Clemens Hall
Clemens Hall is a student dormitory located at 216 New Britain Avenue. Along with Stowe Hall and Crescent Street Townhouses, Clemens comprises the “Crescent Street Neighborhood.”
Housing units in Clemens are apartment-style suites with private bathrooms and bedrooms and fully furnished kitchens.
In 1982, in an effort to name the “nameless” dorms on Trinity's campus, a committee, with student and administrative input, voted to name the dormitory Clemens Hall in honor of author Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), who lived in Hartford from 1871 until 1891.
The College designated Clemens Hall an isolation location for students infected with COVID-19 in spring 2020. During the fall 2020 semester, some students infected with COVID-19 were placed in Clemens due to full capacity at the College's primary isolation residence, Doonesbury Hall. Students who had not shown symptoms or tested positive for COVID-19 who were living in Clemens expressed concern that there were no separate entrances and that there may be intermingling between students. Some students were also angered that the College did not notify them beforehand that Clemens would be taking on students afflicted with COVID-19. College officials later assured Clemens Hall residents that even though there were no separate entrances, the residential units inside were self-contained, mitigating any contact between infected students in isolation and non-infected students.
Sources
The Bantam Network: Neighborhoods and Residential Communities
Trinity Tripod, 10/20/2020.
Trinity Tripod, 10/13/2020.
Trinity College Handbook, 1993-94 (1993), pp. 8-10.
Trinity Tripod, 09/18/1984.
Trinity Tripod, 05/11/1982.