Trinity Washington University is a private Catholic university in Washington, D.C. Trinity is a comprehensive university with five schools; the undergraduate College of Arts & Sciences maintains its original mission as a liberal arts women's college, while men attend Trinity's other schools at both the graduate and undergraduate level. The university was founded as Trinity College by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1897 as the nation's first Catholic liberal arts college for women. Trinity was chartered by an Act of Congress on August 20, 1897. An elite institution in its early life, the college faced declining enrollment by the 1980s. It chose to begin recruiting local underprivileged students, and became predominantly black and Hispanic. Trinity became Trinity Washington University