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The government has declined to pursue charges against two Dartmouth College student journalists arrested last week in what First Amendment advocates — including the Student Press Law Center — denounced as deeply concerning to a free press.
Charlotte Hampton and Alesandra “Dre” Gonzales, staffers at independent student newspaper The Dartmouth (or “The D“), were reporting on and photographing the arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters on campus May 1 when police pulled them from a group of other journalists. Despite wearing press credentials, they were arrested, charged with criminal trespass and later released on bail.
The D reported Wednesday night that Grafton Assistant County Attorney Mariana Pastore filed a motion Tuesday with the Second Circuit Court to remove the bail conditions, which had previously barred Hampton and Gonzales from the Green — Dartmouth’s common space where the protest took place — plus the administration building and the president’s residence.
Hampton and Gonzales expressed relief and told The D that the ordeal would not deter them from reporting.
“I think that the freedom of the press is a super important thing because people have the right to know what’s going on, whether that be locally, globally [or] nationally,” Gonzales said. “I’m glad to be able to get back to being the press and not having to worry about not being able to go on certain areas of campus.”
“What happened last week was really a clear threat to the free press,” Hampton said. “I’m more fired up than ever about being a journalist.”
Following their arrests, The D quickly demanded that the college apologize and “do everything in its power to get the relevant authorities to drop the charges.”
Initially, Dartmouth’s response suggested the college wouldn’t get involved, with a spokesperson saying it supported the journalists’ right to vindicate themselves “through the legal process.”
But on Tuesday, shortly after receiving a letter from 15 national press rights organizations, Dartmouth President Sian Leah Beilock submitted a guest column to The D. Beilock acknowledged the student journalists “should not have been arrested for doing their jobs,” and she said the college was “working with local authorities to ensure this error is corrected.”
The press rights coalition’s letter to Beilock and Pastore argued the arrests set “a dangerous precedent, harms the public’s right to know and defies Dartmouth’s commitments to students’ expressive and press rights.” It called for the charges to be dropped, and for Dartmouth to work with law enforcement to ensure student journalists would not face arrest for merely covering campus events in the future.
“These arrests silence student journalists at a time when the world relies on their coverage to capture the realities of campus events,” it said.
The letter was sent by SPLC and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. It was co-signed by the College Media Association, Committee to Protect Journalists, Defending Rights & Dissent, Freedom of the Press Foundation, National Press Club, National Press Club Journalism Institute, National Press Photographers Association, PEN America, Radio Television Digital News Association, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Society of Environmental Journalists, Society of Professional Journalists and Women Press Freedom.
The New England First Amendment Coalition also sent a letter to Beilock expressing similar concerns.
The Student Press Law Center celebrates that Hampton and Gonzales no longer face criminal charges. But, as Beilock said, they shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place. SPLC will continue to monitor what steps Dartmouth takes to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
The Student Press Law Center (splc.org) is a nonpartisan nonprofit that promotes, supports and defends the free press rights of student journalists and their advisers. SPLC provides information, training and legal assistance at no charge to high school and college student journalists and the educators who work with them.