Dartmouth College

Higher Education Institution

Dartmouth Dialogues

Dartmouth Dialogues is a campuswide civil discourse initiative launched in January 2024, following pro-Palestine demonstrations and president Sian Leah Beilock’s authorization of police intervention in October 2023. Programming includes a co-sponsored debate series with the Dartmouth Political Union; in April 2026 the series featured Mike Pompeo (whom DeSmog describes as a Koch-affiliated climate denier) debating issues including climate change; in May 2026 the series featured Michael Knowles (whom SPLC describes as expressing “hateful views of the LGBTQ+ community,” and who has called for “transgenderism” to be “eradicated from public life entirely”). Dartmouth Dialogue’s list of partners includes Constructive Dialogue Institute and the Institute for Citizens & Scholars (which hosts the College Presidents for Civic Preparedness).

Notable Funders

J S Frank Foundation

$25 million (2026)

Funding for Dartmouth Dialogues comes from Dartmouth alumni Karen and Jim Frank and their son Daniel Frank, all of whom are trustees of the J S Frank Foundation. The foundation makes significant grants to Israel advocacy groups including the American Jewish Committee (which is a prominent supporter of anti-BDS laws), Jewish United Fund (which Palestine Legal describes as having “a documented history of funding anti-Muslim hate groups”), and the far-right Clarion Project (which SPLC describes as an “anti-Muslim” group). The Franks are also major donors to charter school expansion in Illinois who have made recent donations to right-wing advocacy groups, including PragerU (which SPLC describes as a “far-right propaganda” group) and Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (which the Center for Media and Democracy describes as “a hawkish pro-Israel group”). For reference, see the Frank Family Foundation’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Polarization Research Lab

The Polarization Research Lab (PRL) was established in August 2022 by Sean Westwood (Dartmouth), Yphtach Lelkes (University of Pennsylvania), and Shanto Iyengar (Stanford) to study political polarization, democratic norms, and political violence.

Notable People

Sean Westwood

Director of the Polarization Research Lab

In addition to his position at Dartmouth, Westwood is the Starr Foundation National Fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution and he has contributed research to Hoover’s Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) initiative. He is also co-chair of Dartmouth’s Heterodox Academy chapter. Westwood’s lab at Dartmouth is funded primarily by a multimillion-dollar grant from the conservative Charles Koch Foundation, a major funder of right-wing infrastructure for several decades.

See also: Builders Movement; Stanford University.

Notable Funders

Charles Koch Foundation/Stand Together Trust

~$4.28 million (2022-2027)

Established by billionaire oil fortune heir, Charles Koch, the foundation has been a major funder of right-wing infrastructure for several decades. Koch invests millions into the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups, including climate change denial organizations such as CO2 Coalition. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Koch’s giving.

Templeton World Charity Foundation (JWCF)/John Templeton Foundation (JTF)

$649,644 (2023-2026)

Established by billionaire investor John Templeton. The JWCF is a Bahamas corporation used to direct the Templeton family’s money into free market causes and to the U.S.-based John Templeton Foundation. The Templeton Foundation was led from 2015 to 2025 by his granddaughter, Heather Templeton Dill. It is now headed by the former CEO of Christianity Today, which describes itself as a “globally minded evangelical magazine.” The Templeton Foundation makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing advocacy organizations such as State Policy Network and Mercatus Center, and Atlas Network (all three of which are described by Greenpeace as “Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Groups”). The foundation also has documented ties to the Koch Network. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Templeton’s giving.

New Pluralists

$100,000 (2022-2023)

The New Pluralists is a funding collaborative that includes Charles Koch Foundation/Stand Together Trust, John Templeton Foundation, Klarman Family Foundation, Einhorn Collaborative, Lubetzky Family Foundation, and the Jeffrey H. and Shari L. Aronson Family Foundation. New Pluralists has made grants to groups like Braver Angels, BridgeUSA, and Constructive Dialogue Institute.

Institute for Humane Studies (IHS)

$20,000 (2023-2024)

IHS was chaired and funded by Charles Koch for several decades. According to the Center for Media and Democracy’s SourceWatch, it acts as “a libertarian recruitment firm,” housed within George Mason University.

Partnerships

BridgeUSA

Dartmouth hosts a chapter of BridgeUSA. Refer to the "BridgeUSA" entry for details about the organization's leadership and funders.

College Presidents for Civic Preparedness

Dartmouth president Sian Leah Beilock is a member of this coalition. Refer to the "College Presidents for Civic Preparedness" entry for details about the organization's leadership and funders.

Constructive Dialogue Institute

Senior leaders of Dartmouth have been recent participants in a training program by Constructive Dialogue Institute. Refer to the "Constructive Dialogue Institute" entry for details about the organization's leadership and funders.

Campus Policy Context

Palestine Advocacy Action

On May 1, 2024, pro-Palestinian protesters established a Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the Dartmouth Green and demanded that the Board of Trustees vote on divesting the endowment from companies connected to Israel.

Crackdown and Policy Change

After protesters refused orders to remove the encampment, Dartmouth called in town and state police. Officers in riot gear arrested 89 people, including students, faculty and community members; armored police vehicles were also deployed on campus. Several Dartmouth academic departments subsequently described the demonstration as peaceful and condemned the administration’s use of police force.

The next day, President Sian Leah Beilock wrote that while she was “a deep believer in free speech,” Dartmouth’s endowment “is not a political tool,” and that using it to divest from companies linked to Israel risked “silencing academic debate.” Defending the university’s response, she argued that demonstrations could not take over shared spaces in ways that excluded people with opposing views and added that members of the community had a responsibility to foster “open, civil discussions on any topic,” regardless of its difficulty or complexity.

In December 2024, Dartmouth adopted a university speech policy that Heterodox Academy categorizes as “institutional neutrality.” Such policies are favored by groups like ACTA, FIRE, Heterodox Academy, and Manhattan Institute, but strongly opposed by the AAUP and many scholars. An October 2025 research paper by Curtis Brewer and Michelle D. Young found that institutional neutrality had been deployed to normalize institutional silence, marginalize dissent, and constrain forms of political expression. Similarly, a spring 2026 Inside Higher Ed investigation found that college administrators have increasingly used institutional neutrality policies to justify censoring students’ political speech.