Board of Fellows
The Board of Fellows serves to overlook “study and discipline” at Trinity College. Today, it is one of the longest-running boards at the College.
On August 1, 1837, Bishop Brownell reminded the College Trustees that the College's charter permitted the Trustees to increase their number and to create a Board of Fellows, which “may commit the superintendance of the course of study and discipline.”
The Bishop of Connecticut appointed a committee to advise Brownell on increasing the College's Board. Brownell then appointed a second committee consisting of Trustees, the Reverend George Burgess, Charles Sigourney Hon. M.A. '45, and the Reverend Dr. William Reed Huntington (A.B., Harvard, 1859; D.D., Columbia, 1873) to assist in determining the role of the new board and selecting those who would be appointed.
However, the appointment of the Board of Fellows was delayed. The Bishop's real motives were called into question when it appeared he may be trying to “pack” the Board of Fellows to the satisfaction of the Associate Alumni.
In 1844, the Associate Alumni pushed again for the Board of Fellows to be created. On August 1, 1844, the Trustees voted that they should work with the Associate Alumni to establish the Board of Fellows. The new board consisted of six Fellows proper, elected by the Board of Trustees, and six Junior Fellows, elected by the Alumni. For fifty years, the Board had a large clerical majority.
The Board of Fellows was long inactive when in 1882, several distinguished German astronomers visited the College and were shocked to discover that Trinity College had neither an astronomical observatory nor instruction in Astronomy. The Board of Fellows revived in order to send out a call “To the Alumni and Friends of Trinity College” urging that this be remedied at once, with “a complete Apparatus and Endowment for the study of Astronomy and for Astronomical observations.”
The Board at this time also called for a residence for the President-elect, a new gymnasium, library, museum, chapel, and an endowment to fund not only the construction of these structures but increased professorships and scholarships. Their appeal was well-received and construction began on St. John Observatory as well as other improvements recommended by the Board of Fellows, including a President's Mansion and new gymnasium, Alumni Hall.
The Board of Fellows has served the College continuously, advising on matters related to the curriculum and undergraduate discipline, and later to other areas such as the College's size, policies, faculty, student body, administration and admissions, housing, and student life.