A Message to Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon: It is time to accept responsibility for the administration’s mistakes around Covid-19 and the harmful impact it had on the students’ mental health and the tragic suicides that resulted.

I recently sent this email to Dartmouth College President Phil Hanlon

Dear President Phil Hanlon,

I met you several times in college. You probably do not remember me, but I did respect many of your initiatives at Dartmouth, such as curbing the extreme drinking culture.

That being said, I cannot support you or your administration’s current actions.

The recent article from The Dartmouth outlines my own views rather well. Written by Matthew Magann, it is titled TTLG: It’s Time for those Who Love this College to Take a Stand

Matthew’s subtitle “Dartmouth’s bloated administration has subjected students to an inhuman burden. It’s time for change” reflects the thoughts of current students and alumni rather well.

I agree. We need a change in Dartmouth’s leadership.

I believe you should resign along with much of the rest of the admin. I worked in clinical trials last year and followed the responses of colleges across the country closely. Dartmouth’s approach was by far the most inhumane and very much contributed to the tragic suicides of these young students.

• We didn’t see as many suicides at the other colleges.
• Suicides per capita were even more extreme at Dartmouth.
• The lack of due process and “disappearing” students was very real as the article outlines, and I heard the same from every current student I spoke with recently.
• Geisel also had its own issues recently although I know you and your team are less involved there.

The actions of your admin directly negatively affected the mental health of its students. I recognize that Covid presented challenges and tough tradeoffs, but your administration failed to adjust despite vehement pushback.

Dartmouth let down its students in my view and this results from the decisions made by your administration. I will be urging donors and influential alumni to push for a change.

Sincerely,

Misha Fitton