Trinity College: Student Government Association’s Denial of Recognition to Churchill Club

A group of Trinity College students sought recognition for the Churchill Club, a student organization affiliated with the Hartford-based Churchill Institute, which is “dedicated to the preservation, dissemination and extension of the Western moral and philosophical Tradition.” After Trinity’s Student Government Association (SGA) delayed voting on the club’s recognition for weeks following student protest, FIRE wrote Trinity on April 12, 2019, explaining that denying recognition to the Churchill Club based on the group’s viewpoint would violate Trinity College’s stated commitments to free expression.

On April 29, the SGA announced that it had voted to deny recognition to the Churchill Club. The president of Trinity College clarified later that day that SGA’s denial would only pertain to funding disbursed by SGA, and that the college formally recognized the Churchill Club in other capacities.