A slight majority — 51.86% — of participating undergraduate students voted no confidence in College President Sian Leah Beilock’s leadership, Dartmouth Student Government announced in a campus-wide email. According to the announcement, 2,748 students, or around 58.71% of active undergraduates, participated in the referendum, which DSG organized in response to Beilock’s actions on the May 1 pro-Palestinian protest.
Of the 2,748 participants, 1,425 students — 30.44% of all undergraduates — voted “I have no confidence in President Beilock’s leadership,” while 1,323 students — 28.26% of undergraduates — voted “ I do not support a motion of no confidence in President Beilock’s leadership.”
DSG announced its plan to hold a referendum on no-confidence in a campus-wide email — addressed to Beilock — on May 6. The body endorsed and unanimously passed a resolution to enact the no-confidence vote on May 7. In the resolution, DSG wrote that it “denounces” Beilock and the administration’s decision to call in police.
DSG also wrote that “enacting a no-confidence referendum on President Sian Beilock does not necessarily reflect Dartmouth Student Government or its leadership’s opinion on the matter.”
In its resolution, DSG added that “the results of the referendum [will] be delivered to the public, to the President, Provost, Dean of the College and other members of the College’s Senior Leadership, and to the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees.”
Voting took place from May 9 to May 15. During this period, students placed posters and chalk around campus to urge undergraduates to participate in the election. Some students also tabled in locations such as the Class of 1953 Commons and Novack Cafe, according to past reporting by The Dartmouth.
Some students said they had felt pressured to vote no confidence by the campaign efforts of other students, The Dartmouth reported.
According to DSG’s resolution, the results of the referendum are “not binding” and will serve as an “advisory referendum and avenue for student input on this matter.”
“DSG will continue to engage with students of varying viewpoints so that we can best represent our diverse undergraduate student body,” Chiriboga wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth.
