HANOVER, N.H. (WCAX) – Two students at Dartmouth College have been suspended for their roles in repeated protests on campus. One of them was supposed to walk at this weekend’s graduation.
As Dartmouth College prepares to send off around 2,000 graduates on Sunday, two seniors will not be welcome.
Jordan Narrol and Roan Wade are self-proclaimed student activists highlighting pro-Palestinian causes. But both have been temporarily barred from campus, including this weekend’s commencement, where Narrol was supposed to graduate.
“There is no reasonable way that me or Roan were a threat to campus in any reasonable interpretation of that,” Narrol said.
The most recent incident was a sit-in last month at the college’s administration building. Neither Narrol nor Wade admits to being there, though both have taken part in several other protests on campus over the past couple of years.
“The college should be actively supporting its activist community in engaging with it instead of rebuking it and pushing it off in every way possible,” Narrol said.
Wade is a senior but still has another semester to go at Dartmouth. “Regardless of what actions the college takes against us, we still have this moral imperative,” Wade said.
A tent pitched in front of the president’s office two years ago that Wade refused to take down led to a misdemeanor trespassing conviction. Currently, Wade continues to silently protest through a liquid-only hunger strike. “It has become so abundantly clear that the institution is not willing to work with us inside their supposed system,” Wade said.
The college declined to offer details about the individual suspensions, saying that federal law prevents Dartmouth from commenting on student disciplinary actions.
We asked both students if it’s been worth it. “I know that worth it is the right thing to do. So, I know no regrets,” Wade said.
“Change doesn’t happen easily. It doesn’t happen by playing by the rules of the people in power,” Narrol said.
As for the possibility of additional demonstrations at Sunday’s event, college officials are reminding the community that all guests and graduates will be expected to abide by Dartmouth policies.
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