Classmate Michelle Duster was an honored guest and speaker at the recent White House ceremony for the signing of the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. Michelle, as you hopefully know from blog posts here, is the great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells, a groundbreaking journalist and chronicler of the lynchings that were all too prevalent in her time. At the signing, Michelle spoke about Wells and the long history of the legislation.

“She carefully chronicled names, dates, locations, and excuses used to justify lynchings. She wrote articles and pamphlets and gave speeches about the atrocities. Despite losing everything, she continued to speak out across this country and Britain about the violence and terror of lynching.”

Ms. Duster recounted how Ms. Wells had visited President William S. McKinley in the White House in 1898 to urge him to make lynching a federal crime — to no avail.

“We finally stand here today, generations later, to witness this historic moment of President Biden signing the Emmett Till anti-lynching bill into law,” she said.

You can watch Michelle speak here https://youtu.be/9Fnd_hOa7F8?t=626

The Board of Trustees is launching a search for a successor to President Philip J. Hanlon ’77, who has announced his intention to step down in June 2023. Dartmouth has had only 18 presidents since its founding in 1769, underscoring the importance of this process.

The College has designed its search to ensure that key stakeholders—faculty, students, staff, and alumni—have the opportunity to engage. Our classmate Sue Finegan has been named to the search committee.

The committee has been holding listening sessions, and members of the community are invited to provide input by responding by March 18, 2022 to a survey on the presidential search. Information from these sessions and the survey will be used to inform the search process.