Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
President of Wesleyan University. (grand)father, husband, author, professor. Defender of academic freedom, liberal education and democracy.
Michael Scott Roth is an American academic and university administrator. He became the 16th president of Wesleyan University in 2007. Formerly, he was the 8th president of the California College of the Arts (2000–2007), associate director of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, and Director of European Studies at Claremont Graduate University. He was also the H.B. Professor of Humanities at Scripps College, where he was the founding director of the Scripps College Humanities Institute. .. more
Psychology
30%
Philosophy
26%
"If social sycophancy is a bug in large language models, it is a feature to the Trump administration," @msroth.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/3Ygucuw
Opinion | The epidemic of toxic flattery is spreading
What do AI, Trump’s cabinet and the academy have in common? They aim to please.
wapo.st
“many higher ed leaders display a striking obsequiousness in the face of power &money…falling over themselves to show they can follow the priorities of the president. While preaching civility on campus, these schools are practicing servility in the face of growing authoritarianism.” @aacu.org
Reposted by Michael S. Roth
Opinion | The epidemic of toxic flattery is spreading
What do AI, Trump’s cabinet and the academy have in common? They aim to please.
wapo.st
"If social sycophancy is a bug in large language models, it is a feature to the Trump administration," @msroth.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/3Ygucuw
The latest from @msroth.bsky.social:
We can reject sycophancy in #HigherEducation “we should look for examples of people who just say “no,” refusing to cave to social pressures or power moves intended to force us to live at odds with our values.” wapo.st/4jgWdf5 @aacu.org @aceducation.bsky.social @wesleyanuniversity.bsky.social
“While preaching civility on campus, these schools are practicing servility in the face of growing authoritarianism." @aacu.org @aaup.org @thefireorg.bsky.social @acls1919.bsky.social @aclu.org @cato.org @aceducation.bsky.social @wesleyanuniversity.bsky.social @washingtonpost.com
Reposted by Michael S. Roth
We can reject sycophancy in #HigherEducation “we should look for examples of people who just say “no,” refusing to cave to social pressures or power moves intended to force us to live at odds with our values.” wapo.st/4jgWdf5 @aacu.org @aceducation.bsky.social @wesleyanuniversity.bsky.social
Opinion | The epidemic of toxic flattery is spreading
What do AI, Trump’s cabinet and the academy have in common? They aim to please.
wapo.st
The latest from @msroth.bsky.social:
Opinion | The epidemic of toxic flattery is spreading
What do AI, Trump’s cabinet and the academy have in common? They aim to please.
wapo.st
We can reject sycophancy in #HigherEducation “we should look for examples of people who just say “no,” refusing to cave to social pressures or power moves intended to force us to live at odds with our values.” wapo.st/4jgWdf5 @aacu.org @aceducation.bsky.social @wesleyanuniversity.bsky.social
A Scientific Pipeline to the Nobel Prize Fueled by Immigrants
www.nytimes.com
“the six American winners of science Nobels this year, three were born outside the United States. In this century, the émigré fraction of U.S. Nobels in physics, chemistry and medicine now stands at 40 percent.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/s...
Contributor: Americans still have a choice whether to let the nation turn authoritarian
Obsequiousness and collaboration spread like viruses to weaken our republic, but the choice to support one another and defend our institutions strengthens it.
www.latimes.com
My take in @latimes.com "Obsequiousness and collaboration spread like viruses to weaken our republic, but the choice to support one another and defend our institutions strengthens it" www.latimes.com/opinion/stor... @aacu.org @aaup.org @thefireorg.bsky.social @mollyjongfast.bsky.social @velshi.com
Reposted by Christine Kooi
Opinion | Republican Women Suddenly Realize They’re Surrounded by Misogynists
www.nytimes.com
Read @michellegoldberg.bsky.social “Much has been made about the rebirth of gutter antisemitism and racism within the conservative movement. There’s been less public alarm about the resurgence of unapologetic misogyny.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/o...
Opinion | What Trump Is Really Doing With His Boat Strikes
www.nytimes.com
Read @philklay.bsky.social on the corruption of our souls “I suspect the question the administration cares about is not “is this legal,” “is this a war crime,” “is this murder” or even “is this good for America,” but rather, “isn’t this violence delightful?” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/o...
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Dec 2
@msroth.bsky.social is the only one of the university leaders in this conversation who sees this moment clearly and is willing to call it out. It does not bode well for us, as a society, that the other folks don’t seem to get it.
“I think this initiative has as much to do with scientific research as the early [antisemitism] initiative had to do with protecting Jews. This is an extortionist move to try to hold institutions that are heavily dependent on federal funding, as research institutions are, to have leverage over them.
Thanks very much
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Dec 2
Thanks!
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Dec 2
Read @lioneltrolling.bsky.social "All these phrases: “post-liberalism,” “national conservatism,” etc., etc., are just ways to paper over what’s happening in the here and now: rampant lawlessness, cruelty, & corruption. They allow people to avoid using their judgment about what’s in front of them."
Reposted by Michael S. Roth
“I think this initiative has as much to do with scientific research as the early [antisemitism] initiative had to do with protecting Jews. This is an extortionist move to try to hold institutions that are heavily dependent on federal funding, as research institutions are, to have leverage over them.
Opinion | ‘We Lost Our Mission’: Three University Leaders on the Future of Higher Ed
www.nytimes.com
@msroth.bsky.social is the only one of the university leaders in this conversation who sees this moment clearly and is willing to call it out. It does not bode well for us, as a society, that the other folks don’t seem to get it.
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 23
Opinion | How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails
www.nytimes.com
Read @anandwrites.bsky.social “the emails depict a group whose highest commitment is to their own permanence in the class that decides things. When principles conflict with staying in the network, the network wins.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 21
Pop Culture Got Stale. Counterculture Went Right-Wing.
www.nytimes.com
Read @jenszalai.bsky.social quote @wdavidmarx.bsky.social “This long-term project to rebrand conservatism as cool and transgressive succeeded precisely because we removed cultural invention as a potential countervailing force.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/b...
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 19
www.nytimes.com
The White House has "given viewpoint diversity a bad odor..not because the federal government was looking for ideological diversity, but because they’re looking for loyalty...How do you negotiate with a partner who’s willing to actually destroy what we do well?" www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/o...
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 18
Opinion | ‘We Need to Be Worried’: Three University Leaders on the Fate of Higher Education in the Trump Era
www.nytimes.com
Given the extortionist tactics of the administration, I ask "How do you negotiate with a partner who’s willing to actually destroy what we do well?" @nytopinion.nytimes.com @thefireorg.bsky.social @aacu.org @aceducation.bsky.social @mollyjongfast.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/o...
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 17
Opinion | The Lesson We Teach Schoolchildren About the Holocaust Is Wrong
www.nytimes.com
“the branding of political opponents as extremists and foreign agents collapses all distinctions between opposition and enmity, turning political contest into a struggle for survival and disagreement into an existential threat.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/o...
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 17
Tell Students the Truth About American History
We owe it to Americans of all ages to be honest about the country’s past, including its contradictions.
www.theatlantic.com
.@clintsmithiii.bsky.social “The ability to connect the past &present is one of the most crucial functions of learning history. A curriculum that ignores these connections promotes a kind of lie by omission. We owe it to our young people not to lie to them anymore
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Erika Franklin Fowler, Robert C. Richards, Michael S. Roth
James Sims
@simsjames.bsky.social
· Nov 15
At Wesleyan University’s “Dialogue for Change: From Conflict to Action” seminar Anna Deavere Smith and @msroth.bsky.social explored how remembering the past and embracing critique sustain democracy and education. “We can’t go forward unless we remember, unless we confront these ghosts.” #HigherEd
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Opinion | The ‘Groyperfication’ of the G.O.P.
www.nytimes.com
Yes, @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social, not a new question but a challenging one for those who only celebrate "critical thinking": "If you don’t believe in the establishment and you don’t believe in any norms, how do you decide what to believe?" @lioneltrolling.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/o...
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 13
Conscription for Peace
What peaceful equivalent of war could generate the same sense of urgency and solidarity? William James had an answer.
www.commonwealmagazine.org
"a compulsory..conscription program in which the children of both the rich &poor would spend part of their youth serving the community—would be a thoroughly democratic way to address inequality & rechannel the energies that feed the war machine" Ihttps://www.commonwealmagazine.org/conscription-peace
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 11
Why I Am Resigning
A federal judge explains his reasoning for leaving the bench.
www.theatlantic.com
Mark Wolf “I no longer can bear to be restrained by what judges can say publicly or do outside the courtroom… The White House’s assault on the rule of law is so deeply disturbing to me that I feel compelled to speak out. Silence, for me, is now intolerable.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 7
This Poem About Monet’s “Water Lilies” Reflects on the Powers and Limits of Art
“Monet’s ‘Waterlilies,’” by Robert Hayden, reflects on what art can (and can’t) do in tumultuous times. Our critic A.O. Scott shows you why he loves it.
www.nytimes.com
Read AO Scott: “Art can’t save us from anything, but we need it as a reminder of something better” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 3
Opinion | The New Right’s New Antisemites
Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation flounders in the Tucker Carlson-Nick Fuentes fever swamps.
www.wsj.com
Anti-antisemitism is out, and now traditional Jew hatred is back. www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...
Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 3
Crazy how much some media has normalized the idea that voters are taking a risk if they elect governors/mayors who will defy Trump. That he’ll threaten their funding, etc.
Try to imagine, say. Greg Abbott being asked if he’s worried that Biden will punish Texas over his lawsuits.
Try to imagine, say. Greg Abbott being asked if he’s worried that Biden will punish Texas over his lawsuits.
Same thing is true for leaders of colleges & universities
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Nov 3
Opinion | How to Be a Good Citizen of a Bad Country
www.nytimes.com
Read @mashagessen.bsky.social “To be a good citizen of a bad state, one has to do scary things... It is weighing leaving against staying, moral obligation against fear, flying under the radar against taking a risk — and opting for the risk.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/o...
Dave Weigel
@daveweigel.bsky.social
· Nov 3
Crazy how much some media has normalized the idea that voters are taking a risk if they elect governors/mayors who will defy Trump. That he’ll threaten their funding, etc.
Try to imagine, say. Greg Abbott being asked if he’s worried that Biden will punish Texas over his lawsuits.
Try to imagine, say. Greg Abbott being asked if he’s worried that Biden will punish Texas over his lawsuits.
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Oct 31
Opinion | I Thought Graham Platner Was Finished. What I Saw in Maine Changed My Mind.
www.nytimes.com
How to organize against authoritarianism “the slow, patient work of talking to one’s neighbors is the only answer. The starting point for both winning an election and fighting fascism were the same, he said: building networks of people in local communities.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/o...
Michael S Roth
@msroth.bsky.social
· Oct 29
"If we are to have any hope that good ideas will win and bad ideas will lose, we need a wider range of viewpoints… viewpoint diversity is valuable because it disrupts the greatest..enemy of free inquiry, orthodoxy, which intimidates dissenters into silence" www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...