Former Dartmouth Provost Santiago Schnell resigned after a faculty‑led investigation found he used artificial intelligence in his published work without disclosing it. President Sian Leah Beilock announced the resignation in an Oct. 28 email.
The five‑member committee, chaired by computer science professor David Kotz, concluded that Schnell “used AI to meaningfully alter his writing” and “failed to disclose his use of AI” in two op‑eds and two academic articles. It made no disciplinary recommendation because its charge was limited to determining what happened.
The investigation began after The Dartmouth reported that all of Schnell’s 2026 publications were flagged as AI‑written by the Pangram detector, a finding that followed an earlier Semafor story labeling his Washington Post column as 100% AI‑generated. The committee examined his Washington Post column, two journal articles and a forthcoming op‑ed over a six‑day period and could not interview Schnell or obtain his personal AI account records. Because of the short timeline, it could not review his entire publication history.
Community members labeled Schnell’s conduct hypocritical and launched a petition calling for his termination, while some faculty argued his use of AI was legitimate and beneficial. Others, including a Semafor journalist, said the resignation was unfair and that many scholars use AI without clear institutional rules. Schnell’s attorney said he was denied a meaningful opportunity to respond and resigned out of respect for the Dartmouth community.
The case exposes Dartmouth’s lack of explicit AI disclosure policies and illustrates the varied publisher rules that permit limited AI editing but forbid AI‑generated claims, authorship or data creation. Students and faculty remain divided, with some urging stricter standards and others advocating more permissive, transparent use of AI in scholarship.
Source: www.thedartmouth.com
