Approximately 75 community members gathered on the lawn of Parkhurst Hall on Nov. 7 to protest the Trump administration’s interference in higher education, as well as other federal policies including expanding immigration raids, removal of Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits and collaboration with the Israeli government.
Eight student and faculty groups organized the “Together We Stand” protest, part of a nationwide demonstration against the Trump administration’s interference in higher education. Community members from at least 50 other universities across the United States also participated, according to Inside Higher Ed.
The protest comes after the College rejected the White House’s higher education compact on Oct. 18. “The Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” would have required the College to limit international student enrollment, cap tuition and adopt a binary definition of gender in exchange for funding benefits.
Fossil Free Dartmouth steering committee member Maya Beauvineau ’26 began the demonstration by claiming that Dartmouth’s rejection of the compact “was a result of the organizing we did.” More than half of Dartmouth faculty members signed a petition urging College President Sian Leah Beilock to reject the compact.
“It’s important now, more than ever, for us to build a community connection … so that next time the Trump administration approaches our campus with more pressure, we can more effectively respond,” Beauvineau said.
Energy Justice Clinic research assistant Arshi Mahajan ’27 said to the crowd that the Trump administration “wants us to be paralyzed and afraid,” and that students “ have a responsibility to step up.”
“The more we act, the more we get up every day, and we do the work, the more others are inspired to do the same,” Mahajan said. “I’ve been inspired by the activism and community I see here.”
After Mahajan’s comments, Hanover resident Hannah Jeffery led a community song circle, singing a song that Jeffery said had come to them that morning.
“We walk in peace / we stand in truth / and we’re rising, rising up,” Jeffery and attendants sang in a call-and-response format.
History professor Bethany Moreton said that students were facing “waves of hostility” and “direct attacks” from the Trump administration.
“They want you to feel paralysis, intimidation and fear,” Moreton said.
Student Workers Collective at Dartmouth member Manoela Teleginski Ferraz ’27 said in a speech that she believes the Trump administration has “created a wave of fear” for student workers. Some international students said they were “scared” to speak out on politics, according to past reporting from The Dartmouth.
“This leads to a lot of students from marginalized communities — international students and students of color — to feel like they should not get involved with a union,” Ferraz said.
College spokesperson Jana Barnello wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth that the College “values the contributions of our student workers.”
“Dartmouth fully supports its student employees, who are first and foremost our students, in the entirety of their educational experience,” Barnello wrote.
Near the end of the rally, Spare Rib magazine general manager Rachel Roncka ’26 spoke to the crowd about the inherently political nature of education.
“A common phrase in feminist literature is that ‘the personal is political,’” said Roncka. “For an institution like Dartmouth, with so much power and money and influence, everything is political. Their $8 billion dollar endowment is political. Showing institutional restraint is political. Staying silent in the face of fascism is certainly political.”
In an interview with The Dartmouth after the event, attendee Eloisa Roach ’28 said that rallies help students get together and talk about what issues are affecting them.
Correction Appended (Dec. 5, 8:50 a.m.): Titles and class years of speakers were corrected.
