TRINITY COLLEGE
Newsieffet
A PUBLICATION OF TRINITY COLLEGE WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
No. 15
OCTOBER, 1981
Registered for posting as a publication — Category B
THE WARDEN LOOKS BACK ... AND FORWARDS How has the College changed since I became Fifth Warden in 1974? The arrival of women residents was the big news at that time, and certainly controversial. There were only nine of them, all living in Bishops', and they soon made a name for themselves by their enthusiasm and by winning the women's athletics. It took another four years, however, before the presence of women was accepted in Behan. A main preoccupation of those early years was money. High inflation had hit almost without warning, and there were questions as to whether we could fill all 203 places in the College. The Council decided on a fee-rise in third term 1974, and before I announced the rise I remember having nightmares about student uproar. Fortunately, the College understood that our survival was at stake. Much to my surprise and relief, the speech in Hall was greeted with applause. Each year, despite rising costs, the demand for places has risen steadily. No one has been worried since 1975 about filling the College. For the past three years the worry has rather been about the two hundred or more applicants each year who have been turned away. There is little doubt that the most economic size for Trinity, without imperilling its generally unified and family atmosphere, is about 250. In coping with the pressure from applicants we have already reached this figure by using small bedrooms as single bed-studies. The small rooms in Clarke are big enough, and tall enough, for this to be acceptable. They will be even better if we can put the beds on raised platforms overhead. Those in Cowan (commonly called "dog boxes") are a temporary makeshift arrangement, and I look forward to the day when we can combine them into pairs and knock an archway in the dividing wall. The increases in numbers have shown up the deficiencies of some of our resources. The provision for tutorial rooms poses serious difficulties, and our lack of music practice rooms is a continuing problem. Nor are laundrette facilities all we could hope for. In the old days, many of the gentle-
The Warden, Dr. Evan L. Burge
men of Trinity sent their washing out to a laundry, or else home to mother. Students usually do their own washing these days. The T C.A. C. contracted a tew years ago with a laundrette operator to install washing machines and dryers. In return for a low rental, the contractor palmed off on the College superannuated models, usually out of order, which had seen long service elsewhere. In the end, it became essential for the administration to buy new washing machines, but there are still not enough of these. The College kitchens, too, are in some danger of being classified by the National Trust unless they are speedily rebuilt to modern specifications. It is not primarily bricks and mortar that makes a great College, but it is clear that some new building is now necessary. We need more student rooms to make up for those that will be lost when the small Cowan bedrooms are eventually combined. We need rooms which will serve flexibly for tutorials, music practice, and conference syndicates. We need a large
theatre for lectures, films and conferences. And, of course, we need to rebuild the kitchens, to replace dilapidated furniture and to attend to the gardens and landscaping. Much has been done already. Every building has now been carpeted. Only a few bathrooms (in Behan) have not been converted for use by both men and women. The original dividing walls between the small Jeopardy bedrooms have been progressively demolished. The paint-work throughout the College has been transformed, not least in the Dining Hall, where the walls were once peeling and covered with mould. A new step forward will be the formation of the Trinity College Foundation to undertake a ten year development programme. I am confident that the four thousand living Trinity members who have gained much from their time here will respond generously to our needs. In time we shall enjoy not only new kitchens, but a new building in the "woodheap" corner of Behan
and Clarke. The prospects are exciting — so long as we can also keep alive the spirit that brought home this year both the Cowan and Holmes Cups, and so long as we can achieve a community life where unity is built on a foundation of diversity and not one of dull uniformity. St. Paul put it memorably: "The body does not consist of one member but of many. The eye cannot say to the hand, `I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, `I have no need of you'. On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable. God has so adjusted the body that there may be no discord, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together, U. one member is honoured, all rejoice together" Gaudeamus igitur!