Below are links to some recent bylines by Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth.
December 16, 2024 - The Atlantic
Oliver Sacks’s Lifelong Search for Recognition
His letters show a man who feared abandonment and craved acknowledgment but discovered through his practice the rewards of his great gifts of feeling, of thoughtfulness, and of care. “I am a doctor, I can help,” he said as a young man in the wilderness. Letters show how his long and fruitful life came to fully embody that simple statement. [ Read More ]
November 1, 2024 - Inside Higher Ed
Defending Democracy, Defending the University
Democracy and higher education have been good for each other. Although the first colleges on our shores were founded in colonies controlled by a monarchy in Britain, the impressive growth of universities that combined research, teaching and education of the whole student happened here as the country became more democratic. Slavery was the great stain on the nation, and the war fought to abolish this vile institution ended with promises that Black people, too, should enjoy opportunities for education, including at colleges. [ Read More ]
October 23, 2024 - Slate
The Neutral Turn
It is urgent that the leaders of colleges and universities stand up in defense of their interests and the values of higher education. American schools have long trumpeted their contribution to promoting an educated citizenry. Now, as one of the most consequential elections in American history approaches, we must do everything we can to help students work on campaigns and facilitate voting. And we must call out the threats to higher education. [ Read More ]
October 7, 2024 - The Chronicle of Higher Education
October 7 Is Not the Time For Institutional Neutrality
In this year since October 7, we have been reminded that education depends not just on free speech and critical thinking, but on a willingness to listen for the potential to build things together. A year ago, I ended my blog post like this: May the wounded receive care, the kidnapped be returned to their homes, and the bereaved find comfort. And may it not be long before the peacemakers can find a way. As educators, we should help all those open to learning to become peacemakers who find a way. [ Read More ]
October 2, 2024 - The Wall Street Journal
‘No Road Leading Back’ Review: The Pits of Ponar
At a time when self-styled radicals call Holocaust survivors “settler-colonialists” and Hitler apologists get to spew nonsense about Nazi administrators being overwhelmed by capturing too many prisoners of war, a detailed account of what happened in Ponar and how we remember it is an act of deep piety. To borrow the words of Rachel Margolis, a Lithuanian Holocaust survivor, Mr. Heath “is placing a stone, a big stone, marking the spot where those Jews died.” The reader is disturbed. And grateful. [ Read More ]
September 10, 2024 - The Washington Post
The real cost of the student debt crisis
People have now borrowed more for education than for anything else except houses. Ryann Liebenthal is one of those borrowers, and she is very angry. Indeed, the author’s outrage is palpable throughout Burdened: Student Debt and the Making of an American Crisis...Our loan system has enabled some, like Liebenthal, to get a college education. But sadly, it has all too often sacrificed educational opportunity in favor of market solutions that work for bankers, not students. [ Read More ]
September 2, 2024 - The New Republic
The Campus Protests Over Gaza Are All Part of a Good Education
With college students returning to campus, and the brutal war in Gaza continuing unabated, many schools—including mine—are bracing for renewed protests...That’s a good thing. Colleges and universities should not retreat into some fantasy of neutrality. They should help students practice something that has become a prominent theme in the presidential race: freedom. [ Read More ]
July 23, 2024 - The Wall Street Journal
‘Final Verdict’ Review: Confronting Complicity
“Final Verdict” doesn’t present new information about the Holocaust, but it does provide a fresh perspective on how Germans have negotiated their sense of historical and individual responsibility. Mr. Buck shows that as memories of World War II dim, and as the country increasingly becomes a nation of immigrants, Germany must redefine its relation to its past, especially the Holocaust. How should one remember atrocities committed long ago? How should that memory inform contemporary political decisions? [ Read More ]
Read older bylines here.
