New president ends reporting policy on ‘joke-telling,’ ‘stereotyping’
Dartmouth College has earned the distinction of being the only Ivy League school to achieve a “green light” rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression this fall.
The free speech organization credited efforts by President Sian Beilock and student leaders to improve free speech on the New Hampshire campus through new programs and policy changes.
FIRE spokesperson Ryan Ansloan said the organization is thrilled to see Dartmouth’s recommitment to free speech.
“Freedom of thought and expression is perhaps the most valuable right we have,” Ansloan told The College Fix in a recent email.
“Just one of the reasons that’s true is that it allows us to freely engage in the endless search for truth and to challenge each other’s ideas until we both arrive closer to that truth. Nowhere should that be more true than an Ivy League campus,” he said.
FIRE ranks free speech policies at U.S. colleges, giving a “red light” for substantial speech restrictions, a “yellow light” for moderate restrictions, and a “green light” for policies that “do not seriously imperil speech.”
Many Ivy League institutions have received poor ratings from FIRE in recent years. This year, Harvard University “obtained the lowest score possible, 0.00,” and an “Abysmal” speech rating in its annual report. The University of Pennsylvania also ranked in the bottom five.
In contrast, Dartmouth’s rating changed from yellow to green. This was, in part, because of revisions to its 2013 bias-incident reporting policy, according to FIRE.
The policy required students to report “behavior which constitutes an expression of hostility against the person or property of another because of the targeted person’s age, creed, disability, ethnic or national origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, political or social affiliation, race, religion, or sexual orientation.”
This behavior included “stereotyping” and “joke-telling,” and it did not matter if the offender was “not aware of bias” or did not “intend to offend.”
The policy prompted FIRE to revoke its “green light” status in 2015.
“As long as this policy is in force, Dartmouth students must fear unspecified consequences for engaging in a wide range of protected speech,” the organization wrote at the time.
Other problems included administrators shutting down a student event with journalist Andy Ngo in 2022, The Fix reported at the time.
MORE: Dartmouth shut down my campus event with Andy Ngo — then blamed me
However, President Beilock has instituted several changes since taking on the position in 2023.
Under her leadership, the college “fixed two flawed policies governing harassment and revised the bias reporting protocol” to make it clear that “speech that is protected under free speech principles will not be subject to investigation or punishment,” FIRE stated in a news release.
Beilock’s office did not respond to The Fix’s requests for comment via email in recent weeks, asking about the FIRE ranking and her free speech efforts.
“We cannot squash an idea simply because there’s a certain faction of our community that doesn’t like it, or stifle dialogue on a controversial topic because it makes people uncomfortable,” Beilock said in her inaugural address.
“To the contrary, we must foster an environment where ideas of integrity are responsibly aired and debated,” she said.
The college also launched the Open Expression Facilitators program this fall.
Sponsored by the Office of Student Life, the program “provides a forum for respectful political dialogue on campus” and facilitators to be a neutral party in attendance at potentially controversial events. The facilitators work to prevent and address disruptions and to educate students about the college’s free speech policies.
Another program that started in January, Dartmouth Dialogues, sponsors events and training sessions that encourage respectful discussions about divisive political and social issues.
Students also have been involved in efforts to restore free speech on campus.
The Dartmouth Political Union, a student-run organization that began in 2018, offers “a forum for respectful political dialogue on campus,” according to the organization’s website.
The union and Mac Mahoney, its current president, both declined to comment to The College Fix when contacted about the recent policy changes.
However, the student leaders directed The Fix to a campus news article about the union’s fall events, including a debate last week about the presidential race.
The event was only open to the Dartmouth community – “an intentional choice by DPU leaders despite media interest in the young voters’ perspectives and how the college vote across New Hampshire could shape the outcome of the election,” according to the article.
“We want students to be able to make an off-the-cuff remark without the entire world watching,” Mahoney said in the article.
Meanwhile, FIRE’s Ansloan said his organization is happy to see students working to support free speech on campus.
“I think we are seeing that there are many students out there who are eager to exercise their free speech, hear different perspectives, and learn more in the process,” he said.
Ansloan said they are looking forward to working with Dartmouth and other colleges that desire freedom of thought and expression.
“To continue in that direction, Dartmouth should ensure that new or revised policies continue to respect free expression and they should educate students so that they understand their rights on campus and feel welcome to speak freely,” Ansloan told The Fix.
MORE: Harvard, Penn, Georgetown refuse comment on being ranked last for free speech
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