Welcome Letter to Parents and Families of New Students

September 11, 2023

Dear New Student Parents and Families:

The Department of Safety and Security (DoSS) provides Dartmouth with professional safety and security services that include incident response, investigation, and follow up of all security related matters that come to our attention. We strive to engage our community via education, information sharing and training programs, as our strongest ally in deterrence and prevention.

The members of this department are committed to Dartmouth’s Mission and, as stated in our own Department’s Mission Statement, we are dedicated to the maintenance of a campus environment that supports academic excellence, independent thought, and cultural collaboration.

As a parent or guardian of a new student, we encourage you to have frank conversations with your student about the risks of underage alcohol consumption, sexual assault, hazing and other prohibited activities that can occur on any college campus. Dartmouth takes these issues very seriously, because they involve the safety of our students and that is our greatest priority.

New Hampshire laws pertaining to underage drinking, hazing, and sexual assault are strictly enforced by local law enforcement. Our Department enforces all Dartmouth policies with the safety and success of our students as our highest goal. We are available to our students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! We encourage them to contact us for any reason, at any time via: LiveSafe (Our Safety App); Phone: 603-646-4000 or 603-646-3333 (Emergency), that is 6-400 or 6-3333 from Dartmouth phones. For Fires, Medical Emergencies or Crimes in Progress we ask they dial 911 without delay.

New students are often a bit overwhelmed with their first few weeks at college; encourage them to contact our department for support and services whenever they are unsure of what to do or where to get help. Our staff is very attuned to our students, and we value and foster the positive relationship we have with the entire campus community. We want students to know that we are always available to assist them!

In the event of a catastrophic incident occurring on or near campus, we will alert the campus community via DartAlert (Dartmouth’s emergency notification system). This is a multimodal system of communications comprised of an outdoor siren, audible speakers, mass email, cellphone (voice and/or text), telephone, and desktop alerts. Please encourage your students to sign up for DartAlert, install Alertus on their desktop or laptop computer, and download and install LiveSafe on their smartphone. They can Sign Up for Emergency Notifications on our website.

You will often hear that Dartmouth is a special place, and it is! Its depth of character, traditions, diversity, commitment to academic excellence, as well as its beautiful natural surroundings contribute to making Dartmouth such an exemplary academic environment. We want our students to take full advantage of everything Dartmouth offers and, in doing so, we encourage them to take appropriate personal and collective precautions when living, learning, working, and playing at Dartmouth.

Lastly, I want to invite you to contact our office if you have any questions or concerns regarding your Dartmouth student's experience during the next four years. Please feel free to just stop by our offices to say hello when you visit campus.

We welcome you, and your student, to the Dartmouth community and thank you for helping us make it as safe as possible.

 

Keiselim Alfredo Montás (Keysi)

Director, Department of Safety and Security and Emergency Operations