Last Friday, the University of Wesleyan could be switched on Connecticut campus for a nice spring day. Students with books and laptops with a green slope dot; Herds of acceptances were followed by visitors tour guides; The baseball season had just begun and the application continued. In 2025, it was almost possible to forget the terrible throats of American higher education.
College and universities have been the early targets of the second Trump administration. Last month, the management announced that he would investigate diversity, equality and involvement in more than fifty schools; Hundreds of millions of dollars reduced federal funds from institutions such as Johns Hopkins and Pennsylvania University; And he tried to deport international students who participated in pro -Palestinian activities. Columbia received a letter from the federal government to make changes in disciplinary and entry policies and the placement of the Middle East, South Asia and African studies under the “academic buyers – – was welcomed as a“ prerequisite özgün to negotiate the restoration of four hundred million dollars in the federal funds. The university accepted these demands the following week; The next week, the university’s president resigned.
Columbia’s surrender was compatible with a general tendency towards circumcision. In 2023, the memory of the presidents of the Congress Gizgara University seems fresh among the leaders in higher ED: very few want to risk their jobs or budgets by saying the wrong thing. A handful of exceptions came to the fore; For example, President Christopher Eisgruber from Princeton, a piece by Atlantic about “The cost of the government’s attack on Columbia. “(This week, the management suspended dozens of grants to Princeton.) But perhaps none of them were Vollue or permanent as Michael Roth, the president of Wesleyan since 2007.
Roth is a historian and Wesleyan graduate who designed a main branch in the history of psychological theory as a license. Scholarship Freud and Memory as well as institutions with colleges, “SAFETY ENOUGH SPACES”(2019) and”Student: A Short Date”(2023). Presidential Blogand as president. In 2023, Wesleyan ended the old assumptions in response to the Supreme Court’s decision against the positive action.
When Wesleyan students participated in the national protest wave on the Gaza War, Roth – Student protesters and those who want to close the protests, who described himself as a supporter of both free speech and Israel’s right to existence. Meanwhile, managers in interviews and articles, other colleges, “Calven Report”-1967, a document from the University of Chicago, developed the claim that universities should always be meticulously neutral. A new column for SlateColumbia argued that the activist should “scare the president of every university”.
Roth and I met both the students and the cabinet. Wearing head stones and polka-nokta socks, a loose twisted and Gregarious, and our speech (arranged for length and clarity) was ended with the bright sound of hitting the baseball diamond outside.
Last year, before the election, you wrote that colleges and universities were not ready for those who arrived. How is it true compared to your expectations?
Much worse than I expected.
I had this idea – Alas, in 2020, just like Kovid It would be great if colleges and universities took our civil responsibilities more seriously and encouraged students to join the public sphere: work on a campaign, zoning commission, anyway. We meticulously agnostic about what they chose to work on. We found a few hundred schools that accepted in principle and created a network. Before the election of 2024, we re -activated this group, and this time it was less likely that institutions wanted to support even something that was not partisan.
We really have three thousand students – and I wanted other big places in Austin and Michigan. Some accepted it as a principle, but this time in 2024 – in spring, let’s say when Biden was still in the race, it was clear that Trump would be nominated – the silence of the academic leaders was already clear.
Last year, we published a program called Democracy 2024. We brought people here – IT Conference, everything. And even a group of presidents, whom I helped to come together for this purpose, began to talk about “dialogue of difference ında more than participation in the election system.
Everyone is in favor of not fighting and having better dialogues and I am. But in favor of people who work on campaigns, learn about problems and do things. And in the last two months, it is painful that it will not stop people who want to make good conversations on authoritarianism. Currently, I’m not sure what’s going to stop them, except for successful court challenges, and even seems precarious.
Watching the video of this poor woman on TUFTS, which was kidnapped by federal agents – My blog today About it. I think the government is spreading terror and they want to do it. This child is not a threat to safety.
This is a terrible video.
I wrote to the President of the TUFTS – who I know, because we are at the same athletic conference – and only “Is there anything you want to do?” I said. “Thank you for writing,” he said. And I don’t know his job. I’m sure he’s trying to help the student; This is his responsibility and I respect it. But at the same time, every citizen, but I definitely think that every university should express anger.
I am curious about hearing your thoughts about how we were injured here. Are there any elections that make them more vulnerable to the attack?
I’m trying to think about it without blaming the victim, because the story for me is that the government’s abuse of their forces by fighting against civil society. This is the song I sang – because you may not like universities, but you probably like churches or synagogues. But I also think how universities can be less vulnerable in the long run. For almost ten years, I’ve been discussing the intellectual and political inspiration of highly selective colleges and universities, and we need more intellectual diversity in these places. I wrote one piece inside Wall Street Journal [in 2017]For conservatives who bother everyone, I think it is a good op-ed.
