Trinity College's Fence on Vernon Street
Trinity College has a fence that closes off the bottom of Vernon Street, and runs adjacent to Broad St ending where Broad meets Allen and New Britain Ave. It serves as a barrier between the Frog Hollow Hartford Community and the Trinity College campus. Previously Vernon Street was a public street, but due to the violent relations between students and the residents, the fence was put up in the 1970’s to help mitigate the violence and provide a sense of safety and security to the campus community.
Davarian L. Baldwin (Professr Baldwin) is the Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. He is a leading urbanist, historic and cultural critic whose work largely examines the landscape of global cities through the lens of the African diasporic experience. He is the author of Chicago’s New Negroes: Modernity, the Great Migration, and Black Urban Life (2007), as well as numerous essays and scholarly articles.
At Trinity, Baldwin's teaching brings together urban and cultural studies, 20th Century U.S. History, and African American Studies. His book In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities, specifically includes a chapter on Trinity College and how the establishment of Trinity as a "city upon a hill" seperate and distinct from the surronding Hartford community has created a rift between Trinity college students and the residential community that surronds it.