This summer, College President Sian Leah Beilock is joining students for lunch at Pine and walks around Occom Pond, the President’s Office announced in a campus-wide email on June 28. Students can sign up for the small group lunches — which aim to accommodate groups of five to seven students — and ‘woccoms’ via a Google form linked in the email.
According to College spokesperson Jana Barnello, approximately 30 students have met with Beilock, while 70 more have signed up for future events. The program may be unable to accommodate every student who has signed up, according to the June 28 email. The first meeting, a lunch at Pine, was held on July 3, while the final slot on the form is slated for Sept. 17.
In an email statement to The Dartmouth, Beilock wrote that the meet-ups have been “a great way to hear from students directly” about their ideas for community building and “pushing Dartmouth forward.”
“Whenever I spend time with students, I always learn something new and gain greater understanding and appreciation for our student body and their diverse and dynamic perspectives,” Beilock wrote. “This has been especially meaningful for me during sophomore summer.”
Beilock will continue her outreach to students into the fall, Barnello wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth.
“We’ll continue to find opportunities for students to meet with President Beilock this fall whether by attending events or inviting students to lunch, walks around Occom Pond, hosting office hours and more,” Barnello wrote. “The goal is to meet students where they are in different areas of campus life.”
Bill Zheng ’26 said he attended lunch at Pine with Beilock and eight other students on July 27. He said he signed up “to learn more about Beilock’s policies [and] new ideas, as well as her handling of the protests this spring.”
Zheng said he previously had the opportunity to chat with Beilock in an informal setting during Commencement weekend, since his brother, Brian Zheng ’24, was a valedictorian. That meeting, however, was “more chill and congratulatory,” so Zheng did not “really get to hear more about Beilock’s plans.”
According to Zheng, the summer lunch at Pine was “similar to what [he] was expecting, but there was more tension” than his private family gathering in her office.
“It was kind of a tense vibe, because I think people didn’t want to talk too much, or didn’t know when they could ask questions or what they wanted to ask,” Zheng said. “But overall it was fine — [interim Dean of the College Eric] Ramsey was there as well facilitating a lot of the conversation.”
Zheng said much of the conversation at his lunch revolved around potential administrative changes, including the The Future of Arts and Sciences Project — which would create a School of Arts and Sciences and new Dean of Arts and Sciences position.
Zheng, who is doing a College-sponsored exchange program at Yonsei University in South Korea this fall, said the group also discussed study abroad programs. He said that students expressed wanting more study abroad opportunities, as well as more “centralized [information] on logistics” of exchange programs.
Namitha Alluri ’25 said she signed up for both the lunch and walk options, since she was off last fall and winter and wanted to “form an opinion” on Beilock.
“I’ve had friends who really like her and have friends who really don’t like her,” Alluri said. “Of course, I’ve seen [her] policies [and] actions. … I [realized that] if I really want to form an opinion, I have to talk to her and actually have an intimate discussion.”
Alluri — a neuroscience major — hopes to talk to Beilock about her cognitive science research and her experience as a female leader on a campus “with so much discourse going on.”
“Right now, anything she does someone has a problem with on either side,” Alluri said. “So I want to see how she’s dealing with that.”
While Alluri signed up for both options, she said she would prefer to have lunch with Beilock over attending a woccom.
“Sometimes I feel like [with] woccoms, there’s a lot of stimulation going on, which could be a good thing but I think lunches are very direct,” Alluri said.
Zheng said he thinks that Beilock’s offering of the lunches and walks is a “good step” toward connecting with students.
“She seemed pretty genuine about it,” Zheng said. “Dean Ramsey was taking notes and taking our feedback. … I don’t know if, when or how it will be implemented, but I do think she’s trying to listen to the students.”
Alluri also noted Beilock’s attempts to “appeal to the masses,” such as her strong social media presence.
“With these lunches and these woccoms, I see an active engagement with the community and trying to win the students’ favor,” she said.
In addition to the lunches and walks, Beilock also will host a summer reception with the College’s senior leadership team at a date yet to be announced. The reception will be open to “all students” — offering those not selected for a lunch or walk a chance to meet with the President, according to the June 28 announcement.
