Q&A with new O ce of Pluralism and Leadership director Rachele Hall

after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was in police custody for violating the Islamic Republic’s conservative dress code. The Islamic Republic responded violently, killing over 500 people with 50 more on death row since the commencement of the protests, according to Alinejad.

Alinejad started by thanking all the students in the audience, whom she called “the future of the world.”

“The women of Iran and Afghanistan, they need you,” she said.

While answering a question about the prominent slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom,” Alinejad gave an overview of the restrictions women face in Iran.

“Woman, life, freedom — it is a crime. Being a free woman in Iran means you are a criminal,” Alinejad said. “From the age of seven, if you are a girl and you don’t cover your hair, you won’t be able to go to school.”

Alinejad said that the rules of the Islamic Regime made her a “master criminal” because she has “too much hair, too much voice and [is] too much of a woman.” She also emphasized the infuence of social media on protest movements, calling it “a weapon… of ordinary people,” as it turned Amini’s funeral into “massive protests against the Islamic Republic.”

When Simon asked Alinejad about how social media can be used by repressive and democratic forces, Alinejad added that she felt that dictators are now using social media to attack dissidents, normalize oppressive regimes and mislead the rest of the world.

“The Iranian regime used social media to publish videos of women, inviting some tourists from Western countries to show that people like [me] are lying because people are unveiled and walking in the streets, not getting arrested or harassed in public,” Alinejad added.

In an interview after the event, Alinejad said she disregarded news of Iran abolishing the morality police.

“Dictators know that when they are weakened and shaken it’s time to spread misinformation and disinformation to calm down the protests and mislead the rest of the world,” Alinejad said.

Alinejad maintained that the next necessary step is for Western countries to unite against and isolate the Islamic Republic, which she said “is a threat to democracy and freedom in the region.”

“I want [the] Western [governments] to be as brave as [the] women of Iran and

Afghanistan,” Alinejad said during the event.

Simon asked Alinejad to comment on critiques of economic sanctions as measures that exert more damage to ordinary Iranians rather than oppressive government ofcials.

“Right after the nuclear deal, we witnessed the money being sent to fund violence in the region,” Alinejad said. “The Iranian regime, even under sanctions, increased the budget for 51 religious institutions, including the morality police.”

The audience question and answer session included the perspectives of some students who opposed her views and beliefs. One female student from Afghanistan said that Alinejad’s act of removing the hijab, waving it in the air and burning it discriminated against the student’s values.

“My dream is to walk shoulder to shoulder with you in Iran and in Afghanistan — me, unveiled — without getting killed,” Alinejad said in response. “We are all fghting for freedom of choice.”

Alinejad ended the event with an Iranian song and translated the lyrics to English when they fnished.

“God, if you don’t give me what I want, I can burn the whole world,” Alinejad translated.

Armita Mirkarimi ’25, who is IranianAmerican, said that the event was especially powerful for her because she has followed Alinejad’s career in activism since she was a young girl, having migrated from Iran to the US when she was in third grade.

“I think it’s really important that students here at Dartmouth hear that voice because it’s a voice that is a lot of times oppressed and not talked about,” Mirkarimi said. “I really respect what she has to say as an activist and especially with everything happening in Iran right now with the protests, the social movements [and] the death of Mahsa Amini.”

Carter Anderson ’26 said that the event underscored the value of free speech, as Alinejad was persecuted for speaking out against the government in Iran.

“I think it’s rare that you get the opportunity to interact with a journalist who has really had her free speech infringed, especially coming from the US,” Anderson said. “Free speech is often taken for granted and I don’t think that’s true globally. It’s interesting to see that perspective.”

Armita Mirkarimi is a former member of The Dartmouth’s Arts staf.

SEE SWCD PAGE 1

According to the SWCD’s statement, the diference between $18.50 and $21 per hour would amount to a cost of “about $89,000 per year, representing a 0.02% increase in the amount Dartmouth already spends on wages.”

Kim also said that the College is hiring a human resources consultant for labor relations with an annual salary close to that diference. According to the job posting, the hiring salary ranges from $78,900 to $96,000.

“The fact is, these universities have been so heavily fnancialized where money is funneled into paying endless amounts of bureaucratic managers, investing in hedge funds, investing millions of dollars into real estate,” Kim said. “[The College is] forgetting that it is and must be the students and the folks who are actually doing the labor of academia, of service, of research, that actually give Dartmouth its standing.”

Sheen Kim is a member of The Dartmouth’s Opinion staf. .

BY LUKE MCMAHON The Dartmouth

This article was originally published on Feb. 16, 2023.

Rachele Hall arrived at the College in February, taking her position as the new Senior Assistant Dean and director of the Ofce of Pluralism and Leadership. Hall comes from the State University of New York, Westchester — where she served as the interim Dean of Student Life — and said she will be working to identify and address opportunities to improve diversity and cultural competence on Dartmouth’s campus. The Dartmouth sat down with Hall to talk about her past career experience and what she hopes to accomplish at OPAL.

What motivated you to pursue a career in higher education?

RH: At frst, I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to teach the ffth grade, and you couldn’t tell me that I wasn’t going to. Then, in April of my Junior year [at the State University of New York, College at Oneonta], I was teaching in my small town, sitting in a classroom, when I realized ‘Oh my gosh, there are no bathroom breaks and I’m too sarcastic for small children.’ So I changed my degree to Philosophy, but I had been very involved as a student when I was on campus at [SUNY] Oneonta, and through that I fell in love with higher education. Those experiences that I had in my co-curricular life really ended up dictating what I did with my professional life — so it was an accident, but a happy accident. I am so glad I am here working with college students and helping them to fgure out what is next in their lives because I needed that, and that’s what people in student afairs did for me.

Your doctoral research focused on immigration, and you established a training program for allies of undocumented students at your previous institution, SUNY Westchester. Why has immigration been such an important issue for you?

RH: I am not a first-generation immigrant and neither is my family. My family was brought here by slavery like most Black Americans. But in my work in higher-ed, I have come in constant contact with students who come from undocumented immigrant families. So on campus, I found myself trying to support those students in a secret way, because they are a hidden population. I realized when I got my chance to educate myself and pursue my doctoral degree that I had this power and privilege that this hidden population does not.

Most often, what you see is migrants who have gone through the legal process of getting married and getting a visa advocate for their community, but rarely do you see people who were born as American citizens advocate for migrants without proper documentation. But we all need to be advocating for humankind. This country was built on the backs of people who migrated here or were brought here on ships, so why do we now have these rules and policies to keep migrants away? Researching how to support them led to my research, and it led to my [ally] training later.

What made you decide to depart SUNY Westchester and come to Dartmouth?

RH: I never wanted to leave Westchester. I was like, ‘I’m going to be president of this college one day,’ and it just didn’t work out that way. I knew I didn’t want to be completely away from students, because that is what happens sometimes when you move up in higher-ed — you move away from working with students. But I also wanted to be in charge of an ofce, and that just didn’t present itself to me at Westchester. I was really intentional about what I wanted next in my life: having a Black female supervisor and having professional development opportunities. That all came to a head with Dartmouth and this opportunity at OPAL. I know the students are brilliant here, and I am excited to learn from, and with, them.

What are your goals for your tenure at OPAL?

RH: My frst goal is to connect with my staf. We have some vacancies in the ofce, and so I am thinking about how we can intentionally fll those spaces — I don’t want to just be recruiting people into spaces. Then, I want to build collaborative relationships with the rest of campus. Because of the pandemic and the hybrid model, we have gotten away from doing things in-person and have become interested in Zoom everything, but I’m all about showing up at your ofce.

My last goal is to make sure that students across campus know what OPAL is. Whether or not they identify with any of the afnity groups on campus, I want students to know that they can still participate with OPAL. I want us to get out of the idea that you have to check a box to ft into a box. I probably said this goal last because it will take more time than the others: It is defnitely a cultural shift — to show people that they can be a part of something even if they identify as something else.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.