Last fall, I wrote an op-ed about the actions College President Sian Leah Beilock took against student protesters on Parkhurst Lawn. I argued that the situation had escalated to an unnecessary extent and that the College’s reasoning behind its arrest of two students set a dangerous precedent for free speech on campus.
On May 1, that new precedent displayed itself on our campus Green.
That morning, Dartmouth graduate students announced they were going on strike. Several activist groups on campus spent the day protesting for better wages, use of the College’s childcare center and improved healthcare benefits. At 5 p.m., the rhetoric transitioned to conversations about Palestine and the ongoing conflict in Gaza. By 6:30 p.m., inspired by recent encampments at other college campuses, activists planted multiple tents calling for, among many demands, Dartmouth to divest from Israel and drop the charges against Roan Wade ’25 and Kevin Engel ’27 — the two student protesters who were arrested in October.
The peaceful demonstration saw occasional chants, speakers and featured a live band. It was ultimately disrupted when the College called members of the Department of Safety and Security and local and New Hampshire state police to quell the protests, citing the students in tents as violating campus policy. Just before 8 p.m., countless officers — including approximately 20 riot police — showed up on the opposite end of the Green.
At 8:30 p.m., Hanover Police, along with New Hampshire state police, announced that they would arrest any protester on the Green — whether they were active in the encampment or not — on charges of trespassing. They also noted that “the use of force may be used against [anyone on the Green].”
All the while, protesters in and surrounding the tents had made no threats of violence, nor expressed hate speech toward anyone. They were simply carrying out an act of nonviolent protest, which should never be threatened with College-sanctioned violence. Dartmouth also failed to generate sufficient dialogue. Instead, they only warned protesters of impending arrests if they failed to comply with the College’s demands.
In the hours following, protesters, student journalists, faculty members and onlookers were subject to a series of mass arrests. The scenes from Dartmouth’s Green on the night of May 1 were appalling and a clear insight into Dartmouth’s priorities when it comes to student dissent. Beilock’s leadership has failed our campus and created a place where “brave spaces” only exist in her speeches. While Dartmouth has organized numerous initiatives to uplift diverse perspectives, it is now clear that conversations unsanctioned by the College do not have a space on campus. If we are to solely rely on Dartmouth-sanctioned events to convey our thoughts, there will be no space to express dissent. When students attempted to do so, they very quickly faced a disproportionate response from the police. Normalizing the militarization of our campus is a far greater threat to our institution than the protest ever was.
The events that unfolded on the Green were incredibly disappointing, unnecessary and an escalation of a peaceful protest that created an unsafe environment for the Dartmouth community. I witnessed 65-year-old professor Annelise Orleck get trampled by police and arrested. Students, including two student journalists, were snatched by the hands of police. Wednesday night displayed a dystopian reality in which our College, established on the celebration of free speech and diverse dialogues, authorized anti-democratic violence imposed on our student body.
As the night progressed, state police continued to force students off of the Green. Just before midnight, the Green belonged to state police.
Beilock’s actions have ironically invigorated a new sense of activism on Dartmouth’s campus. As a faculty member noted to me during the protest, “If Dartmouth was asleep yesterday, it’s sure as hell awake now.” Students who were previously not involved certainly now have opinions.
The morning after the protest, Beilock released a statement about her reasoning for the arrests. She noted that the encampments were not consistent with College policy and stated that, “most importantly, our opinions — no matter how strongly they are held — can never be used to justify taking over Dartmouth’s shared spaces and effectively rendering them places only for people who hold one specific ideology.” I would contend that, in this instance, students were merely exercising a specific function of the Green as a gathering place. The people who really took over our shared space were none other than the New Hampshire state police, called in by Beilock.
The Green has been used as a gathering place for our community since its inception, whether it be during snowball fights, bonfires or the College’s long history of protests. It is the literal center of campus that binds our student body. There’s a reason why Dartmouth traditions occur in this space, and on May 1, students simply used it as an avenue to meet peacefully and express their feelings toward the College. Unfortunately, because the protest didn’t fall under the narrow umbrella of Dartmouth-sanctioned dissent, President Beilock deemed it unworthy of being a “brave space.”
Beilock’s attack on our Green has left obvious stains on Dartmouth’s reputation. Dartmouth had planned an event for May 2, inviting former State Department official Josh Paul to speak on democratic dissent. However, after witnessing the brutality faced by students on Dartmouth’s Green, he released a statement stating that, “In these circumstances, it seems I gravely misjudged Dartmouth’s commitment to free and constructive dialogue, and it would not be appropriate for me to proceed with a public panel tomorrow on democratic dissent that lends a veneer of endorsement to the College’s administration.” His conviction perfectly depicts the extent to which Dartmouth has failed to uphold its principles of inviting free speech.
As the Dartmouth community moves forward, it is imperative that we do not understate the events of May 1, 2024. Nonviolent protesters should never feel threatened for exercising their First Amendment rights, and Beilock’s attack has instilled fear that will certainly last among students, faculty and members of the Dartmouth community. Dartmouth’s Green belongs to students as much as it does to the College, and peaceful dissent should never again warrant the response we saw on May 1.
Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
