Yesterday I published a piece called Selective Solidairty:Who We Show Up For. It is about two letters, twenty years of giving, and the question of the harm that activates us.

Today I did something about it.

I sent an email to President Sian Beilock, the Dartmouth Board of Trustees, and the Dartmouth development office. I am asking them to remove Leon Black's name from the Black Family Visual Arts Center before Commencement on June 14. I am telling them that I have stopped giving. And I am telling them why.

I never thought I would make that ask of other alumni. I have spent more than two decades advocating for Dartmouth—as a student caller, a class agent, a head agent, a class president, a Women of Dartmouth leader, and as an alumni interviewer. I believe in this institution. I believe in what it can be.

But I cannot in good conscience continue to advocate for an institution that has demonstrated, repeatedly and clearly, that it will choose comfort over integrity. That will choose certain donors over others. That will wait out anyone who asks it to do better. That will call riot gear to the Green and then ask us to keep giving.

So I stopped. And I am asking you to consider doing the same.

I know that is not a small ask. For many of us, giving to Dartmouth is an expression of love for the place that shaped us. Stopping feels like a betrayal of that love. I want to be clear: it is the opposite. Stopping is the act of someone who loves the institution enough to refuse to subsidize its failures.

If you have already stopped giving, say so. Send an email. Tell them why.

If you are still giving and you are troubled by what you have read, consider pausing your gift until you see action—on the Black building, on the pattern of leadership that has brought us here.

And if you are ready to write—here is everything you need.

Who to contact:

President Beilock: Sian.L.Beilock@dartmouth.edu

Board of Trustees: Office.of.the.Secretary@dartmouth.edu

Dartmouth Development Office: givingtodartmouth@dartmouth.edu

Suggested subject line: # of Giving. And Why I Stopped.

Or, if you are a current donor: I Am A Dartmouth Donor. Here Is What I Need To See.

A template you can use, adapt, or make your own:

Dear President Beilock and Members of the Board of Trustees,

I am writing as a member of the Dartmouth Class of [year] and a Dartmouth alumna/alumnus who has supported this institution [for X years / since graduation].

I am writing because I can no longer stay silent about the failures of leadership that have shaken my confidence in Dartmouth's current direction. [Below is a choose your own adventure of options to include]

[On May 1, 2024, President Beilock called law enforcement to disperse a nonviolent student protest on the Green. Nearly 90 people were arrested. A professor was thrown to the ground and zip-tied. When alumni leaders wrote to ask for amnesty and a reconciliation process, board members called—not to discuss the students, but to discuss the letter. That told me everything about whose wellbeing this institution was prepared to protect.]

[In May 2024, when President Beilock called law enforcement to the Green, undocumented students faced the threat of detention and deportation. That risk was real then. It is catastrophic now. Since January 2025, the Trump administration has revoked the federal "sensitive location" designation that previously protected college campuses from immigration enforcement. ICE can now legally enter any part of a Dartmouth campus. When students asked President Beilock directly what Dartmouth would do if ICE came, she said she did not know what a "sanctuary campus" meant. When student workers negotiated a policy requiring a judicial warrant before ICE is granted campus access, it was won at the bargaining table — not offered by this administration. Dartmouth did not lead on protecting its most vulnerable students. It was pushed, slowly, reluctantly, and only as far as students forced it to go. This is the same pattern: wait, delay, do the minimum, and call it leadership.]

Leon Black's name remains on the Black Family Visual Arts Center. The evidence against him—in federal files, Senate Finance Committee findings, and New York Times reporting—is extensive and damning. And, it has been accumulating since 2021.

In April 2026, Dartmouth's own Student Government and the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault jointly called for the renaming. The editorial board of The Dartmouth called for it. Women of Dartmouth—representing 30,000 alumnae—called for it. Former Congresswoman Annie McLane Kuster '78, a Dartmouth alumna and sexual assault survivor, called for it. The board of trustees met on April 10-12 and announced that it will appoint a naming committee—starting in June. Board chair Gregg Lemkau said naming is "a topic the board has wanted to address thoughtfully for some time." Dartmouth has had five years to think about this. A committee that begins its work in June and reports at some future date is not thoughtfulness. It is delay. And delay is a decision.

At the urging of alumni and students, César Chávez's name was removed from a fellowship when evidence of assault emerged.

The contrast with the Chávez fellowship is instructive. And damning. When the New York Times published its investigation into César Chávez on March 18, 2026, Dartmouth removed his name from the Pre-to-Postdoctoral Fellowship in eleven days. Eleven days. Chávez had never donated to Dartmouth. The fellowship bore his name because he gave a lecture on campus five days before he died in 1993. There was no donor relationship to navigate, no gift agreement to untangle, no $48 million dollar naming rights to reconsider. It cost Dartmouth nothing to act—and it acted in eleven days. Leon Black's name has been on that building since 2012. Calls for its removal began in 2021. Five years later, the board of trustees has appointed a committee. Starting in June. The difference between eleven days and five years is not complexity. It is will. And the question of whose name gets removed quickly—and whose does not—is a question about whose harm this institution is prepared to take seriously

I am asking for two things. Remove Leon Black's name from the building before Commencement on June 14. And take seriously the question of what kind of leadership Dartmouth needs—and whether it currently has it.

[I have stopped giving to Dartmouth until I see action on both of these issues. / I am pausing my giving until I see action on both of these issues.]

The covenant between this institution and its alumni runs both ways.

Respectfully, [Your name] Dartmouth Class of [year] [Any roles or affiliations you want to include]

The email I sent is below. Read it if you want to. Then write your own.

[INSERT YOUR FULL EMAIL HERE]

The views expressed in this post are my own and do not represent the positions of the United Nations, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Women of Dartmouth, or any other organization with which I am affiliated. I write here as an individual alumna and private citizen.