The precedent that the College had set up to this point was very clear: an encampment was the red line. For students to take up permanent space on this campus that, we are told, is our “home for four years” was the threshold the administration had set for immediate arrest, first in October 2023, and then again at a much larger scale on May 1, 2024. These were the rules of the game that student protesters accepted going into the Palestine encampment last week.
Today, the rules of the game have been rewritten. The tent not only stayed over night, but through it, students achieved massive victories that other parts of campus had been working towards for weeks to no avail — including a key clause declaring that ICE cannot enter Dartmouth classrooms, dorms or any other non-public areas without a signed judicial warrant, as well as well-defined and expanded financial support for students facing visa cancellations. Campus is now safer for international students than it has been at any point in the past — and, through the commitment of the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility to formally respond in writing to the divestment proposal, closer to a conscionable investment policy in regards to Israel-Palestine.
These wins were achieved not through an aimless, insubstantial, patronizing “Dartmouth Dialogues” event but through a real, material process of negotiation where students put their bodies on the line for their beliefs. The results are undeniable.
Through these victories, the administration has revealed that its hand is much weaker than it was a year ago today. The backlash from the May 1 arrests; the flurry of alumni letters rightly criticizing Beilock for her refusal to stand with our peer universities against Trump and hiring Matthew Raymer ’03 as an act of appeasement; the sensitive position of Dartmouth as a leading institution of higher education — all of these things created the perfect storm for students to be able to make demands for campus and have them met. Despite the administration’s posturing and empty threats to call the cops on protesters or have them suspended on the spot, ultimately they did not. This revealed where the real power lies on this campus: with the students.
Students have called the administration’s bluff. The administration does not have the social capital with alumni or national press to continue to criminalize the peaceful protest of students towards divestment. The boundaries of what is and isn’t tolerated have been changed, and through it, campus is freer and more equitable than ever before.
To be sure, there remains much work to be done on the connected fronts of Palestine and student rights. Just this week, the Netanyahu government announced its intent to “conquer” and occupy Gaza indefinitely, with one prominent minister saying that Gaza “will be entirely destroyed.” Still, the College has yet to meaningfully signal its dissent to Trump’s battle against higher education, and most students feel unprotected from the College in the face of external prosecution. Though only time will tell what will come out of these developments, what is certain is that the struggle to get Dartmouth to stand up for its core mission of educating responsible leaders will go on.
Still, on this day of May 9, 2025, students are winning more than ever before, and we have an unprecedented opportunity to keep winning if we continue to call the bluffs of our administrators when our right — and responsibility — to protest comes under threat. Their position is weak, ours is strong; let us capitalize!
Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
Ramsey Alsheikh is an opinion editor, staff columnist, and aspiring jack-of-all trades. He enjoys eating popcorn and thinks it would be cool to maybe write a novel someday. He is currently double majoring in Middle Eastern Studies modified with Jewish Studies and Computer Science.
