Michael Roth, President Wesleyan University: “From Neutrality to Democracy: How Higher Ed Can Defend Democracy”
Michael S. Roth
From Neutrality to Democracy: How Higher Ed Can Defend Democracy
Michael S. Roth ’78 became the 16th president of Wesleyan University in 2007, after having served as Hartley Burr Alexander Professor of Humanities at Scripps College, Associate Director of the Getty Research Institute, and President of the California College of the Arts. At Wesleyan, Roth has overseen many improvements to the physical campus, including the soon to be completed life sciences building, as well as the launch of new academic programs, including the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism, and interdisciplinary colleges emphasizing advanced research in the areas of the environment, film, East Asian studies, integrative sciences, education studies, science and technology, and design and engineering. An intellectual historian with a love of the classroom, Roth continues to teach Wesleyan undergraduates each semester and (through Coursera and the National Educational Equity Foundation) has also offered online and hybrid courses.
Under his leadership, Wesleyan celebrated a record-breaking fundraising effort—raising more than $482 million, primarily for financial aid—and is now successfully embarked on an even more ambitious campaign. Roth has undertaken a number of initiatives to make a Wesleyan education more affordable for many and more accessible to students from under-represented groups. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision in July 2023, he announced a suite of new recruiting efforts aimed at enhancing diverse campus learning—including an end to admissions preference for legacy applicants and the creation of an African Scholars Program.
Author and curator (most notably of the exhibition “Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture,” which opened at the Library of Congress in 1998), Roth has written numerous books and essays centered on how people make sense of the past. Since becoming president at Wesleyan, he has published three books (all with Yale University Press) bearing on liberal education, the most recent being The Student, A Short History (2023). His Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters (2014) was recognized with the Association of American Colleges & Universities’ Frederic W. Ness award for a book that best illuminates the goals and practices of a contemporary liberal education. His 2019 book, Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness, addresses some of the most contentious issues in American higher education—including affirmative action, safe spaces, and questions of free speech. Roth regularly publishes essays, book reviews, and commentaries in the national media and scholarly journals. An outspoken defender of the value of colleges and universities and their importance to democracy, he was given the PEN/Benenson Courage Award in 2025 for standing up against governmental assaults on higher education.