Trinity University has been designated an AAC&U Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Campus Center (TRHT). As one of only three TRHT Campus Centers in Texas, this designation allows Trinity to join AAC&U in implementing visionary action plans with the shared goal of erasing barriers to equal treatment and opportunity on college campuses and in the community. The organization has 144 campus centers around the country and is continuing to grow as they promote equality in various settings.
“When we say that Trinity University values intentional inclusion, the designation as an AAC&U Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Campus Center puts those words into action,” says Demi Brown, associate vice president for Student Life and dean of students. Brown was instrumental in bringing the designation to the University, having experienced its effects at his previous institution Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. “TRHT will allow our community to actively engage in ways to dismantle the idea that some humans are more valuable than others. In short order, we will be able to facilitate racial healing circles on campus that will provide a path toward true racial healing.”
TRHT’s goal lies in helping communities heal and produce actionable change. They believe it requires individual and collective commitments to racial healing to build the relationships and mobilize the energy for transformative vision, plans, and action. As a TRHT Campus Center, the University will be able to further promote equality and racial healing through its Student Diversity and Inclusion Office.
On Jan. 17, the Student Diversity and Inclusion Office hosted Trinity’s inaugural National Day of Racial Healing. Students, faculty, and staff made Zen bags, used singing bowls, received poem envelopes, and enjoyed hot chocolate as they learned about the University’s TRHT initiatives. Introducing this event helped to familiarize the Trinity community with what the University’s future will look like as it continues to promote equality and healing with the new programming provided by TRHT.
For Trinity, being a TRHT Campus Center gives the community a platform and the resources to be vulnerable together as it seeks to build empathy and change the system, thus journeying towards equitable access as an institution of higher education.
For students, this designation will help increase opportunities to cultivate an environment where individuals can find belonging and collective narrative sharing. First-year and computer science major Shea Bedminster ’26 is excited about this designation and what it means for Trinity. She says, “It’s important to have these conversations about finding community and belonging. Having more open conversations and dialogue can help open people’s minds. This [designation] will give them a place to facilitate that conversation.”
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