Bereavement Policy

Policy

In the unfortunate event that you experience a personal tragedy or trauma such as, for example, a death in the family or personal injury or harm, please rest assured that the Trinity College Dean’s Office stands ready to assist and accommodate you in the aftermath.  If you should suffer the loss of a parent, guardian, sibling, spouse, roommate, or other person close to you, your academic dean has the authority to provide a number of special accommodations, and when you are ready and able to consider them, will be happy to review them with you.

Procedure

If you experience a personal tragedy or trauma, please notify or have a roommate, friend, or family member notify your academic dean’s office.  Your dean will immediately contact each of your instructors and ask them to assist you when you are ready and able to resume your studies.   Your dean will also gladly help you access support resources in the local community, such as CAPS and the Religious Life staff, if that would be useful to you.   Upon your return to campus, please arrange to meet with your academic dean to discuss options and strategies for catching up with missed academic work and for completing the semester successfully.

Among the options available through the dean’s office to assist students in tragic situations are the following:

If you and your family believe it is not in your best interest to complete the semester, the options to withdraw or take a personal leave of absence are also available.  If withdrawal from the college for the semester seems the best course of action, a tuition credit may be applied for a future semester.

In all these interactions your academic dean will try to understand your situation and needs and work with you and your family to determine what may be in your best interests academically, so that appropriate actions can be taken to assist you and facilitate your communications and interactions with your instructors.  

We recognize that in the immediate aftermath of a tragic loss or injury, the farthest thing from your mind may be your academic situation.  However, when you are ready and able to resume your studies or to take appropriate steps affecting your academic future, we in the Trinity College Dean’s Office will be pleased to help you in any ways that we can.