Letter to the Editor: Professor Nguyen’s denial of tenure was an act of discrimination

Concerning: College’s decision to deny hiring of UIC professor sparks controversy

It seems clear to me that Dartmouth’s decision to reject the permanent hiring of Nicole Nguyen, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was motivated, in large part, by its solidarity with pro-Palestinian student protesters. What else could it have been? Why else would the administration ignore the geography department’s unanimous support for his hiring? Otherwise, why would the College deny Nguyen again after the department’s appeal, without public explanation?

If it wasn’t about suppressing the pro-Palestinian organization, I would certainly like to know the reason.

Here’s what I believe: another example of discrimination from an administration that, after the events of last spring – when 89 people were arrested during a pro-Palestinian demonstration – is increasingly desperate to do silence dissenting voices. Once again, I find the administration cloaks the persecution of students and faculty under the guise of formal review processes and College policies, which are – as usual – applied for political purposes. The precedent set by denying Nguyen’s tenure poses a significant danger to academic freedom and signals a stifling priority of business interests and administrative politics over our education at Dartmouth.

Ramsey Alsheikh ’26 is a columnist at Dartmouth. Letters to the editor represent the opinions of the author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.