This week at the Trinitonian, it’s our housing issue. You might wonder why we would sacrifice a few pages of our precious editorial space to talk about … buildings. The reason why we want to talk about housing is because it is a central part of our university life. Whether we’re complaining about our dorms or discovering the difficulties of living off campus, housing is an impossible issue to avoid for us college students.

One of the central reasons why housing is so important is because of how small our school is. Trinity has a three-year residency requirement, meaning students are required to live on campus in the residence halls for three years before being allowed to move off campus. The reasons for this, cited on the Trinity website, are to “foster a community” and engage with “a variety of students” that construct a “supportive environment.” This requirement is frequently challenged by students but remains something the university has a firm stance on. While “dorms the size of palaces” may not have been the draw to come here for every Trinity student, you can be sure that the school boasts of where they make us live.

Our dorms and apartments are meant to become a home away from home during our time at Trinity. But the average dorm may not encompass the needs and desires of every student to build a community. To combat this, Trinity has expanded the number of affinity halls available to students for the fall 2019 semester to include a Sustainability Hall, Afro-Affinity Hall and a Gender-Inclusive Hall. Also known as living-learning communities, these halls are intended to serve as communities and learning environments outside of the classroom.

What about accessibility and housing? Students have voiced concerns about broken elevators and a general lack of notification when such issues arise. We dive into how Trinity works to make campus accessible for students with disabilities and hear from students about whether they’re satisfied with the situation.

In our housing section, you can take a look in the archives to read about past affinity halls, read a rare student perspective on the three-year residency requirement, as well as an overview of issues with accessibility and housing at Trinity. And of course, you can find out what type of roommate you are according to your astrological sign.