Since its launch in August 2023, the College’s Open Expression Facilitator program has supported more than 150 campus events. The program trains staff members to intervene in the case of “disrupt[ive]” protests, according to civic engagement, expression and learning director Ed McKenna, who manages the program.
The program fits into the College’s broader commitment to dialogue and free expression by supporting “all events,” especially debates and events featuring high profile guests, McKenna said. Recent examples include events with former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., former Vice President Mike Pence and former U.S. transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg. An OEF serves as a “viewpoint neutral” presence who can address disruptions at such events “if necessary,” according to the Office of Student Life website. Eighteen staff members currently serve as facilitators.
The OEF program “is a support system to ensure that those events can go forward,” McKenna said. “And obviously, that’s important for dialogue.”
The College’s approach to advancing dialogue and its position of institutional neutrality have enkindled mixed reactions on campus. But regarding the OEF program specifically, McKenna said that he “feels confident” that there is community trust in facilitators.
“The program is viewpoint neutral and is there to support free expression,” he said. “If there’s a small segment of campus or offices that don’t yet trust the program, we’ll continue to try to demonstrate that the intent of the program is good, and that we are there and available to support their programming as well.”
According to McKenna, in the two years since the program’s inception, there has been one disruption at an event where facilitators were on hand. At an event on Oct. 23, 2024 with Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., two protesters chanted, “Fetterman, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” among other phrases. McKenna, then an OEF, asked the protestors “multiple times to either stop the interruption and remain at the event, or leave so that it could continue,” College spokesperson Jana Barnello wrote in a statement to The Dartmouth following the event. “When attempts to resolve the situation were unsuccessful,” the Hanover Police Department arrested and charged the two protestors with disorderly conduct.
In such cases of disruption, an OEF first defers to the event’s host to address the disruption, McKenna said. If the disruption continues, the OEF then addresses the disruptors by “informing” them of Dartmouth’s Freedom of Expression and Dissent policies — which prohibit disruptions that “interfere with those activities or with the ability of audiences to see, hear or otherwise engage with” an event — and “requesting” that they “stop the disruption or leave.” If necessary, the Department of Safety and Security steps in by “telling” disruptors to leave the space. If police are present, they are responsible for physical removal.
Rockefeller Center associate director for public programs and special events Dvora Greenberg Koelling, said she was “really grateful” to have the support of an OEF during the Fetterman event.
“It’s really helpful because I am paying attention to what’s happening on stage, I am paying attention to students who want to be there,” she said. “There’s a lot of people in that room who are just there to hear, listen and ask questions, and we just want to make sure that that happens.”
The availability of facilitators has made hosting events “easier” for the Dartmouth Political Union as well, DPU president Roger Friedlander ’27 wrote in an email statement.
“The current state of free speech on campus is as good as it has been in my three years at Dartmouth,” Friedlander wrote. “[College President Sian Leah Beilock] has demonstrated her commitment to the free exchange of ideas by supporting student groups like the DPU, and the [Division of Community and Campus Life] has helped to execute this mission with Open Expression Facilitators.”
Friedlander added that participation at DPU speaker events and weekly meetings demonstrates that Dartmouth students value “viewpoint-neutral” free expression policies on campus.
According to Dartmouth News, one-third of students accepted to the Class of 2030 cited a “desire to be a part of a Dartmouth culture that values dialogue and free expression” in their “Why Dartmouth” essay.
McKenna called Dartmouth students “remarkable” for their commitment to these principles.
“Our students will go to events where they totally disagree with the individual or individuals there and be respectful and wait until the Q&A and ask a difficult question,” he said. “Or if they oppose the speaker or their views, they’ll protest outside. That’s perfect.”
McKenna said that event organizers can request an OEF for their event, but his office also does proactive outreach to organizations hosting events topics “deemed controversial” which might benefit from the support of an OEF. He added that his office has never denied a request for an OEF or encountered pushback from proactive outreach.
For student-only discussions on “controversial or emotionally charged” topics, his office offers a facilitator but defers to students because facilitator presence at such discussions could cause participants to “self-censor,” McKenna said.
McKenna also said that “much” of the OEF program is modeled after a similar program at Princeton University, who shared many of their documents with his office while Dartmouth’s program was being developed.
The OEF program initially supported only events hosted by recognized undergraduate student organizations such as Dartmouth Democrats, the Dartmouth Conservatives, the DPU, the Palestine Solidarity Coalition and the Dartmouth chapter of Turning Point USA, among others.
The program has since been expanded to include events sponsored by recognized graduate student organizations or faculty and staff, including those hosted by the Rockefeller Center and the Dickey Center for International Understanding, according to McKenna.
Dickey Center events program manager Judith van Rhijn Jackson said that while in the past eight years, she’s never seen heckling or disruption at a Dickey Center event, the OEF program offers a sense of support.
Facilitators “have never needed to step in, which is fantastic,” she said. “But by the same token, it feels good for us to know that they’re there.”
