Below are links to some recent bylines by Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth.
September 16, 2025 - The New York Times
Affirmative Action Is Dead. What Should Universities Do Now?
Authoritarians use fear to stifle dissent; they make a spectacle of punishing some to ensure the obedience of all. Yet, as Driver writes [in The Fall of Affirmative Action], “it is precisely when universities are most under siege that they must safeguard their core commitments.” The siege is well underway, and one can only hope that university leaders, faculty members and students will consult this worthy book as they work to ensure that those commitments survive. [ Read More ]
September 12, 2025 - Inside Higher Ed
Education as Freedom
We want to learn to think for ourselves in the company of others, leaving behind a dependence on authority. Authoritarians would see us impose immaturity upon ourselves. As the new school year begins, we in higher education must redouble our efforts to model and defend the enlightenment ideals of education and freedom—while we still can. [ Read More ]
August 6, 2025 - Time
What Jewish Tradition Teaches Us About the Violence in Gaza
The Torah is clear enough. Even in a time of war, even when conditions are most brutal, Jews are commanded to observe restraint, to practice proportionality. The rabbis expanded on this notion over the centuries. The commandment of bal taschit prohibits wasteful destruction and is especially relevant in military conflict because in the fog of war humans can feel justified in destroying anything in their paths. [ Read More ]
July 16, 2025 - Politico
Why I’m Rooting for Harvard, Just This Once
Nothing good will come from forcing schools as different as Hillsdale and Harvard, the University of Texas and the University of Virginia to conform to the president’s image — any president’s image — of what higher education should be. [ Read More ]
July 2, 2025 - MeidasTouch Network
A Message from a University President: Jim Ryan’s Questions
Jim Ryan understood his university’s mission, and he worked with “honesty, integrity, trust and respect” to further it. The success of the DOJ’s cynical demand that he resign for doing his job is a sad indication of the level of vindictiveness coming from the White House. [ Read More ]
May 1, 2025 - The Wall Street Journal
Our Universities Need Diverse Ideas, Not Ideological Auditors
Those of us fortunate enough to work in education must continue to follow the questions where they lead us, united in pursuing knowledge and eager for the company of people of diverse beliefs. The freedom to do so is essential for learning—and for our country too. [ Read More ]
April 11, 2025 - U.S. News
College Presidents Like Me Must Stand Up Against Campus Deportations
These brutal actions against people who are in the United States legally have little to do with national security. They are designed to silence foreign researchers, professors and students — especially Muslims, to frighten international visitors and to instill fear in academic institutions. Our government is running a campaign of fear, and we must resist it. [ Read More ]
April 7, 2025 - The New York Times
Trump Is Selling Jews a Dangerous Lie
As the first Jewish president of a formerly Methodist university, I find no comfort in the Trump administration’s embrace of my people, on college campuses or elsewhere. Jew hatred is real, but today’s anti-antisemitism isn’t a legitimate effort to fight it. It’s a cover for a wide range of agendas that have nothing to do with the welfare of Jewish people. [ Read More ]
March 28, 2025 - Time
Appeasing President Donald Trump Won’t Work
Leaders today must shine a bright light on abuses of power and challenge them through political channels and the courts. We must underscore that our freedoms are worth defending. Many decision makers are afraid, and so they choose a path of appeasement with a White House bent on revenge and aggrandizing power, hoping it will work. It won’t. [ Read More ]
Read older bylines here.