# Professors Call on Trinity to Divest from Artificial Intelligence - Trinity Tripod

*Источник: Trinity Tripod*
*Дата: 2026-09-22*
*Язык: en*

**Кратко:** 15, President Dan Lugo and Dean of Faculty Sonia Cardenas received an email from professors calling for Trinity to divest from AI software companies. “We, the below signatories, request that Trinity College immediately and thoroughly divest from AI companies and the software companies that support them.

Talia Cutler ’27
Editor-in-Chief
On the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 15, President Dan Lugo and Dean of Faculty Sonia Cardenas received an email from professors calling for Trinity to divest from AI software companies.
“We, the below signatories, request that Trinity College immediately and thoroughly divest from AI companies and the software companies that support them. The technology is too fresh, too unregulated, too dangerous and too unpredictable to safely integrate into the college’s operations. Currently, the support of such technology is incommensurate with Trinity’s stated commitments to fostering intellectual and ethical growth, to protecting the environment, and to building and protecting a safe future for the next generation,” the letter reads. It also requests that the administration take “a firm, immediate, and public stance against such technologies” until they have been deemed safe for academic use, “if [such a] time ever comes,” and that future AI policy be subject to faculty vote.
Trinity’s administration has been faced with numerous requests for divestment in recent years, but this marks the first time a formal letter from faculty has called for the college to divest from AI.
Professor of Philosophy Shane Ewegen spearheaded this initiative. “Over the past couple of years, faculty have been having more and more formal and informal conversations about generative AI and the potential risks and threats it poses to higher education,” Ewegen told the Tripod. The letter was circulated over the Trinity faculty listserv for several days before it was sent to administration, gathering signatures. As of Monday, Sept. 21, 41 faculty members from 20 different departments have signed the letter.
Ewegen stated that Trinity’s administration “has a responsibility to examine the issues and technology more thoroughly before embracing and financially supporting it,” and to “ensure that they are taking careful, patient, responsible steps instead of jumping headlong into something that has the potential to do more harm than good.”
The debate over AI’s place in higher education has been a topic of interest for years, with recent developments in regulation, including U.S. Rep. Bonamici’s (OR-1) upcoming bill to regulate artificial intelligence in education. On Sept 18, Governor Gavin Newsom of California issued an executive order increasing AI oversight. For the 2026-2027 school year, Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City placed a ban on software with “student-facing generative AI” in grades Pre-K-8.
Currently, Trinity’s stance on AI is largely left to individual instructors. “The use of AI tools in the classroom is not a one-size-fits-all decision. As an instructor, you have the flexibility to define when and how AI can be used in your classroom,” Trinity’s AI Syllabus Policy reads. The “Concerns Regarding AI” page lists multiple categories of AI ramifications, including “Ethical,” “Accuracy,” “Bias,” “Environmental” and “The Future.” The bottom of the page discloses that “The AI landscape is still evolving, and the full implications of this technology remain unclear.” Despite the fact that the decision of whether or not to use AI is a professorial discretion, Ewegen states that the college did not do enough to consult faculty on these policies. “A college is not univocal,” he said. “It is a collection of many different voices and perspectives, but unfortunately these policies got passed with minimal faculty input and without faculty vote,” he told the Tripod.
Trinity College began developing AI policies around 2023, expanding the effort in 2024. “Trinity and members of the administration have pretty quickly developed policies about what they are calling the ‘ethical and responsible uses of AI,’ but as we become more aware of the academic and environmental impacts of these technologies and the risks that they pose to the job market and the employability of our students [..] the very idea that there is an ethical or responsible use of these technologies is called into question,” Ewegen stated.
Trinity’s “Teaching With Generative AI” webpage includes sample AI syllabus statements. One affirmative example reads, “I expect you to use AI (ChatGPT and image generation tools, at a minimum), in this class. In fact, some assignments will require it.” It adds that “Don’t trust anything [generative AI] says. If it gives you a number or fact, assume it is wrong unless you either know the answer or can check in with another source.” Trinity’s Artificial Intelligence Resource Center contains a disclaimer that reads “the emergence and rapid growth of generative AI has caused many people to be wary of the technology and there are valid concerns. However, AI is a general-purpose tool already shaping many parts of people’s lives and will likely only increase its impact.”
These impacts are tangible on Trinity’s campus already, according to Ewegen, who described effects of AI use in humanities courses as “far reaching and significant,” and “potentially devastating.” “Learning how to write critically is an integral part of learning how to think critically. I don’t think you can do one well without the other. This technology has very quickly made it all but impossible for students to write traditional writing assignments out of class,” he elaborated.
These effects have caused professors across departments to make changes to how they conduct their classes, including eliminating out-of-class essay assignments and opting for tech-free note taking practices and oral exams.
The Office of the President issued a statement to the Tripod about the letter, saying ‘We recognize the multifaceted and complex concerns surrounding artificial intelligence. The College remains committed to open, ongoing dialogue with faculty, staff, and students as we navigate these evolving technologies together. We encourage members of the Trinity community to continue to raise concerns through the existing governance processes.”
Ultimately, Ewegen hopes that his letter sparks a conversation within Trinity about the ethics of generative AI use. “I hope it encourages the administration to pump the brakes a bit when it comes to this technology,” he said. “Take a pause so it can be more thoroughly assessed by experts in the field and we can make more informed decisions about whether or not we as an institution want to support a technology that very well may bring about the end of higher education as we know it.”
“Divesting from [AI] companies would be a major move and it would be a very complicated move […] “It very well might be impractical but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t the right thing to do. Sometimes the right thing to do is difficult, impractical and very counterintuitive, but it doesn’t make it less right.”
The entirety of the letter can be read below.

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