Dartmouth College Earns FIRE’s Top Rating for Free Speech
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Dartmouth College Earns FIRE’s Top Rating for Free Speech

Dartmouth College Earns FIRE’s Top Rating for Free Speech

“Dartmouth has shown it aims to foster a better environment for free speech through adopting these policies and encouraging dialogue across difference”

Dartmouth is the only Ivy League school to get this kind of high rating. Good for them.

From the FIRE press release:

Today, after aligning its written policies with First Amendment principles, Dartmouth officially reclaimed the overall “green light” speech code rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

Dartmouth is the only green light school in the Ivy League, one of four in New Hampshire, and one of 68 nationwide. FIRE awards green light ratings to institutions with no written policies that seriously imperil student free speech rights.

“Say something controversial at most elite colleges and you’re liable to get shouted down, canceled, reported, and disciplined,” said FIRE Director of Policy Reform Laura Beltz. “But Dartmouth has shown it aims to foster a better environment for free speech through adopting these policies and encouraging dialogue across difference.”

Dartmouth first earned a green light rating in 2005, but in 2013, the school set up a “bias incident reporting” protocol that FIRE deemed threatened student speech. Under this protocol, students could be reported by their peers — and investigated and disciplined by administrators — for offenses as minor as “joke telling” and “stereotyping.” At the time, FIRE told Dartmouth that the protocol was inconsistent with the school’s stated commitment to free expression, but administrators chose to keep it in place. As a result, in 2015, FIRE was forced to downgrade the school to a “yellow light” rating.

Dartmouth President Sian Beilock took office in 2023. FIRE appreciated Beilock’s commitment to fostering “brave spaces” and improving the state of discourse on campus, and we offered to connect with her new administration.

“As a community committed to learning and growth, Dartmouth thrives on the exchange of diverse viewpoints,” said President Beilock. “It is through the respectful sharing of different perspectives that we challenge our ideas, broaden our understanding, and advance our academic mission. Engaging with voices that differ from our own is not just important—it is essential to creating the kind of dynamic, inclusive environment where true learning takes place.”

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Comments

destroycommunism | September 17, 2024 at 11:26 am

yeah

during the obama fjb years the threats to colleges were made clear that

due process was to be discarded

too bad the msm didnt fight hard(er) or at all against that extremism

FIRE’s rating about “free speech” at Dartmouth is laughably wrong. Dartmouth had their own student journalists arrested while they were reporting on a protest on the campus. Dartmouth asked for the MAGA governor of New Hampshire to send in armored vehicles and state riot police to smash a peaceful protest against Benjamin Netanyahu’s atrocities. This is the opposite of free speech at Dartmouth. FIRE ought to be ashamed of itself.

FIRE’s rating about “free speech” at Dartmouth is laughably wrong. Dartmouth had their own student journalists arrested while they were reporting on a protest on the campus. Then they refused to drop the charges for a few weeks, and even taunted the student journalists by saying “see you in court”. Dartmouth asked for the MAGA governor of New Hampshire to send in armored vehicles and state riot police to smash a peaceful protest against Benjamin Netanyahu’s atrocities. This is the opposite of free speech at Dartmouth. FIRE ought to be ashamed of itself.