The Dartmouth, along with 54 other student news organizations, joined an amicus brief filed today by the Student Press Law Center in a federal lawsuit challenging two federal immigration laws that allow the government to revoke international students’ visas for constitutionally protected speech, including speech in student papers. Student newspapers at seven Ivy League universities — all except Columbia University — were among the 55 total in the student-media coalition.
The lawsuit was filed in August by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression on behalf of The Stanford Daily and “two non-media plaintiffs,” according to a press release by the SPLC. In an Aug. 7 letter from the editor in The Stanford Daily, editor-in-chief Greta Reich and executive editors Lauren Koong and Ananya Udaygiri wrote that the Trump administration’s actions against some international students who spoke publicly on political issues resulted in a “dramatic decrease in the number of international students willing to speak in The Daily” and caused several non-U.S. citizen staff members to leave their positions.
The goal of the SPLC amicus brief was to “let the court know that what is happening at Stanford” — a “chill” on international students’ speech — is “not unique,” SPLC senior legal counsel Mike Hiestand said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
“One of the main reasons for doing this brief was an opportunity for student media across the country to have a say,” Hiestand said. “This is something that’s happening in schools across the country, and it’s having a very, very real impact.”
The Dartmouth's editor-in-chief Charlotte Hampton ’26 wrote in a statement that The Dartmouth’s coverage “has been profoundly impacted by the federal government’s actions against international students.”
“This is a tenuous moment for free press and free thought,” she continued. “Student newspapers who have witnessed this form of censorship have an obligation to be vocal supporters of The Stanford Daily.”
Charlotte Hampton ’26 is the editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth. She was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.
Annabelle Zhang '27 is a reporter and editor from New Jersey. In the classroom, she studies Geography and Government modified with Philosophy and Economics. She enjoys creating recipes, solving puzzles and listening to music.
