Dartmouth College president Sian Beilock is facing criticism from some students, alumni, and faculty for not forcefully condemning the Trump administration’s efforts to influence what universities teach, whom they admit, and what speech is allowed on campus.
Last week, as more than 400 university leaders nationwide signed onto a statement from the American Association of Colleges and Universities denouncing federal overreach into higher education, Dartmouth was the only Ivy League institution that declined to join. That decision helped fuel actions to pressure the college’s administration to speak out.
Among those efforts is an alumni petition urging Dartmouth to “fight federal government attacks on higher education,” which had already been circulating but, according to organizer Steve Nichols, “really gained steam after Dartmouth declined to sign the AACU letter.” As of Monday, it had been signed by more than 1,760 alumni.
“We’re loyal grads who love our alma mater and are frankly shocked that, in this moment of national crisis, Dartmouth is emerging as the Trump-friendly college,” said Paul Sonn, a 1988 graduate and one of the petition’s organizers. “Dartmouth’s profile as the college that won’t join other universities in defending academic freedom and free speech is doing serious damage to its national reputation.”
In response to the criticism, Beilock defended her approach in an email to the Dartmouth community last week titled “Standing Up for Higher Education and Our Values,” later posted on Dartmouth’s website. While she wrote that she “agree[s] with much of the open letter,” Beilock argued that “some see any sort of self-reflection at this moment — anything less than all-out battle — as surrender. I disagree.”
Beilock, who became Dartmouth’s 19th president in June 2023, has said higher education institutions must balance defending themselves against federal overreach with acknowledging legitimate criticisms.
In a statement to the Globe on Monday, she highlighted her concern about “unprecedented government overreach” in higher education threatening to cause “irreparable” damage.
“I assure you I believe in the fight, and I also believe we can make a difference,” she said. “I am fighting in the way I think I can make the most difference.”
Faculty members have organized an open letter calling on Beilock and Dartmouth’s Board of Trustees to “defend higher education” by resisting “any unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance.” The letter had been signed by 355 current faculty members as of Monday.
Additionally, 1978 graduate Scott Brown organized a separate alumni letter urging Dartmouth to oppose “efforts to chill free speech on college campuses,” which was signed by more than 300 alumni. The opinion pages of The Dartmouth, the student newspaper, have included columns and letters to the editor criticizing the administration’s inaction. Meanwhile, former Dartmouth president Phil Hanlon has co-signed and co-authored public statements supporting Harvard University’s resistance to federal pressure, including a letter in Fortune and an op-ed in Time magazine.
“At the heart of every authoritarian assault on education is an ideological attack on the very notion of truth,” Bethany Moreton, a Dartmouth professor and historian of American conservatism who signed the faculty letter, told the Globe. “That is why JD Vance says ‘professors are the enemy.’ We are the enemy of authoritarianism. We are the enemy of ideological control.”
Nathan Metcalf can be reached at nathan.metcalf@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @natpat_123.