Judith “Judie” Trimboli will begin a new role as director of Campus Safety on Monday, Dec. 9. A desire to connect with students on campus prompted her interest in the role. “I wanted a position where I was going to be more boots on the ground, engaging with students, listening to them, hearing concerns, strategizing, problem solving,” she explained. As she begins her tenure at Campus Safety, Trimboli plans to be on campus at night working with the officers, sharing that she believes it is “the only way to truly understand what’s happening…to determine the needs of the community.”
Hamilton administration began a nationwide search to fill the director of Campus Safety position in August following the retirement of Francis “Frank” Coots, who served as Hamilton’s director of Campus Safety for seven years. Trimboli was chosen from a group of four finalists, Dean of Students Chris Card explained in an email on Dec. 3. She will take over the role from Assistant Director of Campus Safety Wayne Gentile Jr. who acted as interim director of the department during the search process.
Trimboli has served the Hamilton community since July 2021, when she joined the Dean of Students Office as Campus Investigator and Compliance Officer. In this role, her work primarily relates to Title IX, investigating reports of sexual harassment and misconduct, and student conduct investigations. Trimboli also conducts all first-year training sessions, meaning she has “been in front of every student on this campus at least once,” leading her to feel a strong connection to the student body. She shared that she has been “jokingly saying [she is] a fourth year this year.”
Trimboli’s current title falls within the Dean of Students office, but she collaborates frequently with Campus Safety. She noted that she has already worked with everybody in the department. “I’m really hoping it’s going to be a pretty seamless [transition] because we’ve already established working relationships and we all have respect for each other,” she said. Trimboli attends Campus Safety’s weekly leadership meetings, where she lends “help and expertise” to the department. She also works with Campus Safety for any large scale social events, “like Class & Charter Day or Great Names or graduation or the inauguration.”
Trimboli is also a member of the Hamilton Emergency Response Team (HERT), a group of stakeholders on campus that meet regularly to discuss possible emergency scenarios and assess needs on campus “so that if a situation occurs, we are better able to respond and we are better trained.” She attends all discussions for that team and has “been responsible for all of the Everbridge emergency messaging that goes out in times of crisis on campus.”
In the spring of 2023, a social media post threatening gun violence led to a campus-wide lockdown. Afterwards, students expressed concerns regarding safety and emergency procedures on campus, including inconsistent and contradictory messaging from the Everbridge system. Specifically, a message stated an active shooter was on campus even though there was no confirmed active shooter, only a threat. When asked about this event, Trimboli did not offer a personal statement on the matter, instead referring The Spectator to Jeff Landry, the director of HERT, for a unified response from the team.
Student activism — on campus and at colleges nationwide — continues to generate conversations about the relationship between law enforcement and protest. Trimboli shared that she cannot yet discuss any specific plans for the department, but her tactic, for now, is to listen. “I really want to spend time getting to know all of the student groups on campus. I want to hear what their concerns are. I want to hear what possible ideas they have for solutions. I want to hear what makes them feel safe and when they feel unsafe.”
Looking forward, Trimboli hopes students will feel comfortable engaging with her. “I loved how the students would engage with Frank. They seemed to all know who Frank was, and I hope there is a day where they all feel as comfortable with Judy,” she said. One piece of student engagement she looks forward to is feedback. Though she asks for “some grace and some time to get [her] feet on the ground,” Trimboli is eager to hear the concerns and thoughts of members of the Hamilton community. “I really want to be that approachable person that people can come to and say, ‘hey, I saw something really good the other day’ or ‘hey, this kind of bothered me’ because we can’t fix what we don’t know.”
