Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu discussed some of the Trump administration’s controversial policies at a Rockefeller Center for Public Policy event last week, explaining potential reasoning for tariffs, targeting universities and student visa revocations.
Approximately 120 people attended the event in Filene Auditorium, which was part of the Rockefeller Center’s 100 Days series, tracking the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s presidency. It was also co-hosted by Dartmouth Dialogues, a program designed to facilitate conversations across differences.
Although Sununu acknowledged that the data on why student visas were revoked has been limited, he said he believes that “having a student visa is a privilege” and students who encourage “violence and behavior in a non-peaceful way” should receive ramifications.
“To come to a place like the United States … and encourage that kind of violence and behavior in a non-peaceful way, you bet that's going to have ramifications,” Sununu said.
In a similar vein, Dartmouth Conservatives treasurer and event co-moderator Alexander Barrow ’27 asked Sununu how he felt about using federal funding changes as “tools to influence campus policy” at universities. Sununu responded that he believes the response of universities to antisemitism has been “an absolute travesty.”
“Trump is very loud and very aggressive about it because he’s trying to make examples,” Sununu said. “… He knows that every other academic institution in this country is listening, and [he is] trying to get them to be a little more proactive about making some of those changes.”
Sununu also said he thinks that most Democratic governors are “quietly” happy about the dismantling of the federal Department of Education.
“It is wonderful that they’re getting rid of the U.S. Department of Education because they … add almost virtually no value to what happens in a classroom,” Sununu said. “All the funding is local anyway … Dealing with them [the Department of Education] is such a pain.”
Dartmouth Democrats president and event co-moderator Quinn Allred ’26 asked Sununu for his recommendations to Governor Kelly Ayotte on managing the fallout of funding cuts.
Sununu said he believes that cuts to the National Institute of Health funding are intended to force a reduction in bureaucratic administrative costs. Instead, Sununu believes the NIH cuts aim to keep the agency “focused on what the goal is.”
When asked by Barrow if Sununu saw tariffs become a long-term strategy for the Republican party, Sununu said he doesn’t have a “fundamental problem” with the tariffs but is concerned about the lack of empathy and callousness of the messaging behind tariffs.
“If it works, the market will come back, a lot of confidence will be instilled and people will really think it was about China,” Sununu said. “… If it doesn’t, [we’re] going to probably see a deeper hit in the market than we saw before.”
Sununu added that although he believes the tariffs will hurt both the United States and China, they will hurt China “a lot more and a lot faster than us.”
Attendee Beatrice Reichman ’27 said although she “fundamentally disagree[s] with [Sununu] on almost everything he said,” she was glad that the event provided an opportunity for conversation.
Attendee Vittorio Bloyer ’28 said he wished more people attended the event because he believes the governor did a “great job at being very fair.”
“He didn’t come here to make a huge political, pro-conservative statement,” Bloyer said. “He came here to balance opinions and justify relatively moderate fiscal responsibility.”
