Mia Steinberg ’25 was the president of the Rohr Chabad Center at Dartmouth last year, during and after the May 1, 2024, arrests. At the time, she co-wrote a letter to the editor with then-president of Hillel at Dartmouth Cara Marantz ’25 sharing “concern over the state of student safety and balanced discourse at Dartmouth,” particularly for Jewish students. Steinberg also spoke with The Dartmouth about antisemitism, hostility and isolation experienced by Jewish students in the aftermath of the arrests.
One year later, The Dartmouth sat down with Steinberg to discuss her personal thoughts on the aftermath of the arrests and how she has observed changes in campus culture in the year since. She emphasized that she does not speak for all Jewish students on campus.
How did you respond to May 1 when it happened?
MS: In the aftermath of the events on May 1, having watched how demonstrations unfolded across other campuses, my initial reaction was one of gratitude. I appreciated that our administration upheld the right to protest while maintaining clear boundaries that prevented escalation into encampments. Beyond the institutional response, my main focus was responding to what Jewish students were going through after that day. Several students came to me and shared some pretty disturbing experiences, like being singled out in class by professors demanding explanations for the arrests of their peers, despite these students never having expressed views on the protests or on Israel. The only thing they had shared before was that they were Jewish. That kind of profiling and those assumptions left a lot of students feeling really isolated and uncomfortable being open about their Jewish identity.
Given the seriousness of these incidents, I raised the issue directly with professors in leadership roles and brought it to the floor at a Dartmouth Student Government meeting. Despite making it clear that I’m open to dialogue — and I still am — I received a ton of anonymous backlash, which only underscored how difficult it is to have these conversations in good faith.
What do you think of how May 1 was and is discussed on campus?
MS: The events of May 1 are generally discussed as a time of very high tensions on campus and a time during which students from across the political spectrum felt very uneasy on campus. While it is of course important to appreciate and internalize the experience of all of our peers, I do wish May 1 was discussed with more nuance.
Many protestors chanted phrases calling for the erasure of Israel and its Jewish population, using rhetoric justifying the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks — “when people are occupied, resistance is justified” — which terrified student onlookers, myself included. It was difficult to see this aspect of the protests completely overlooked and ignored in discussions of the protests, as students “justifying resistance” were specifically referring to the violence committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, which included sexual violence against men, women and children, as well as violent abduction and murder of civilians from all walks of life. To see this dimension of the protests ignored or dismissed in campus discourse was — and remains — deeply distressing. When those chants are framed as simply political, it erases the trauma felt by students who recognize them as referring to violence that directly targeted their community.
What changes do you hope to see on campus?
MS: The biggest change I hope to see is that people on all sides of this conflict recognize the real pain that exists on both sides. [Yesterday, April 30,] is Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s remembrance day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror, and this morning, after we planted Israeli flags in their memory, someone wrote “genocide apartheid state,” “divest now” and other anti-Israel statements right in front of the flags. That kind of act shows a complete disregard for the memory of those killed and the grief that many students carry for people they personally know who were killed in terror attacks or during their mandatory service. It’s deeply upsetting, and I know I’m not alone in feeling that way.
If there’s one thing I hope changes on campus, it’s that people find the empathy to understand how devastating it is to see death mocked openly in the middle of campus, especially on such a somber day for people with a connection to Israel. Free speech matters, but how we use it matters too. And I hope people start using their voices in ways that express their views without denying the humanity or pain of others.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Jackson Hyde '28 is an intended philosophy major from Los Angeles, California. His interests include photography, meditation, and board game design.
