Dear Dartmouth Community,


Yesterday our freedom of speech was violated by our fellow students while the administration stood idly by. We spent three weeks getting our poster remembering fallen men and women of law enforcement approved through the proper administrative channels. Almost as soon as it was posted in the Collis Center for Student Involvement, it was torn down and replaced withBlack Lives Matter posters. Parkhurst was unwilling to remove the posters as it was afraid of taking a political stance. There is, however, nothing political about standing up for freedom of speech, our First Amendment right.

While we wholeheartedly stand behind our message, whether the College agrees with us or not should not have an effect on its response. Unfortunately, it clearly has. When Black Lives Matter’s t-shirt display was previously vandalized, the school quickly and appropriately responded with an email condemning the violation of freedom of speech. President Hanlon spoke of creating a “safe space” for students to express their opinions. He wrote that Dartmouth “strive[s] to balance freedom of speech with strong community values of civil discourse.” President Hanlon continued, “at their core, institutions of higher education are places where open inquiry and the free debate about difficult and sometimes uncomfortable ideas must thrive.”

Yet, when it came time to enforcing these protections for students on the other side of the political spectrum, there was only deafening silence. In fact, after much discussion, we were told by Safety & Security and Collis leadership that restoring our display would put us in violation of College policy and that we would be subject to punishment by Dartmouth Judicial Affairs. While our posters were kept off the bulletin boards (at least until 2 AM when Collis closes), theirs were allowed to remain unchecked with no repercussions. In fact, they were given expedited permission to have their posters placed in Collis. This group was granted approval within hours, while we had to schedule almost a month in advance.

Even when the posters vandalizing our memorial to fallen heroes started to become personal attacks on and photographs of members of our Republican community, Dartmouth failed to act. The administration claims it will not tolerate making other students feel unsafe. However, many members of our community do not feel safe walking through the student center where photos are present. Would Parkhurst’s response to these attacks have been the same if it was the College Republicans that had put up posters deriding and targeting members of the Black Lives Matter movement? We think not.

All we ask is that the protections and freedoms of self-expression afforded to other student organizations be extended to us. We do not see the Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter movements as mutually exclusive. It is possible to recognize the service and contributions of law enforcement officers while simultaneously pushing for reform to correct the grave mistakes of the small minority of officers. On National Law Enforcement Appreciation Week, we just hoped to highlight the monumental sacrifices made by these officers to protect us every day.

Regardless of your personal opinions of our views, you should be willing to stand by our right to express our opinions. If others would like to counter protest our memorial, we stand by their right to do so in a civil manner. If they wish to go through the proper administrative channels, we welcome them to exercise their fundamental right to self-expression. However, we will not stand idly by as our detractors suppress this same basic freedom for us. All we ask is that the administration defend our rights as well.

Next week, we plan on hosting a candlelight vigil for for fallen police officers. We hope that the Dartmouth community joins us in honoring these unsung heroes. Please blitz back if you are interested in helping. We will not be silenced.



Respectfully,

The Dartmouth College Republicans