HANOVER — Community members voiced disappointment this week that a planned forum about the police department’s response to a May pro-Palestinian protest on the Dartmouth College Green is scheduled when many people are away and participants won’t be allowed to pose questions to the police chief.

A letter signed by more than 170 people asks the Hanover Selectboard to postpone the “listening session” until Dartmouth students, faculty and staff have returned for the fall term, which begins Sept. 16.

“It does not make sense to hold a listening session at a time when the majority of the people who were involved in the events of May 1 are not in town,” said letter-signer Angela Galik, of Bethel, who attended the demonstration on the Green. “If the town is serious about addressing the harm that was caused on that day, it should engage with the people who were actually impacted.”

In addition, the letter requests changing the forum’s format to give the public a chance to speak directly with Selectboard members and Police Chief Charlie Dennis.

“The Selectboard and police chief have an obligation to the campus and community to hear these and other questions and give direct and honest answers,” the letter states. “What the Selectboard promised to residents at May’s Town Meeting was not small-group ‘listening’ but instead accountability.”

On May 1, Hanover police, assisted by a state special operations unit and other Upper Valley law enforcement agencies, arrested 89 people, including dozens of Dartmouth students, in response to the college’s complaints of trespassing after a few protesters erected tents.

At Town Meeting later in May, Selectboard members said they were willing to set up a public forum to discuss the campus arrests in response to residents who had expressed their criticism of the police department’s actions.

Critics have characterized the arrests as a heavy-handed response to a peaceful protest and questioned whether police should have gone along with the college’s request to have the protesters hauled away.

Others have praised the police for bringing a quick conclusion to the type of protest that had spun out of control on other campuses around the country this spring.

Selectboard Chairman Carey Callaghan, who said next week’s meeting will go on as planned, has said the board had hoped to schedule the listening session sooner than August but were delayed by complications, including a difficulty finding an available moderator. The board selected Aug. 20 because it is the final week of summer session classes at Dartmouth, when some students, faculty and staff are still on campus. 

The letter to the Selectboard was sent by members of Upper Valley for Palestine, a coalition group that supports “a free Palestine”, including Israel’s withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territories.

The majority of the people who signed the letter are affiliated with Dartmouth, some of whom were on the Green to witness the arrests of protesters, said Nancy Welch, a Hanover resident and Upper Valley for Palestine member.

The letter signers include at least 16 people who were arrested at the demonstration. 

“Something that was very peaceful became very violent and people deserve to have answers to their questions,” Welch said in a phone interview. 

The forum is not expected to shed light into how or why the police crackdown on May 1 occurred, the letter stated. Many community members had hoped to learn, for example, when Dartmouth administrators first contacted the town about the demonstration, why Hanover police requested the assistance of state police, the financial cost of the police response and whether the town faces any lawsuits due to injuries sustained by people on the Green, the letter added. 

 Dennis, the town’s police chief for 10 years, will open the forum by presenting information about the department’s protocol and operating procedure in context to the May 1 demonstration. However, the chief will not be able to directly discuss the events of May 1 due to legal constraints — as there are still pending criminal cases, Callaghan said in a phone interview on Thursday.

After Dennis’ presentation, forum participants will be divided into five discussion groups, with each group moderated by a Selectboard member. Afterward, an overview of each group’s conversation will be shared with the larger group.

The questions and concerns raised by participants will be recorded into a written document, though the Selectboard has not yet discussed a plan to review or use this this information, Callaghan said. 

“We will have to see what happens,” Callaghan said. “But the first step is to collect (the feedback).”

In regard to the forum’s date, Callaghan said it will be held as scheduled, on Tuesday, Aug. 20, from 7 to 9 p.m., at Howe Library. 

“Another month’s passing further delays the Selectboard’s commitment (to hold the forum) and September brings a host of its own scheduling conflicts,” Callaghan said in a written response. “This meeting has been widely noticed and was scheduled to allow for community participation.” 

The forum is open to all members of the public, including non-residents, though there will not be an option to participate remotely. 

Welch said that she will not participate in the listening session as it is presently structured. Instead, members of Upper Valley for Palestine may be holding a “speak-out” outside the Howe Library, prior to and concurrent with the town’s forum, to allow community members to raise the questions and concerns that are unlikely to be addressed by town officials. 

“​​​​​The proposed August ‘listening’ session does not honor (the Selectboard’s) pledge to hear our questions and concerns and would instead shield the Selectboard, the police chief, and other town officials from having to answer for the town’s and region’s violent response to a peaceful rally,” Welch said. 

Welch plans to read the letter during public comments of the next Selectboard meeting, which will be on Monday at 7 p.m. in Town Hall. 

Patrick Adrian may be reached at padrian@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.