Dartmouth College: Medical School Implements Restrictive Social Media Policy During Academic Misconduct Controversy

On March 30, 2021, FIRE and the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote to Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine amid reports the school had accused approximately 20 students of academic misconduct, urging the medical school to be cautious in evaluating the logs allegedly indicating that students had accessed materials during their exams. Students complained publicly — and often anonymously — Geisel was coercing confessions and encouraging students to waive their due process rights. On April 7, in the midst of the controversy, Geisel informed students of a new Social Media Use Policy restricting students’ ability to speak freely online. On April 14, FIRE again wrote to Geisel, urging the school to rescind the policy in accordance with the strong free speech promises Dartmouth makes to its students. Dartmouth said it would take FIRE’s concerns about the policy “under advisement” and consider updating it On June 9, Geisel announced that it was dropping all e-cheating charges “upon further review and based on new information received from our learning management system provider.”