Re: VERBUM ULTIMUM: DROP THE CHARGES AGAINST CHARLOTTE HAMPTON ’26 AND ALESANDRA GONZALES ’27 (May 2, 2024)
On Wednesday night, the Dartmouth administration allowed dozens of state and local police, many in riot gear, to sweep campus, making widespread and sometimes violent arrests of peaceful student, faculty and community protestors expressing opposition to the war in Gaza. Among the arrests, police detained and charged two reporters for The Dartmouth, Charlotte Hampton ’26 and Alesandra “Dre” Gonzales ’27, with criminal trespass. Both were wearing press credentials and covering the protests at the time.
As alumni of The Dartmouth, we write to express our firm opposition to this blatant infringement on the freedom of the press. Student reporters should not be considered criminally trespassing when they are reporting on protests or attempts to suppress those protests. Wednesday’s events are unacceptable and contrary to the values the College claims to stand for.
We demand that College President Sian Leah Beilock issue a full and public apology to The Dartmouth, Hampton and Gonzales for these actions and work with the relevant law enforcement agencies to get the charges against them dropped.
Signed,
Kyle Mullins ’22 (editor-in-chief)
Andrew Sasser ’23 (news executive editor)
Spencer Allen ’23 (opinion editor)
Andrew Culver ’22 (news reporter)
Olivia Gomez ’22 (publisher)
Emily Lu ’23 (editor-in-chief)
Coalter Palmer ’22 (production executive editor)
Susan Matthews ’11 (editor-in-chief)
Matthew Magann ’21 (production executive editor)
Abigail Mihaly ’21 (managing editor)
Emma Chiu ’19 (Dartbeat editor)
Caris White ’23 (Mirror editor)
Elizabeth Janowski ’21 (news executive editor)
Meghan Powers ’23 (Mirror editor)
Savannah Eller ’22 (news executive editor)
Carter Roberts ’24 (Mirror editor)
Omala Snyder ’24 (Mirror editor)
Elle Muller ’24 (news executive editor)
Thomas Lane ’24 (opinion editor)
Jessica Li ’24 (arts editor)
Jack Heaphy ’24 (Mirror columnist)
Russel Chai ’24 (photographer)
David Velona ’21 (cartoonist)
Annie Qiu ’24 (graphics)
Caroline Casey ’21 (Strategy staff)
Amanda Zhou ’19 (news executive editor)
Manasi Singh ’24 (publisher)
Kyle Betit ’93 (news writer)
Sabrina Eager ’23 (arts columnist)
Zachary Benjamin ’19 (editor-in-chief)
Reilly Olinger ’22 (news executive editor)
Rebecca Asoulin ’17 (editor-in-chief)
Rachel Pakianathan ’21 (editor-in-chief)
Ioana Solomon ’19 (production executive editor)
Parker Richards ’18 (opinion editor, non-masthead news editor and news reporter)
Chloe Jung ’23 (arts writer)
Kristin Chapman ’24 (editor-in-chief)
Steven Chun ’19 (opinion columnist)
Natalie Dokken ’23 (opinion editor)
Anthony Robles ’20 (managing editor)
Sofia Ratkevich ’23 (arts editor)
Evan Morgan ’19 (sports editor)
Sophie Bailey ’22 (design editor)
Lili Stern ’22 (sports editor)
Pierce Wilson ’23 (news reporter)
Lucy Turnipseed ’22 (arts editor)
Lorraine Liu ’22 (managing editor)
Madison Pauly ’15 (managing editor)
Naina Bhalla ’22 (photo editor)
Clara Chin ’19 (opinion columnist)
Sasha Dudding ’15 (evening managing editor)
Lauren Adler ’23 (news executive editor)
Osman Khan ’21 (opinion columnist)
Soleil Gaylord ’22 (news reporter)
Eileen Brady ’21 (managing editor)
Ray Lu ’18 (editor-in-chief)
Felicia Schwartz ’14 (news executive editor)
Dylan Spector ’22 (strategy director)
Ella von Baeyer ’24 (podcast co-host)
Matt Gannon ’22 (multimedia editor)
Oliver De Jonghe ’23 (photo editor)
Erin Lee ’18 (news executive editor)
Matthew Brown ’19 (opinion editor)
Lucy Handy ’23 (design editor)
Kourtney Kawano ’18 (production executive editor)
Daniel Modesto ’24 (news executive editor)
Caela Murphy ’15 (arts editor)
Katie McKay ’16 (editor-in-chief)
Gigi Grigorian ’21 (news associate editor)
Christina Baris ’22 (Mirror editor)
Elizabeth Wilson ’22 (sports writer)
Emma Moley ’15 (Mirror editor)
Madeleine Bernardeau ’22 (news reporter)
Jacob Maguire ’21 (Mirror writer)
Mia Nelson ’22 (arts writer)
Katie Wheeler ’15 (opinion writer)
Hannah Jinks ’22 (managing editor)
Cassandra Montemayor Thomas ’23 (managing editor)
Olivia Morton ’23 (templating staff)
Emma Fidel ’12 (editor-in-chief)
Thomas Brown ’23 (managing editor)
Liz Sullivan ’12 (sports editor)
Tatiana Cooke ’12 (web editor)
Eliza Relman ’13 (day managing editor)
Conrad Scoville ’12 (sports editor)
Peter Stein ’12 (senior columnist)
Andrew Bloomgarden ’12 (tech director)
Lauren Pinchuk ’21 (art columnist)
Rebecca Nicol ’22 (news reporter)
Ben Szuhaj ’19 (opinion writer)
Allie Levy ’11 (arts editor)
Sheen Kim ’23 (opinion columnist)
Jay Webster ’13 (executive editor)
Angelina Scarlotta ’23 (photo editor)
Lydia Yeshitla ’21 (publisher)
Thomas S. Watkin ’74 (news editor)
Raniyan Zaman ’22 (opinion columnist)
Divya Kopalle ’21 (photo editor)
Kamran Pasha ’93 (international news editor)
Josh Koenig ’16 (arts and entertainment editor)
Katie Gonzalez ’12 (executive editor)
Don Casler ’14 (opinion editor)
David Sugerman ’74 (editor-in-chief)
Leslie Ye ’14 (evening managing editor)
Vivien Tejada ’16 (opinion columnist)
Charlie Rafkin ’16 (news managing editor)
Jorge Bonilla Lopez ’16 (news writer and copy editor)
Anne Bagamery ’78 (editor-in-chief)
Jenny Che ’14 (editor-in-chief)
Luke McCann ’16 (executive editor)
Hallie Huffaker ’17 (arts editor)
Christine Hughes ’78 (managing editor)
Ted Hampton ’87 (opinion columnist, world and national news editor)
Chandler Rosenberger ’86 (executive editor)
Jeff Blatt ’87 (publisher and chairman)
Scott Rafshoon ’87 (executive editor)
Stephanie Losee ’87 (editorials editor)
Duane Peterson ’78 (editorial page editor)
Lisa Snyder ’87 (Fortnightly editor)
Annika Yui Kyung Park ’18 (opinion columnist)
Erin Foster ’87 (arts and entertainment editor)
Cotten Smith ’78 (various)
Sean Patrick Connolly '16 (news managing editor and news staff reporter)
Jennifer Wulff ’96 (sports editor)
Alisya Reza ’22 (crossword constructor)
Samuel Winchester ’24 (strategy director)
Dan Fagin ’85 (editor-in-chief)
Michael Lin ’21 (photo editor)
Chuck Nordhoff ’81 (publisher and chairman)
Keith Hammonds ’81 (assistant managing editor)
Cathy Green Solomon ’82 (managing editor)
Roger Lanctot ’82 (opinion columnist)
Theodore Hill-Weld ’20 (opinion editor)
Susan Zieger ’95 (arts editor)
Peter Frechette ’82 (sports editor)
Shaun Gurl ’84 (executive editor)
Jessica Brown ’83 (arts editor)
Jonathan Walcoff ’83 (managing editor)
Sonia Qin ’19 (managing editor)
Manisha Apte ’12 (sports columnist)
Jordan Taliha McDonald ’21 (arts editor)
Kyle Mullins ’22 is a former editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth, and Andrew Sasser ’23 is a former news executive editor. Letters to the editor reflect the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
This article will be updated as additional alumni sign the letter.
Editors’ Note: Today, a College spokesperson issued a statement regarding Hampton and Gonzales’s arrests.
