DGALA condemns the violence committed against Dartmouth students and faculty by militarized police on May 1, and we further condemn the College administration for soliciting, enabling, and excusing this violence. It is unacceptable for police in riot gear to intimidate and assault nonviolent civilians, and, even if they were violating a school policy, it is intolerable that the administration approve such actions.
The LGBTQIA+ community has historically been a target of police violence. Police violence has long been weaponized against others in our broader community: a community that includes Black people, Latinx people, Indigenous people, and, as we’ve witnessed recently with increasing horror protestors standing up for the human rights of Palestinians. Any Dartmouth policy that summons police in riot gear to arrest peaceful, unarmed protesters is a flawed policy.
Dartmouth’s history includes peaceful student demonstrations demanding divestiture. In the winter of 1986, a series of student protests called for the College to divest from South Africa to push for an end to apartheid. Students slept in shanties on the Green and many, including LGBT students, protested at Parkhurst Hall. Ultimately, the Trustees did agree to divest, a peaceful precedent for the current students’ demands.
DGALA calls on President Beilock and her administration to drop each and every charge resulting from the protests on May 1. We further call on Dartmouth to issue an official apology for facilitating violent assaults on its faculty and students.
