Dean Tuttle's Trinitoninan Columns

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February 7, 2003

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Tuttle ponders Bubble theory

The Trinity Bubble is a lie. As we perpetuate its existence, the Bubble provides easy excuses to feel worse about ourselves than we should. It is time to let it go.

The Bubble means different things to different people in different contexts.

For some, there is the notion that the Bubble protects Trinity from the rest of the world - TU equals Trinity Utopia. The argument is that the Bubble offers a false sense of security: everything a student needs is here. Most times, students claim they are overly nurtured and coddled - when they are not being overrun by an oppressive administration. But watching our students mature from their first year to their senior year, it is evident to me that they are learning life's real-world lessons, whether on campus or off, during their time here.

Other members of the Trinity community complain because we are insulated, yet when outside guests visit our campus, we treat them like invaders. We express outrage over lost parking spaces when school buses bring children to plays in Laurie Auditorium or guests arrive to be sworn in as citizens. We welcome our summer guests the same way: with resistance and contempt. Conversely, we complain when the Alamo Stadium parking officials threaten to blow a bubble of their own, to keep us out.

For yet others, the Trinity Bubble means that as a university, we are inactive in the community. They couldn't be more wrong. For years I have heard students in ASR clamor for the university to get more involved in San Antonio, usually, in terms of matching something someone else is doing: "why not sponsor an event like the St. Mary's Oyster Bake?" or, "why not light the University at Christmas like Incarnate Word?"

Why should we? We do different things and our niche is unique and our own. Why copy others when we offer things they don't: distinguished lectures, the MLK lecture, and the policy maker breakfast series - all open to the community and unmatched in San Antonio. We offer the holiday concert as a musical "Christmas card" to San Antonio. Our best Bubble-breakers of all are what our students bring to the community through TUVAC volunteer programs and the Education Department's involvement in San Antonio schools. And we do more.

For some, there is the notion that the Bubble protects Trinity from the rest of the world - TU equals Trinity Utopia. The argument is that the Bubble offers a false sense of security: everything a student needs is here.

I used to scoff at the idea that Trinity should have a float in one of our city's many parades. As one of the Trinity representatives who pulled the huge inflatable Tiger through the streets of San Antonio for the first time last year, I realized how wrong I was. The community loved that Trinity participated. And so did I.

There are certainly more opportunities, and an imaginary Bubble shouldn't stand in our way. We can do a better job of recruiting students from our own neighborhoods, in contributing to the United Way, and finding volunteers for the "Days of Caring" program, to name a few.

But to say we live in a Bubble? It's a lie. The Bubble only lives in our imaginations. It's time to let it go.

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