This policy contains the Principles of Community for Dartmouth College.
In June of 1980, the Board of Trustees endorsed the following "Principle of Community" for Dartmouth College:
The life and work of a Dartmouth student should be based on integrity, responsibility, and consideration. In all activities, each student is expected to be sensitive to and respectful of the rights and interests of others and to be personally honest. They should be appreciative of the diversity of the community as providing an opportunity for learning and moral growth.
This statement provides a basis for interaction between and among all members of the College, and each of us is expected to be mindful of it in pursuing our own interests as members of this community.
Because the Principle of Community is a statement of aspirations and values and not a promulgation of rules, it cannot be the basis of a disciplinary hearing. It should be understood in the context of the Principle of Freedom of Expression and Dissent (below) as well as Dartmouth's Standards of Conduct, which prohibit behaviors such as threats, harassment, disorderly conduct, coercion, hazing, and causing physical harm. As stated in the preamble to the Standard of Conduct, other behaviors that are not violations, but are nonetheless rude, disrespectful, intolerant, obnoxious or offensive, are still taken seriously by the College. The many effective responses to redress the negative impact on individuals and the community may include expressions of disapproval in the exchange of different ideas through free and open discussion and debate.
As a member of the Dartmouth community:
I hold myself to the highest standards of learning, teaching, and scholarship. I will conduct myself with integrity, in all matters.
As a citizen of this community, I accept several responsibilities.
I am responsible for my own education. I will uphold the Academic Honor Principle. I will contribute to this community and conduct myself, here and in the wider world, in a manner worthy of my education.
I affirm that in the Dartmouth community:
We learn together. We teach one another. We create knowledge together. We treat ourselves and each other with dignity. We recognize that our diverse backgrounds broaden our understanding of the world. We appreciate the exchange of ideas – especially conflicting ones – strengthens our intellect and makes for an inclusive community.
Academic integrity is foundational to a Dartmouth education. All members of the Dartmouth community—faculty, staff, and students—are responsible for maintaining a culture of integrity, honesty, and respect in teaching, learning, scholarship, and creative work.
By upholding this principle, we foster an atmosphere of intellectual growth and personal development both within and beyond Dartmouth.
Dartmouth prizes and defends freedom of expression and dissent as fundamental to its academic mission of learning, teaching, research, discovery, scholarship, and creative work, which relies vitally on open discourse and the free exchange of ideas. Dartmouth therefore upholds and protects the right of its students to exercise that freedom.
At the same time Dartmouth recognizes that this freedom exists in the context of its residential community and mission as an academic institution, in the context of federal and state law and local ordinances, and in responsibility for one's own actions. The right to free expression and dissent is not unfettered. Its exercise must reciprocally allow for others at Dartmouth to exercise the same freedom, must not deliberately obstruct the principal functions and activities of the institution, and must not constitute unlawful activity or prohibited conduct such as harassment, discrimination, retaliation, coercion, or threat. (See also: the standards of conduct adopted by Dartmouth's schools.)
Within those general bounds, freedom of expression and dissent is broadly protected and any limitation imposed by Dartmouth on expressive activity must be content and viewpoint neutral and narrowly tailored to serve a substantial institutional interest. Expressive activity, and the right to refrain from it, will not be restricted because of subject matter, message, or point of view. This is equally true whether the expression is, for example, popular or unpopular, accepted or contested, considered sympathetic or offensive, or whether it is made in celebration or protest, joy or sorrow, affirmation or dissent. Dartmouth expects its campus to be a space for lively discussion and that limitations of expressive activities will be the exception not the norm.
Dartmouth College is committed to the principle of equal opportunity for all its students, faculty, employees, and applicants for admission and employment. For that reason Dartmouth does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, military or veteran status in its programs, organizations, and conditions of employment and admission. (Dartmouth College refers to the entire institution, including the professional schools, graduate programs, and auxiliary activities.)