February 24–March 2, 1986
Students occupy College Hall to protest new divestment policy
President Dunn gave protesting students permission to take over College Hall, where they held a week-long sit-in. Approximately 200 students participated, demanding that the Board of Trustees comply with the two-year total divestment plan proposed by the Ethical Investment Committee. On the second day of the occupation, the protestors voted unanimously to continue the sit-in until the trustees complied with the total divestment proposal. Students received the support of their peers at Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, Amherst, and UMass, and 18 members of the Dartmouth Divestment Committee participated in the third day of the protest. The protesting students also received endorsements from public figures such as John Kerry and James Baldwin. Even with President Dunn’s permission to be there, however, those participating faced the possibility of being arrested. The protesters who were willing to be arrested wore white armbands, and the rest of the students were promised plenty of time to vacate College Hall if the police were to be called in.
The full Sophian article on the occupation can be found here.
Other Sophian articles on the occupation can be found here (1, 5) and here.
[Last updated on October 28, 2018]