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General Faculty Steering Committee- Next Steps

Posted on May 14, 2024 by Daniel Veres

Dear faculty,

I am writing to provide an update on a productive meeting held on Friday with President Beilock, myself, and the Steering Committee of the General Faculty.  

The steering committee members discussed concrete steps designed to move forward from the May 6 General Faculty Meeting and promote meaningful faculty engagement across the campus on issues around speech—issues we've all been grappling with since the protest and encampment on the Green. We discussed plans to convene a series of small meetings to allow the president to hear from and engage with faculty, and to facilitate dialogue and discuss diverse opinions and recommendations. We will also form three working groups to address different aspects of these important issues to ensure robust faculty input on the steps we take.

The first group we will establish is a Freedom of Expression and Dissent Committee charged with reviewing Dartmouth's policies around freedom of expression. This group will meet with people from various campus offices and stakeholder groups to understand current practices and consider recommendations for updates or clarifications. The group will seek broad input and consist of a faculty chair appointed by the provost, faculty representatives from the professional schools nominated by their deans, A&S faculty members nominated by the Committee on Organization and Policy (COP), and student representatives nominated by student government. It will also include staff members from several relevant offices.

The second group is a Committee on Institutional Neutrality charged with considering whether Dartmouth should formally adopt a clear institutional position that it will remain neutral on major issues of the day. Committee members will consider whether and how existing policies—such as the policy on Institutional Statements—could be adapted, and how an official written policy on neutrality would be administered. Like the first committee, the group will consist of a faculty chair appointed by the provost and faculty representatives from all schools. The group will also be advised by staff members from the offices of Communications and the General Counsel.  

The third group we will establish is a committee to explore the creation of a team of trained de-escalators who could address future difficult and divisive circumstances on campus. The committee will be charged with developing a system for recruiting and training faculty and staff to help de-escalate disruptive dissent activities, much like the facilitators we train to support controversial speaker events, and make recommendations to the president in real time. The chair and faculty/staff appointments will be similar to that described above. 

Finally, we are scheduling additional opportunities for the president to meet with small groups of faculty, building on a series of meetings that have already begun and in addition to meetings she has had with undergraduate student government and other student and staff groups. These discussions will continue to address the issues surrounding recent campus events, freedom of expression, and academic freedom; Dartmouth's methods and responsibilities for supporting freedom of expression and dissent; the campus sentiment about these issues and events, and means to heal the campus community. Faculty can sign up with their Dartmouth email addresses using this Google Form. 

I will be in touch soon with more detail as plans for the committees and discussion groups take shape.

The president and I are grateful to the members of the Steering Committee for Friday's substantive meeting. President Beilock is committed to making sure we listen and reflect on the last couple of weeks as we continue to provide opportunities for input and dialogue with both faculty and students.

Best, 

David Kotz '86

Provost