On Thursday afternoon, Department of Safety and Security director Keiselim Montas wrote in an email to campus that Safety and Security has “currently paused” the installation of security cameras in all College-owned residential facilities, including Greek houses, while they “address student concerns and clarify the scope and timeline of the project.”
The department installed security cameras in Alpha Xi Delta and Kappa Kappa Gamma sororities over the summer, according to members of both houses. Contractors installed wiring and mounts for cameras in Chi Delta sorority and Epsilon Kappa Theta, a gender-inclusive house, on Oct. 6. Multiple leaders of Greek houses with College-owned physical houses told The Dartmouth that they received no notice before contractors began installing the cameras.
“There have been some missed opportunities for communication and information about this project — something that Campus Services, DoSS and the senior leadership team are working to remedy,” Montas wrote in the email.
The College plans to, in accordance with the 2022 Connected and Secure Campus initiative, install cameras in every College-owned residence facility to “upgrade access control and integrate a video management system across campus” according to its website. The plan includes video management in areas of the College where there is “no reasonable expectation of privacy.”
Security enhancement across campus is “even more important” following the December 2025 mass shooting at Brown University, Montas wrote. Following the shooting, Safety and Security underwent a “complete review” of its emergency preparedness plan.
In an email statement to The Dartmouth on Thursday evening, Montas wrote that existing cameras — including those in Alpha Xi Delta and Kappa Kappa Gamma — will continue to record footage, which may be “pulled by and viewed” by Safety and Security “for investigations of incidents,” including “policy violations, crimes, missing persons, threats of violence, et cetera.” The cameras do not record audio, Montas wrote.
He declined to comment on if or when camera installations will restart but wrote in his email to campus that Safety and Security “will continue to provide project updates to impacted residents when work restarts.”
In interviews from Oct. 6 to Oct. 8, all of which were conducted prior to the email release, several Greek life leaders expressed concern about privacy and lack of communication from the College.
Inter-Fraternity Council president Ian McKenna ’27 wrote in an Oct. 6 email to the College administration, which was obtained and reviewed by The Dartmouth, expressing frustration that “no Greek council, chapter, house or student was notified or consulted” before camera installations began. He wrote that the IFC requested “that any installation be halted immediately.”
“We were both confused and disappointed to learn that a decision with significant implications for the privacy and security of students in their homes may have moved forward without consultation with the community it directly affects, or even the relevant campus leaders and offices that support that community,” McKenna wrote.
According to a letter sent by a group of anonymous Greek student leaders to all Greek Life house leaders, alumni councils, Greek councils and community members obtained and reviewed by The Dartmouth, Dartmouth Student Government is “actively investigating” the cameras.
Student body president Ikenna Nwafor ’27 and vice president Maggie de la Fuente ’27 did not respond to requests for comment.
The letter, which included photos of camera mounts at Chi Delta and Epsilon Kappa Theta, also claims that “several Greek leaders” have sent individualized requests to Safety and Security requesting planned camera locations for each house. Further, the letter states that the Inter-Sorority Council, Gender-Inclusive Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Greek Leadership Council and IFC have sent “formal requests” to Safety and Security, Residential Operations and the College to “halt installation” of cameras.
The Dartmouth could not independently verify that these requests were sent.
Chi Delta housewoman Nicole Wotring ’27 said she “had not heard anything” about the cameras until Tuesday morning, after The Dartmouth reached out to another member of Chi Delta. At that point, there were already contractors working on installing cameras inside the house, Wotring said. She added that Residential Operations told her the installations were campus-wide on Tuesday.
“When I heard that, I reached out to the other sorority house managers I knew because I know all the sororities are college-owned,” she said.
Wotring said she also reached out to members of the Alpha Chi Alpha and Chi Heorot fraternities — the only fraternities whose houses are College-owned — who told Wotring they were not aware of the camera installment until she asked them about the initiative.
In an interview with The Dartmouth on Wednesday, Chi Delta member Reece Sharp ’28, who lives in the sorority, said her “biggest concern” with the installation of the cameras is “privacy.”
A “sorority house has a much greater expectation of privacy than a regular dorm on campus,” since only members of the sorority can “access the common spaces,” she added.
She added that the cameras make her feel “unsafe.”
“I have no clue who has access to these cameras,” Sharp said. “I have no clue who sees this footage. I have no clue what the cameras are pointing at.”
Nardos Mengesha ’28, also a member of Chi Delta, said on Tuesday that members of the house put a sign on the house’s front door earlier that afternoon asking that Safety and Security not continue to install the cameras and stating that members did not “consent to being recorded.” She added that the contractors “stopped” working on the cameras after the sign was posted.
Alpha Xi Delta president Amalia Guzman ’27 said there are currently three cameras installed in the house: one at the front entryway and one entrance to each of the stairwells.
Guzman said she had “no idea” when the cameras were installed, and was not aware of the security cameras until earlier this week when information about the cameras “started coming up from other sororities” in a group chat of ISC presidents.
Guzman said that she feels “less safe” with the cameras, especially because she doesn’t know “who exactly is watching us.”
In a text statement to The Dartmouth, Kappa Delta Epsilon house manager Payton Schetter ’27 wrote that installing cameras would be “completely unnecessary and invasive.”
“There was absolutely zero communication from [residential operations] and [The Office of Greek Life and Student Societies] about this installation,” Schetter said.
In an email statement to The Dartmouth, Chi Heorot houseman Roger Friedlander ’27 wrote that cameras and wiring have not been installed in the fraternity.
“On Tuesday, after hearing complaints from other Greek houses, we were made aware that the cameras were intended to capture only areas where there is not a reasonable expectation of privacy such as sidewalk entrances and exits, which resolved our foremost concern,” Friedlander wrote.
Friedlander added that he is “pleased with” Safety and Security’s decision to “incorporate student feedback into important security initiatives moving forward.”
College spokesperson Jana Barnello declined to provide comment in addition to Montas’s email. Greek Life and Student Societies director Hunter Carlheim did not respond to a request for comment. Residential operations director Bernard Haskell did not respond to a request for comment.
The presidents of Alpha Chi fraternity, Chi Heorot fraternity, the Gender-Inclusive Council, the Greek Leadership Council, Kappa Delta sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, Epsilon Kappa Theta gender-inclusive house and Sigma Delta sorority did not respond to or declined to comment.
Elizabeth Ray ’27 is a news executive editor of The Dartmouth and member of Kappa Delta sorority. Vidushi Sharma ’27 is a news executive editor of The Dartmouth and the vice president of internal affairs of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. Annabelle Zhang ’27 is the editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth and a member of Chi Delta sorority.
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.
