Re: ‘We’re not a political organization,’ Beilock tells matriculating students
On Sept. 3, as College President Sian Leah Beilock welcomed the incoming Class of 2029 during her matriculation speech, one line stood out: “We’re not a political organization,” Beilock told the crowd, “we’re not an advocacy organization.” With this statement, Beilock introduced freshmen to her controversial policy of “institutional restraint,” by which the College abstains from political issues to allow students the freedom to have their own dialogues.
I respect the fact that Beilock may be trying to avoid the wrath of the Trump administration. My problem is with how Beilock presented the policy. By making a statement as forceful as “we’re not a political organization,” she risks making students, including internationals, feel as if no activism is allowed. A statement like this misses out on the nuance of institutional restraint and risks coming off as a cold and even Orwellian welcome to new students. And it seems that some students did in fact receive the statement this way. As one ’29 pointed out in the article, “To bring all those voices into a place and then make them feel like they can’t be heard is contradictory to the mission [Dartmouth] uphold[s].” Another ’29 said the statement sounded “more like a warning than a welcome.”
On Sept. 3, Beilock took a step towards creating an adversarial relationship between the institution and our new students. President Beilock, be more careful with your words. Institutional restraint remains a very flawed policy, but if you want to stick to it, be sure that you communicate the nuance of the policy. Any speech on advocacy at Dartmouth, and especially one directed at incoming students, should focus much more on the students’ power to effect change than it should on the administration’s unwillingness to.
Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
