Dartmouth College President Sian Beilock is gaining fans among conservatives for refusing to sign a letter in defense of Harvard University as it fights the Trump administration's attempts to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding, the New Yorker reports.
Beilock defended her decision in April, writing to the Dartmouth community that "receivership, censorship, and external pressures about what can and cannot be taught or studied hamper the free exchange of ideas on our campus and across institutions.
"Dartmouth will never relent on these values," she said.
She continued to argue that open letters are "rarely effective tools to make change."
"I prefer joining action-oriented coalitions, as we have done this past month, as part of two successful Association of American Universities lawsuits focused on National Institutes of Health and Department of Education indirect-cost rates," she wrote.
The Trump administration has suspended federal funding to every Ivy League school except Penn and Dartmouth over anti-Israel protests that have taken place on their campuses.
Beilock, the first female president of Dartmouth, created "brave spaces" and "Dartmouth dialogues" to facilitate free speech and debate on campus. She also introduced an "institutional restraint" policy mandating that Dartmouth officials, employees and staff refrain from issuing "institutional statements" in order to "provide space for diverse viewpoints to be raised and fully considered."
"Her ideas have earned praise from free-speech advocates, conservative publications, and members of the Trump Administration, along with furious condemnation from academic leaders convinced that universities must stand united against Trump," the New Yorker reported.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.