This article is featured in the 2025 Commencement & Reunions special issue.
Re: In email to top admin, House professors say the College mischaracterized pro-Palestinian protesters
To the Editor:
Now I get it!
Granted, I have not kept up with the news from Dartmouth over the years and know very little about the roles and decision-making processes of the Board of Trustees and the president of the College.
But, over the past month, I’ve come to realize that the powers-that-be at Dartmouth are more concerned about finances than standing up for long-standing democratic principles; care more about assuaging the demands of the current American administration than the lives of its students, especially those from outside the United States; and are guided by a distorted and politicized form of “institutional neutrality” — as so clearly explained by Princeton University President Christopherr Eisgruber in his recent 2025 Commencement address.
So, as I anticipate the Commencement remarks by President Beilock on June 15, I wonder what she might say? And, how her comments might compare to those of other Ivy Presidents:
President Eisgruber of Princeton: “In this tender and pivotal moment, we must stand boldly for the freedoms and principles that define [Princeton University] and other great universities.”
President Alan Garber of Harvard as he welcomed the “Members of the Class of 2025 from down the street, across the country, and around the world. Around the world, just as it should be.”
Will our College President talk about standing up for higher education, about the need for educational institutions to speak out on critical issues, or about the value of international students? I think not ... or, at least, she shouldn’t ... because, in my opinion, she no longer has the reputational standing to do so.
Tom Charles ’70
