By: Aditi Singh '28, Noelle Blake '26, Serena Suson '25, and Ella Grim '25
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
- Desmond Tutu, South African Human Rights Activist
In the 503 days since October 7th, 2023, Israel’s indiscriminate assaults and war crimes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have displaced almost 90% of Gaza’s population. Palestinians have lost access to food, water, shelter, and healthcare. In July of 2024, the International Court of Justice designated the Israeli occupation as unlawful; in December, Amnesty International declared the conflict a genocide. In January of 2025, the Hague Group—a coalition of countries from the Global South dedicated to upholding the principles of the United Nations—pledged to end Israel’s occupation of Palestine and create lasting self-determination for the Palestinian people.
Dr. King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Let us remember his words and philosophy in light of this ongoing genocide. The utopian Dartmouth bubble only affords temporary protection. Being students, leaders, or faculty at an elite institution does not excuse us from our participation in the greater geopolitical economy. Dartmouth Admissions claims that “Dartmouth is dedicated to establishing and maintaining a safe and nondiscriminatory learning, living, and working environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity.” As an institution committed to diverse perspectives and respect for all identities, Dartmouth should seek to empower its students in advocating for justice globally.
Through investment in defense corporations, Dartmouth symbolically blinds itself to the horrors these companies perpetuate and actively profits from the genocide in Palestine. Dartmouth’s endowment is not politically neutral. The moment that Dartmouth bankrolls its future with the spoils of war, the endowment becomes a political tool. The question is not whether or not the endowment should be political; rather, we must ask ourselves which politics the administration implicitly condones. We must unequivocally reject a narrative of neutrality due to Dartmouth’s current complicity in an imperial monetary exchange and Dartmouth’s established status as a global academic and cultural hegemon.
The moment that Dartmouth bankrolls its future with the spoils of war, the endowment becomes a political tool.
Dartmouth Divest for Palestine’s divestment proposal—written by a group of current students, professors, staff, and alumni—compiles ethical considerations, administrative goals, and extensive research to persuade the Dartmouth administration to cease complicity in the military-industrial complex in solidarity with Palestine. The proposal recognizes the long history of student-driven college divestment at Dartmouth. Additionally, it uncovers the college’s fiscal ties to six top defense companies, who actively profit from and thereby are complicit in Palestinian genocide. Spare Rib fully and unanimously endorses this proposal.
This is not the first case of divestment in Dartmouth’s history. Previously, the administration has withdrawn its investments from companies associated with: South African Apartheid in 1989, the James Bay HydroQuebec dam project in 1993, genocide in Sudan in 2005, the tobacco industry in 2012, and the fossil fuel industry in 2021. When President Beilock claims that using Dartmouth’s endowment as a political tool “is an extraordinarily dangerous precedent to set,” she forgets that the precedent was set 36 years ago.
When President Beilock claims that using Dartmouth’s endowment as a political tool “is an extraordinarily dangerous precedent to set,” she forgets that the precedent was set 36 years ago.
Palestinian liberation is a feminist issue. It has long been understood that militarized violence exacerbates gender-based violence, disproportionately displaces women, leads to a rise in child marriage, and disrupts access to reproductive health. Further, as intersectional feminists, we understand the urgency and interconnectedness of global struggles against fascism, militarization, displacement, scholasticide, environmental destruction, gender-based violence, and the military-industrial complex.
If President Beilock truly wants to “Save the Idea of the University,” Dartmouth should divest from companies perpetuating and profiting from extraordinary violence in Palestine. As an intersectional feminist organization, Spare Rib stands for liberation and freedom. As an entity of the College, Spare Rib aims to hold Dartmouth accountable for its abuse of power and complicity in genocide. Spare Rib stands for divestment. Spare Rib stands with Palestine.
Comments