Cornell President Michael I. Kotlikoff is being dragged over the coals. And he deserves to be.
Seven members of Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity allegedly drugged and gang-raped a then-20-year-old classmate in October 2024. Cornell allegedly let five brothers mitigate their punishment with lesser disciplinary actions, including writing essays. The Cornell Daily Sun’s editorial board ran a column on Sept. 21 headlined, “Cornell Won’t, We Will,” in which they published the accused students’ names, daring Kotlikoff’s administration to hide behind the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Protests have begun. More are scheduled. Whatever Cornell does next will be done under a very hot spotlight. Public outrage is working. New York prosecutors have opened a case. The cost of inaction is palpable.
I wish I could say the same about taking Leon Black’s name down at Dartmouth College.
Black has not yet been criminally charged. But as of a few weeks ago, he’s no longer merely “under scrutiny.” On Sept. 16, the U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously to hold Black in contempt of Congress. Black had defied two subpoenas in Congress’ investigation into the federal government’s handling of the criminal investigations into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein: One demanding his testimony and one demanding nondisclosure agreements he’s used to keep people quiet. The matter is now with the U.S. Attorney.
Three women have accused Black of rape or assault, including a 16-year-old autistic girl with Down syndrome attacked at Epstein’s townhouse. None of these claims have led to a guilty verdict. On May 24, 2023, a New York state judge dismissed a defamation and rape lawsuit filed against Black by Guzel Ganieva. In February 2024, Cheri Pierson dismissed her civil rape lawsuit against Black with prejudice in the Manhattan Supreme Court. In 2021, Black stepped down from Apollo and as the Museum of Modern Art’s chairman. In 2023, he paid $62.5 million to settle claims tied to the U.S. Virgin Islands’ Epstein investigation.
In 2012, Black and his wife gave $48 million for the “Black Family Visual Arts Center,” which currently houses the studio art and film and media studies departments. Black’s name also sits on an endowed chair in Shakespearean studies. Unsealed Department of Justice files show Epstein himself helped coordinate some of Black’s gifts to Dartmouth, including $500,000 toward renovating the President’s House.
In November 2025, the Dartmouth Alumni Council asked the College’s President about removing Black’s name. Beilock responded, “I thank you for that input. I know we have a lot of views on campus about buildings and names.”
In April 2026, the Dartmouth Student Government called for the removal of Black’s name. The Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault called for the same. Then, Women of Dartmouth wrote to Beilock, the Trustees and the Dartmouth community, calling on the College to “remove child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s affiliates’ names from all buildings and programs.” Women of Dartmouth is the college’s largest alumni group, with more than 30,000 members. It is apolitical, diplomatic and conflict-averse. Their call for action felt like the tipping point. College alumna Mary Anne Mendenhall asked plainly in an April 14 column, “If there is some good reason for keeping Mr. Black’s name on that building, why won’t they say it?”
During the May 7, 2026, Dartmouth Alumni Council Meeting, Beilock preempted the question with a statement. “I empathize,” Beilock said, “but the Trustees as the fiduciaries believe very clearly that they want to come together to think about this.”
Beilock’s strategy was to run the clock out on the academic year so she could do nothing, and it worked.
According to Chair of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees, Gregg Lemkau, quoted on the College’s website, the Trustees convened over Commencement weekend last summer “to produce, in the near term, an enduring institution-wide framework that reflects Dartmouth’s mission and core values and serves the long-term.” Official announcements or specific dates for a future meeting of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees have not been published.
Contrast this ambiguity with how fast Beilock moves when her campaign to reinvent Dartmouth is at risk. A few weeks ago, The Dartmouth student newspaper reported that the median “AI-written” score of Provost Santiago Schnells’ nine academic papers and editorials published this year — including a piece about AI cheating — was 96%. Beilock announced committee members, a chair and a timeline for a faculty-led investigation in days — not months or academic years.
If the provost’s cognitive offloading to a large language model counts as plagiarism, Beilock risks being hoisted by her own petard. Before the contract with Anthropic and Amazon Web Services, a Dartmouth degree signaled acumen. If the integrity of a post-AI Dartmouth degree is questioned, Beilock’s plans to grow Dartmouth might implode like the College’s Homecoming bonfire after ignition. But that risk depends on whether Dartmouth practices the integrity it preaches.
Which does higher education treat as the graver offense: Being accused of cheating or being accused of rape? Which does an institution find more damaging: Being the financial advisor and client of a serial predator, or submitting an essay the stated author didn’t write?
Cornell and Dartmouth say they’re all unacceptable. But actions speak louder than words. And the record of inaction on systemic sexual abuse and organized sexualized violence is damning.
Dartmouth isn’t the only school with an Epstein problem. Harvard had Larry Summers; Yale, David Gelernter; MIT, Joi Ito. What makes Dartmouth unique is that Beilock has worked tirelessly to build her brand as a decisive leader.
Beilock was the only Ivy League president to not sign the American Association of Colleges and Universities academic freedom letter; the first Ivy president to reinstate the SAT; the adopter of a “model” policy of institutional restraint; the one who called the police on peaceful protesters before any overnight stay on the Green, resulting in arrests by officers in riot gear. She decisively denounced swastikas on campus last September. She decisively announced a “rigorous, objective review” of the provost’s actions this September. So why the multi-year wishy-washiness about Black?
Beilock’s feckless response is certainly not because she is a feather in a whirlwind.
Beilock writes for The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, makes appearances on the All-In Podcast and MS NOW’s Morning Joe, and has been lauded by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, Bari Weiss’ Free Press, FIRE, Heterox Academy, The Chronicle for Higher Education, The Dartmouth Review, and more.
This month, Beilock will be bestowed with the James Wright Leadership Award by the Classes of 1964 and 2014. When I emailed the Classes of 1964 and 2014 a copy of the Dartmouth Association of Latino and Caribbean Alumni’s open letter in response to this announcement, Fritz Corrigan wrote back on behalf of the Selection Committee, “She has earned this singular recognition.”
The College’s trustees and prominent donors back Beilock. They did when she ordered students and faculty to be mass-arrested in 2024. They did when she played ball with Trump in 2025. And they’re doing so now.
Beilock could’ve chosen to remove Black’s name. She didn’t. But that’s not the end of the story.
Kotlikoff isn’t facing rape culture out of a deep well of moral courage — Cornell is being forced to face it. Beilock will eventually get forced to remove Black’s name. The only question is: What will it cost our College to wait?
Cornell is paying the cost now, publicly, in real time. Dartmouth just hasn’t been sent the bill yet.
Unai Montes-Irueste is a member of the Dartmouth College Class of 1998, the Dartmouth College Alumni Council, and president of the Dartmouth Association of Latino/a/x/e and Caribbean Alumni. He lives in Southern California with his wife and three children.