apartments located around the campus. I can also reflect fondly on the fact that most of my classes in History were located either at PR or Traill. (This was extremely helpful when I would get up late and could arrive in class within minutes.) I remember that in addition to the students who loved Traill, so much of the staff (like Lynn Neufeld) and professors (like Ivana and Martin Elbl and Christopher Greene) developed an emotional attachment to the college. Moreover, Traill had a real spirit that everyone felt; it was not merely an administrative unit connected to some maincampus mainframe by the Trent Express.
When I reflect on how much Traill meant to me, I am at a loss to find a reason why I should continue to support the University's Annual Fund and other fundraising efforts. Although I have not entirely decided to stop writing checks, I would like the current Board of Governors and President to send the University alumni a letter with a compelling argument in favor of this proposal that adequately rebuts both the financial, spirtual, and constitutional counterarguments that are now floating around cyberspace. It irks me that the Superfund is being discussed on-line, without any 'hard copy' going out to the Alumni.
I can say from experience with the type of 'Texas-style' justice that appears to be at play here that even a gunslinging sheriff in the Old West would have more tact than to steadfastly ignore its citizens' concerns. I demand to know why my college must be destroyed.
--William J. Dodge Judicial Clerk,