On June 9, pro-Palestinian and pro-union protesters disrupted Dartmouth’s Commencement ceremony on the Green, according to past reporting by The Dartmouth. The protest joined a wave of similar disruptions on college campuses nationwide.
Disruptions at Dartmouth included a march around the Green, a walkout during College President Sian Leah Beilock’s remarks and a rally in front of Dartmouth Hall. In addition, more than 130 students refused to shake hands with Beilock while crossing the Commencement stage, according to past reporting by The Dartmouth.
While this year’s Commencement protests were unprecedented in Dartmouth’s recent history, they were not the first to take place during the annual ceremony.
During the 1968 Commencement, a speech by class valedictorian Jamie Newton ’68 denouncing the Vietnam War divided students, parents and alumni, according to documents in Rauner Library archives compiled by the Dartmouth Vietnam Project.
“The Vietnam War is a colossal stupidity, a vast international atrocity and an expensive lesson in the futility of modern aggressive imperialism,” Newton said.
The next year, some community members again expected the Vietnam War to cause tensions during Commencement. According to an interview conducted by the Dartmouth Vietnam Project with Dean of the College Thaddeus Seymour, protests against 1969 Commencement speaker Nelson Rockefeller ’30 — who had not outwardly spoken against the war — were widely expected by both students and administrators.
“I just had this nightmare of [not] getting through Commencement without somebody throwing pig’s blood on Rockefeller when he was up,” Seymour said. “As you visualize Commencement, every student walks within three feet of the Commencement speaker.”
While about one-third of students in attendance wore white armbands to protest the war, poor weather conditions largely warded off any anticipated protests during Rockefeller’s speech, according to past reporting by The Dartmouth. Although Commencement began on the Green, rain forced the ceremony to move to the Leverone Field House. After the College announced that no one would walk to receive their diplomas — and would instead pick them up at a later time — only about one-third of graduating students remained to hear Rockefeller speak, according to Seymour. Otherwise, there was no disruption during his address.
Students again protested with armbands 50 years later. In 2019, members of the Class of 1969 — returning for the 50th anniversary of their Commencement — wore teal armbands to protest sexual assault and harrasment, according to the Dartmouth Class of 1969 website.
This year, students began organizing a protest in the weeks leading up to Commencement. Several students who participated in the protest said they were inspired by protests and walkouts at other universities.
At Stanford’s Commencement ceremony on June 16, around 500 students walked out while President Richard Saller spoke, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. According to the New York Times, commencement protests also occurred at Duke University, the University of Minnesota, Emerson College, Pomona College and Harvard University, among others. While few commencements were outright canceled, some universities, including Columbia University and the University of Southern California, canceled their main ceremony in lieu of multiple smaller ceremonies divided up by individual colleges and academic units.
Solange Acosta-Rodríguez ’24 said she was “loosely involved” with the planning of the Commencement protest, generating ideas and convincing others to participate. She said one of the initial sources of inspiration came from a group of Cornell University students who visited in the spring.
“We saw what happened at other universities and took inspiration from them while also trying to figure out movements that would best communicate our message … that the Dartmouth administration was hurtful and violent against some students,” Acosta-Rodríguez said.
Abigail Bordelon ’24 said they wore red gloves when they walked across the stage to demonstrate that the Dartmouth administration has “blood on its hands.” Bordelon said they were inspired by similar protests at other universities. Some students at the University of California, Los Angeles, for example, also wore red gloves.
“It sends a very clear message that there is blood on our hands and we’re responsible to do something about it,” Bordelon said. “The intention was not for us to get attention for ourselves as individuals but rather to [force] Trustees and alumni and parents to reflect on what’s happening in Gaza.”
Acosta-Rodríguez added that she “thought a lot” about how to protest the administration while showing her love for Dartmouth and gratitude for her time there.
“Though it has been emotionally difficult and complex … Dartmouth was also the highest high for me,” she said. “I grew into myself at Dartmouth. … It really mattered to me to do something at Commencement that showed that Beilock is not my Dartmouth and is not the real Dartmouth. The administration’s actions are not what my Dartmouth experience was.”
Jackelinne Claros Benitez ’24 said she was directly involved with organizing the walkout and individual protests. She distributed materials, including Palestinian flags and stoles.
“Many of us wanted to demonstrate our collective solidarity,” Claros Benitez said.
Claros Benitez added that she refused to shake hands with Dean of the Faculty Elizabeth Smith, Dean of the College Scott Brown and Beilock. As a first-generation, low-income student, she said she “grappled” with how to show her “solidarity” while also showing her gratitude toward friends and family who supported her in college.
“We made sure everyone had the opportunity to walk the stage before the walkout happened,” she said.
Bordelon added that they felt hopeful about what graduating seniors would do after leaving Dartmouth.
“I believe that Dartmouth graduates are some of the best prepared people in the world to go out and find peaceful solutions,” Bordelon said.
