Sebastian Lim and Daniel Ro admitted to causing the Oct. 1 fire in Morton Hall in an online petition on the Care2 petition site. In the letter, titled “Change Our Lives,” Ro and Lim apologized for their actions and asked people to sign the petition in support as the two have been expelled from the College for posing “a threat to the community at large.”
In the letter, Ro and Lim described their actions as a mistake and said that the College’s emails to campus did not fully capture the details of the events leading up to the fire. The two welcomed students to reach out to them for further details, noting that students “should not rely on the rumors.” The two wrote that they do not believe they pose a continuing threat to the community.
“While we made a mistake that could have potentially injured people, it was just that — a mistake. We implore you to take a minute to consider what occurred,” Lim and Ro wrote.
As of press time, 160 people have signed the petition which is addressed to the Dartmouth Community and targeted to Vice Provost of Student Affairs Inge-Lise Ameer. Seventeen people have commented on the petition in support of Lim and Ro. The supporters wrote about the character of the two former students, with many noting that he had made an honest mistake and should be given a second chance.
The four-alarm fire in Morton Hall was caused by a charcoal grill left unattended on the roof of the building, according to a press release from the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal. The hibachi-style grill was placed on a flat section of the roof outside of a dormitory window.
Morton Hall is currently uninhabitable as a result of extensive smoke and water damage caused by the fire.
