Welcome to a New Academic Year

Dear members of the Dartmouth community,

As we start the year, I want to emphasize the power possessed by our community when we work together—teaching, learning, and creating knowledge. This does not mean we are in ideological lockstep, nor that we always agree. Instead, it means continually striving to find our common humanity as we stay focused on academic excellence across Tuck, Thayer, Geisel, Guarini, and Dartmouth as a whole.

Turning to our newest arrivals, the undergraduate class of '28: In addition to remarkable accomplishment, creativity, and enthusiasm for Dartmouth, this year's class is the first to be admitted since the U.S. Supreme Court significantly limited how universities may consider race in admissions policies and practices. I am proud to share that the racial diversity of our class did not decrease from the previous year.

While people differ in opinion on the merits of the court's decision, Dartmouth's north star remains the same: to attract students from the broadest swath of society who are excelling in their environment, to help them learn how to think—not what to think—and to engage in meaningful dialogue across difference, so they can leave here prepared to lead our democracy. The data (here, here, here, here, and here) are clear that you get better outcomes when you bring different ideological perspectives, opinions, and lived experiences to the table. We are committed to this ideal as key to productive dialogue, discussion, and debate.

As I told the '28s at the welcome ceremony a few weeks ago, and wrote about in The Atlantic this weekend, we will always defend free expression at Dartmouth while also making it clear that one group does not have the right to disrupt the educational experience of another. Our diverse community means we can do things differently.

Just last week, the '28s also received training and practice in collaborative dialogue, thanks to Dean Elizabeth F. Smith, Dialogue Project Executive Director Kristi Clemens, and our team of outstanding student mentors. It's the kind of dialogue that Dartmouth, led by our faculty, has always been known for and that will continue to be foundational to how we explore contentious issues together this term—formally and informally—in the classroom, shared living spaces, and online.

As one example, this summer, the opera Ritual of Breath was featured as part of a Lincoln Center series devoted to civic participation. Born from a collaboration between professors Enrico Riley and Vievee Francis with a colleague at Stanford, directed by alumnus Niegel Smith '02 and produced by the Hopkins Center for the Arts, the extraordinary work responds to the murder of Eric Garner. This is Dartmouth Dialogues, with art serving as a vehicle for dialogue around Black life, violence, and protest.

Looking forward to the fall, with a presidential election in November, programming in our classrooms and across campus will provide a diversity of perspectives on the decision facing our nation. I encourage you to attend or view the livestream of the 2024 Election Speaker Series, sponsored by The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences. It is part of a course designed for this moment in American political history by faculty members Russell Muirhead, Herschel Nachlis, and William Wohlforth. Their collection of ideologically diverse guests—which includes Vice President Mike Pence, as well as lawyer and educator Anita Hill—will spend time in the classroom engaging with students in addition to giving public talks.

Following successful events last year, our student-led Dartmouth Political Union is planning a series of debates, the first of which will take place Oct. 10 between Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile and Republican strategist Kellyanne Conway.

It's going to be a busy term. Tomorrow, look out for a major announcement about housing—a product of my commitment to create 1,000 new beds for students, faculty, and staff in the coming decade. Come to my office hours in Collis and perhaps we will cross paths today at the annual Community Cookout, taking place from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Green.

We can strengthen existing bonds this year, heal through constructive exchange, and forge new partnerships that advance Dartmouth's mission to train future leaders and create knowledge that improves our world. I urge you to join me in that work.

With best wishes,

Sian Leah Beilock
President