Dartmouth is launching the Davidson Institute for Global Security, a $34 million initiative for the study of international policy and security. The program, housed under the Dickey Center for International Understanding, will host fellowship programs and fund internships for students.
Yesterday, the Institute became a center of controversy during a pro-Palestinian sit-in in the reception area of College President Sian Leah Beilock’s office. In an Instagram post from the Dartmouth New Deal Coalition, pro-Palestinian activists called for the Institute to be closed, alleging that the Institute has received money from corporations that “assist in the massacring of Palestinian civilians.” According to Dartmouth News, the Institute is funded by Dartmouth family donations.
Notably, the Institute will host War and Peace Fellows, an existing undergraduate program that connects students with experts on international affairs, according to the Institute’s senior associate director, Thomas Candon.
“The Davidson Institute has three principal goals: to produce rigorous research on the world’s most critical international security challenges, to promote direct engagement between faculty and the policy community and to train Dartmouth undergraduates to become the next generation of foreign policy leaders,” Candon wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth.
The institute is funded by a donation from Jim and Julia Davidson, who have two children that graduated from Dartmouth, in addition to gifts from 20 other Dartmouth families, according to Dartmouth News. Faculty director and professor of government Daryl Press stated that formalization of the Institute came after a four-year pilot program, funded by a grant from the Davidson family.
“Four years ago, the family who endowed the Davidson Institute came to us and gave us a grant to start running expanded programs,” Press said.
Press stated that the money from the Davidson family allowed the War and Peace Fellows program to host an international trip for its fellows in addition to its annual trip to Washington D.C.
“Dartmouth has enormous faculty expertise on topics relating to international security, and this topic is becoming incredibly important to the 21st century,” Press said. “So the idea was to build a program around Dartmouth’s existing strength to allow us to enhance our activities and have a greater impact.”
Candon wrote that the Institute’s programming “seeks to cover a wide range of the most critical issues in global security,” and will also invite speakers to broaden areas of coverage beyond the expertise of Dartmouth faculty.
The Institute will bring “visiting scholars and practitioners to campus sometimes for as long as a term, or up to an academic year, who may teach courses in a department,” Candon wrote.
The Institute will also look to foster collaboration across campus. Candon wrote that “a main drive of the Davidson Institute’s work is to work with other centers, institutes, and academic departments.”
Press discussed an additional partnership, run through the Institute, with the department of economics and the Tuck School of Business.
“We are now starting a new pilot program, which is at the intersection of security and economics, and brings into the Institute Dartmouth’s substantial expertise in the economics department and Tuck,” Press said.
Madeleine Shaw ’25, a War and Peace Fellow who attended the program’s international trip to Japan and South Korea said she was “excited that the Davidson Institute has been formalized.”
“It’s a really great opportunity for incoming Dartmouth students to get to experience a lot of the programs I got to pursue,” Shaw said.
Caroline Lesser ’25, who is also a War and Peace Fellow, emphasized the importance of international affairs programming at Dartmouth.
“I cannot even begin to describe how amazing the trip to Japan and Korea was,” she said.
The War and Peace Fellows’ trip to South Korea last December coincided with the country’s president announcing emergency martial law. Lesser stated that she and the other fellows were able to meet with members of the South Korean government as it was grappling with the president’s announcement.
Press reiterated the timeliness of the Institute’s creation.
“We think that institutes like this are a model of what universities can be doing to lead public policy discussions in the 21st century,” Press said.
