Dartmouth made national news last week when The New Yorker published an extended piece on the College entitled “How Dartmouth Became the Ivy League’s Switzerland.” Author Rob Wolfe ’12 argued that Dartmouth President Sian Beilock has successfully avoided the ire of the Trump administration and the kind of federal funding cuts that now threaten Harvard and Columbia universities. But Wolfe contends that it has required Dartmouth to adopt a neutral position on President Trump’s attempt to take greater control of higher education.

The New Yorker article caught the attention of one prominent Dartmouth alum, Robert Reich ’68, who thought describing the College under Beilock’s leadership as “Switzerland” was too mild. Reich likened Dartmouth instead to Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister blamed for appeasing Nazi Germany. On the other hand, conservative commentators praised Beilock for effectively balancing free-speech issues with the need to prevent antisemitism on campus.

Whatever your take on the politics, Beilock has avoided significant budget cuts so far while winning praise from Trump administration officials. She recently met with Dartmouth alum Harmeet Dhillon ’89, the top Justice Department official for civil rights. In an interview with DAM, Dhillon calls Dartmouth “one of the good guys” in higher education.

Here are excerpts from DAM’s interview with Dhillon, scheduled for publication in the September-October issue.

Harmeet Dhillon has come a long way since her days as editor of the conservative Dartmouth Review. In April, the U.S. Senate confirmed her as assistant attorney general for civil rights, putting her in charge of protecting the civil rights of all Americans, including college students. Days after her confirmation, DAM met her in an ornate office suite where J. Edgar Hoover once held court. She talked about the challenges ahead and how Dartmouth is doing in obeying civil rights law.

How do you see your office approaching civil rights issues with respect to universities? 

I have written letters from this desk to the top 25 colleges in the United States. It’s well publicized that this administration is taking aim at institutions that are failing to follow the [rulings] by the Supreme Court. Certainly racially biased admissions and religiously biased admissions are problematic. Those practices need to be eradicated according to the Supreme Court. 

[Eight weeks into Dhillon’s tenure, DAM spoke with her again.]

At this stage, a few months into your role, what have you set in motion?

We’re taking the lead in the government’s work to combat discrimination in America’s universities. Every day is a new challenge. Every day there are civil rights violations that come across our desk, and we have to prioritize our resources and figure out how to deal with them. 

I know you’ve engaged with Dartmouth since we last spoke. How is that going?

Look, I’m proud that Dartmouth is leading the way in dealing with antisemitism and campus unrest. I never thought I’d say those words. But I have to say, compared to the other Ivy League schools that I’m dealing with on a daily basis, Dartmouth is really one of the good guys. And I hope it stays that way.