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Patrick McMillan, Trinity’s Brightest Bulb
Patrick McMillan won Alpha Phi Omega’s annual charity drive last spring
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Hooked on heroes; comic book cinema
Explore the facets of comic book cinema, with A&E writer John Mendiola
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Cross country starts season with wins
Cross country team wins its first meet of the season at Alamo City Opener
theTrinitonian Volume 112, Issue 3
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www.trinitonian.com
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Serving Trinity University Since 1902
• September 05, 2014
Trinity continues search for new president
Academic-Search continues hunt for new president by Luke Wise
NEWS EDITOR
With President Dennis Ahlburg’s contract to expire come January, Trinity is searching for a new president. With the assistance of a search firm, Academic-Search, the
process for finding a new candidate is well underway. Assisted by Stanton Hales and Andrea Hamos, both senior consultants, the search committee, comprised of 15 members of faculty, staff, students and board members, plans to present its recommendations come December. The search committee, while it does not have a vote, aims to find the best candidate for the
job, presenting their finds to the Board of Trustees who will make the final decision. “What we do is not select the next president; we don’t even have a vote,” Hamos said in a recent public forum over the search process. “We come in and we organize, inform and support Trinity through its searching process.” With the help of the search firm, the committee can better identify its goals and field the
best pool of candidates. To SGA president and senior Evan Lewis, the firm is a crucial component of the process. “What they are doing is helping the search committee field the applicants,” Lewis said. “They already have the infrastructure in place to find the pool of applicants and present that to the committee. “We have 29 applicants and almost another 47 nominations,” Lewis said.
photos by Miguel Webber Students crowd together to see Tyga (above), who performed this past Friday at the baseball field, closing Welcome Week activities. Tyga, a established hip-hop and rap artist, whose upcoming album, “The Gold Album: 18th Dynasty” will be released this November, performed hit singles such as “Molly” and “Rack City” while the crowd enjoyed the music and atmosphere. Preceded by his DJ, Tyga came onto stage with a high energy presence and sharp lyrics and beats. Welcome Week saw a host of activities, from keynote speaker Dianna Holt to comedians Frangela, culminating with the concert last Friday night.
Financial aid increases for first years
Large incoming class sees substantial increase in financial aid by Courtney Shikle
NEWS EDITOR The Class of 2018 showed a significant increase in financial aid provided by Trinity University to the students this year, following one of the largest class sizes in recent years. First year students were required to fill out an additional financial aid eligibility form to determine how much money in
grants and scholarships Trinity would provide to them. The financial aid discount rate is calculated by taking the institutional financial aid and dividing it by tuition. It does not include any federal state aid, only consisting of funding coming directly from the University. As a direct result of the additional profile, the financial aid discount rate for first years jumped from 51 percent last year to 59 percent this year. “That’s a substantial increase in that rate,” said Gary Logan, vice president for finance and administration. “That was a strategic initiative of the
university to increase the rate. Part of it was because we felt like the enrollment shortfall a year ago was price sensitivity in the marketplace.” Last year’s incoming class alarmed the board having only 539 students, so they came up with a strategy to get the enrollment up closer to the 640 range, according to Logan. “The financial aid discount rate is a piece of the strategy to try to get the enrollment up faster and then what we’re hoping is that we will reduce that discount rate over a time as the demand increases, marketing is effective, then we’ll decline that back down,” Logan said.
Starting with the class that entered in the fall of 2014, students were required to complete the CSS profile to assess eligibility for Trinity funding. “It’s an application that collects a lot more information than the FAFSA—Free Application for Federal Student Aid—and it gives a better assessment of a student’s and family’s financial circumstance and allows us to, I think, better fund students and allocate our funding appropriately,” said Glendi Gaddis, director of financial aid.
see AID page 4
“The people from AcademicSearch tell us that it is ahead of schedule and we are exceeding expectations.” The search firm, although different from the one used in 2009 during the search for Ahlburg, has been well received among members of the University and search committee.
see PRESIDENTIAL page 5
Speaker selection process explained
Different processes for campus speakers explored by James Godfrey NEWS REPORTER
Throughout the school year, various speakers are brought to campus in order to present their ideas. These speakers are chosen through a variety of processes and brought to campus with the help of endowments. “The goal is to always offer someone who can offer an educational focus, and provide access to these highly educated speakers who are well regarded within their field,” said Susie Gonzales, director of public and media relations.
see SPEAKER page 4