Matriculation is the oldest observed tradition at Trinity. The matriculation ceremony symbolizes a student's official start at the College.

Starting in 1826, first-years who had reached the end of their first term (semester) were “admitted to Matriculation.” Having completed this period of probation, students were asked to sign a book as a contract to “conform to the laws and regulations, made for the government of Washington College.” (Trinity had originally been named “Washington College.”) By 1857, the printed “Statutes of Trinity College” stated that the signing ceremony would be accompanied by these words, “I promise to observe the statutes, lawful usages, and customs of Trinity College; and to maintain and defend her rights, privileges, and immunities, at all times and in all places, according to my station and duties in the same.”

In years following, students have signed their names–more recently, at the beginning of the first semester–in a Matriculation Register to symbolize their upholding of Trinity's revised Charter and Standing Rules. The language changed again, so that by 1965 students promised “to observe the Statutes of Trinity College; to obey all its Rules and Regulations; to discharge faithfully all scholastic duties imposed upon me; and to maintain and defend all the rights, privileges, and immunities of the College according to my station and degree in the same.” A notable year for Matriculation occurred in fall 1969, when Alyson Adler became the first female first-year to sign the register and to matriculate following the college's switch to undergraduate coeducation that semester.

Preserved in the Trinity College Archives, the oldest extant Matriculation book with student signatures dates from 1856.

President's Convocation and Matriculation

The Trinity Reporter, Winter 2019.

Trinity College in the Twentieth Century (2000) by Peter and Anne Knapp, pp. 232-233.

The History of Trinity College (1967) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 34-35.

Trinity College: The Charter, Statutes, and Standing Rules (Hartford, 1965), p. 12. Available in Trinity College Archives.

"Statutes of Trinity College, 1857," Trinity College Bulletins and Catalogues, pp. 3-4.