On Feb. 2, the Dartmouth Student Government Senate met for its fourth weekly meeting of the winter term. Led by student body president Chukwuka Odigbo ’25, senators and attendees spoke with College President Sian Leah Beilock and other administrators.
Beilock’s presence at the meeting — the first time this term that the College President has made an appearance at a DSG event — was marked by discussions of the College’s compliance with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as efforts to bring incoming Gazan student Omar Rashid ’29 to campus.
One member of the public asked Beilock why she had overruled the Student Worker Collective at Dartmouth’s initiative to make Dartmouth a “sanctuary campus” — a college or university with policies protecting undocumented students and faculty — for undocumented students. The term sanctuary campus has no legal definition, according to past coverage by The Dartmouth.
Beilock responded that she “[did] not know” what the student meant by the term, explaining that she understood the SWCD and the College to still be at the “bargaining table” over issues including a $23 base hourly wage for dining workers and a $4,100 termly stipend for undergraduate advisors, according to a statement from the SWCD.
In a follow-up statement to The Dartmouth, associate vice president for communications Kathryn Kennedy noted that Beilock “does not sit at the bargaining table with SWCD and thus would not overrule any proposal made as part of the ongoing collective bargaining process between SWCD and Dartmouth.”
“Dartmouth is committed to and focused on negotiating agreements about the employment conditions of the student dining workers and UGAs represented by SWCD,” Kennedy wrote.
Alejandra Carrasco Alayo ’25 asked whether the administration has an “emergency plan” in the event that a student is deported.
Interim dean Eric Ramsey, who attended the meeting alongside Beilock, responded that students should call the Department of Safety and Security and ask for the “dean on call.” He added that a general counsel lawyer and a physician are also available over the phone.
Beilock said she “urge[d]” students with immigration-related questions about themselves or their families to visit the new International Student Experience Office and attend this week’s Know Your Rights seminar with the New Hampshire American Civil Liberties Union on Feb. 5.
Executive vice president for strategy and special counsel to the president Jomysha Delgado Stephen, who was also present at the meeting, added that the College has been investigating in recent weeks “what [its] obligations are” as federal immigration policy continues to evolve. On Jan. 20, the Trump administration revoked the “sensitive location” designation that bars U.S. immigration agents from schools and places of worship, a reversal that could bring deportations to campus.
“We know that there have been executive [orders] coming out and things being said about them that are not necessarily consistent,” Stephen said.
Stephen said there is no executive order “requiring institutions” to provide the names of international students or student protestors.
In response to a student question regarding Rashid’s journey to Hanover, Ramsey said the College has contacted Rashid, who has “all the information to navigate” and connect with support organizations and government agencies.
Ramsey added that College administrators will “continue watching [Rashid’s situation] closely.”
The Senate also held a 75-minute closed-door session with Beilock prior to its public meeting, according to chief of staff and West House senator Samay Sahu ’27. Senators discussed enforced grading medians and study abroad programs with Beilock, he added.
“Ninety-plus percent of students, based off of [the] Student Issues Survey, say that enforced medians negatively contribute to mental health,” Sahu said.
Behind closed doors, Beilock expressed concern about enforced medians and was “super supportive” of a DSG proposal to convene a student and faculty group to “rethink” grades, grading and transcripts in collaboration with the new School of Arts and Sciences, according to Sahu.
In a follow-up statement to The Dartmouth, however, Kennedy wrote that Beilock “listened to [DSG’s] concerns but expressed no opinion” on enforced medians.
“Beilock has been consistently careful not to take a position on enforced medians,” she wrote.
On study abroad programs, Beilock said the College is “really behind” in its foreign program opportunities, according to Sahu.
“We talked about the [Dartmouth-Oxford Exchange at Keble College] and how only four students will get it, even though you’ll have so many [applying],” Sahu said. “[Beilock] said that’s wrong, it shouldn’t be like that. If a student wants to study abroad, they should have the ability to study abroad.”
In an email statement to The Dartmouth on behalf of the President’s Office, Kennedy wrote that Beilock “appreciated the invitation” from DSG and “invited” students to attend her office hours.
In a later meeting this term, DSG also plans to vote on three “constitutional streamlining” amendments.
The first, proposed by general house senator Sabik Jawad ’26, will allow the chief of staff to call votes for “unanimous consent” from the Senate rather than reading a roll call of senators’ names for every individual vote.
The second, proposed by Sahu, opens Senate vacancies to “folks of all years, and not just the year of the vacant spot.”
Sahu said he has been “frustrated” with the Senate’s inability to fill vacancies in the chamber left by students who are “borderline impeached” but that “constitutionally, [he] actually can’t do anything about.”
The third amendment, co-sponsored by JJ Dega ’26, Jack Wisdom ’26 and Favion Harvard ’26, would create a “renovation committee” to improve the “efficiency” of DSG’s bylaws.
A Jan. 31 op-ed by The Dartmouth staff Opinion writer Eli Moyse ’27, which reported on alleged rifts in DSG under Odigbo’s leadership, had “no impact” on the proposing of amendments, which were already “slated to happen,” according to Sahu.
Sahu did, however, “solicit feedback” on Odigbo’s administration from the Senate “independently” after Moyse’s article was published, he added.
DSG Senate meetings occur weekly on Sundays at 7 p.m. in Collis 101 and are open to all students.
Update Appended (Feb. 4, 3:28 p.m.): Additional statements from the President’s Office regarding Beilock’s role in the SWCD bargaining process and Beilock’s stance on enforced medians have been appended to the article. Executive vice president for strategy and special counsel to the president Jomysha Delgado Stephen’s title has also been updated.
Jackson Hyde '28 is an intended philosophy major from Los Angeles, California. His interests include photography, meditation, and board game design.
