During fiscal year 2025, which began on July 1, 2024 and ended June 30, 2025, Dartmouth’s spending on lobbying soared from $83,907 in fiscal year 2024 to $531,910 in fiscal year 2025, according to Dartmouth’s Form 990 filings, which are released annually on May 13.
All eight Ivy League schools reported an increase in lobbying spending during this period, The New York Times reported on June 14.
The increase in lobbying spending comes after many elite universities have faced funding freezes and investigations from the Trump administration. Four research grants — all of which were parts of federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs — at Dartmouth were canceled in Tktk spring 2025, and only one was later reinstated. In October last year, Dartmouth was one of nine universities initially approached by the White House with a compact dictating admissions, tuition and undergraduate enrollment policies, among others, in exchange for funding benefits.
Senior vice president for communications and government relations Justin Anderson said Dartmouth is a “unique case” within the Ivy League because the College’s Office of Government Relations — which Anderson oversees — was founded in early 2024, long after many equivalent offices at peer institutions.
“We started [lobbying spending] at zero [in early 2024], and when you compare what Dartmouth is spending to the rest of the Ivy League, we are at the bottom of the expenditure list,” he said.
According to documents filed under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, Dartmouth ranked last out of the eight Ivy League schools in lobbying spending in the first six months of Trump’s second term. Measured in terms of lobbying spending as documented in Form 990 filings for fiscal year 2025, however, Dartmouth ranked fifth.
Anderson said the two issues the College spent the most time lobbying on in fiscal year 2025 were abolishing the endowment tax and preserving and expanding federal funding for research projects.
“We want to be in a position where Dartmouth and the Office of Government Relations are proactively representing Dartmouth, seeking out opportunities for new and enhanced research funding,” Anderson said. “Whether that be for cold weather climate or rural healthcare, areas of Dartmouth research where we have real expertise and where we are distinguished from our peers as being hopefully a step above.”
The endowment tax paid for by each school varies based on the size of its endowment assets per tuition-paying student. Dartmouth currently pays 4% of the College’s realized investment gains each year, according to Anderson.
Anderson said the tax has a “direct bearing” on the College’s ability to provide financial aid and fulfill the overall mission of the school.
“We knew whoever was going to be president, we still were going to have to be advocating to ideally get rid of the endowment tax because it’s basically a tax on our ability to fund things like financial aid,” he said.
In addition to its spending, the College relies on a variety of support networks to influence federal education policies, Anderson added. The College turns to Washington, D.C.-based government relations firms Lewis-Burke Associates LLC to “build and leverage relationships to advance the policy and funding objectives that we have” and McAllister and Quinn to lobby for research development and “helping us with grant writing and support in the appropriations process,” Anderson said.
Anderson also noted that the College uses its connections with New Hampshire’s elected representatives and Dartmouth’s alumni who serve in Congress to assist in their lobbying process.
“They can be very powerful allies for us as well,” Anderson said. He specified that the College reaches out alumni in Congress such as U.S. Sen. John Hoeven ’79, R-N.D., and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ’88, D-N.Y. to find “common cause” when advocating for research funding and other educational policies.
Finally, Dartmouth also partners with the Association of American Universities and the American Council on Education to build “coalitions” around issues that are pertinent to the College, most notably regarding research funding.
“That was where a lot of our efforts were, working with [the AAU and ACE] and working as coalitions to have research funding reinstated,” Anderson said. “And thankfully, most of those efforts were successful.”
Interim leader of human resources Rachel Muñoz, who was contacted because the Office of Human Resources is listed as the office of primary responsibility for Dartmouth's policy on lobbying and political activities, executive assistant and paralegal Chelsea Nguyen and representatives for the American Council on Education, Dartmouth’s Controller’s Office, Lewis-Burke Associates LLC and McAllister and Quinn did not respond to requests for comment. Senior vice president and general counsel Matthew Raymer did not respond to a request for comment. Representatives for the Association of American Universities declined to comment.
Jared Gonzalez Arce '29 is a news reporter from California majoring in history. Out of The D, Jared is in surf club and loves music.
