A college president offers a class in standing up to Trump; The Washington Post, February 18, 2025

Opinion Perry Bacon Jr. , The Washington Post; A college president offers a class in standing up to Trump

"Many college presidents and deans are issuing mealymouthed statements, ending long-standing programs, removing content from websites and otherwise cowering in the face of the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education. Then there’s Michael S. Roth.

The president of Connecticut’s Wesleyan University wrote a piece in Slate that described some of the Trump administration’s rhetoric as authoritarian. He consistently reposts articles criticizing Trump’s decisions. He speaks and blogs firmly in defense of diversity, equity and inclusion, transgender rights and immigration.

Roth is demonstrating the kind of eloquence and resistance we desperately need from the leaders of not only colleges but also corporations, nonprofits and other organizations in the face of Trump’s onslaught against the rule of law, civil society and key American institutions."