With Trinity hosting the pep rallies and acting as the welcome village for the Aer Lingus College Football Classic between Georgia Tech and Boston College this weekend, the campus became an almost-unrecognisable hub of activity, not only filled with more people and sound as usual – with everything from live bands to Irish dancing performances – but with sights not typically seen on Irish campuses, including cheerleaders and brass bands.
If approached cynically, the events can be seen as the college almost “selling out” in order to draw the attention of the American audiences that the college is looking to attract. After all, bar Trinity Ball, events of this scale do not happen on campus, and this year’s event takes place not only at a time when most students aren’t around to take advantage of seeing Front Square so uniquely full of life, it also acted as a serious distraction to anyone studying for supplemental examinations.
A closer look, however, reveals that the event reflects much more deeply where Trinity is as a university. Speaking to the crowds alongside the coaches of the six high school teams that are also here to play, Trinity’s Vice-President of Global Relations, Juliette Hussey, used the opportunity to plug Trinity and to explain its nature as a “global university”, a speech that was not just a reflection of how Trinity might have to attract such students, but how it can, and why it actually wants to.
Trinity is a unique campus. For all of its woes and the narrative surrounding Irish universities and rankings, Trinity remains a competitive, top-100 global university, one that, once it gets its name out there, is able to attract top students from around the world. That the college became the game’s central hub – a place where everyone from Waterford Crystal and Dublin’s own tourist board choose to come and showcase themselves – can be pointed at cynically, but also demonstrates Trinity’s pulling power.
While the funding crisis means that it needs to attract non-EU students, building strong global links is high on any university’s agenda – money troubles or not – and this weekend showed the enjoyment that comes with being global, and how Trinity’s position means that building such links can come easily.
