Trinity College Abandons Co-Ed Mandate

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com

On September 4, 2015, Joanne Berger-Sweeney, the President of Trinity College, announced that the college was abandoning its requirement that all fraternities and sororities on campus must be co-ed by the Fall Semester of the 2016/2017 Academic Year.  According to the President, “gender equity is, and remains, an ongoing priority for Trinity College.”  In her letter¹ to the Trinity College community, the President reviewed her efforts to meet with a wide variety of Trinity College community members, including alumni, students and faculty.  In the end, she acknowledged that some “students who support the goal of insuring gender equity, also want the option of joining single-sex Greek organizations.  I support this.”

An article of the same date,² published online by The Chronicle of Higher Education, reported on an interview with the President following the release of her letter.  The article summed up the President’s position:

“She said that as she researched other institutions that had considered co-ed policies for fraternities and sororities – she would not name specific colleges – she did not find a successful example.”

“I couldn’t even find a strong rationale for why it would work, she said.”

Nearby Wesleyan University, also in Connecticut has so far, maintained its position, announced a year ago, that by 2017 all of its residential fraternities must be fully co-educational.  That position has been challenged in court by Delta Kappa Epsilon.³  The lawsuit remains pending.

1              http://www.trincoll.edu/abouttrinity/offices/president/communityletters/pages/studentlifeannouncement.aspx.

2              “Connecticut’s Trinity College Abandons Plan to Make Greek Life Co-Ed,” by Sarah Brown, September 4, 2015, The Chronicle of Higher Education.  Reprinted in the September 8, 2015 Internet edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

3              See Fraternal Law, March 2015, “DKE Sues Wesleyan