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Roth on Wesleyan

Let’s Begin the Next Phase of Civic Engagement

November 9, 2020 by Michael S. Roth '78

It’s hard to digest all the news, but the elections are mostly behind us. The important question as to who will be president has been settled, but as the fog of that uncertainty has lifted, we must contend with all the other questions that remain. How will we find ways to come together to face the challenges ahead — epidemiological, environmental, social, political, economic? The list goes on and on, and if there is often strong disagreement as to how best to define these challenges, there is no disputing that we have our work to do. And that includes reckoning with our histories of injustice if we are to reinvigorate our aspirations for freedom, equality and justice.

Cynicism is easy, and sophisticated despair (often disguised with irony) is merely an admission of a lack of imagination and will. We need both imagination and will to work together to build a better future — for our campus, for our city, and for the country. There are already groups of students working with faculty and administrators on making Wesleyan a more equitable and inclusive place, and I am hopeful that we can build on that cooperation to  continue to make meaningful civic contributions well beyond the borders of the university.

Listening with an open heart and an open mind will lead us to better ways of thinking and acting. Now, the next phase of the work begins.

Categories UncategorizedTags Civic Engagement, E2020, Wesleyan University
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Patience, Kindness, Especially Now
Acknowledging Our Veterans
Michael S. Roth

Michael S. Roth became Wesleyan University's 16th president on July 1, 2007.

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Wesleyan SACLC 3 hours ago

Student-Athlete of Color Leadership Council: The Battle Is Worth It. 💯 Retweeted by Michael S Roth

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Michael S Roth 3 hours ago

Another new #CivicEngagement class @coursera from @wesleyan_u coursera.org/learn/take-act… @Wes_engage

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Michael S Roth 5 hours ago

Sun is coming up, really...

test Twitter Media - Sun is coming up, really... https://t.co/CBinLa18We
The profile image of mroth78
Michael S Roth 5 hours ago

RIP Mary Catherine Bateson 'Love Across Difference' - and life as a "desperate improvisation in which I was constantly trying to make something coherent from conflicting elements to fit rapidly changing settings" nytimes.com/2021/01/14/boo…

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Michael S Roth 5 hours ago

New @coursera class offered by @wesleyan_u coursera.org/learn/designin…

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Michael S Roth 6 hours ago

How Big is Your ‘Big Lie’? 1. Saying you won an election you lost? 2. Starting a war on a false pretext? 3. Claiming a pandemic is a hoax? What’s the standard of measurement?

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Michael S Roth 6 hours ago

Noble lie? twitter.com/DAMendelsohnNY…

However scary it may be, this is *such* a good Plato teaching moment. https://t.co/63nLdSoW4O

— Daniel Mendelsohn (@DAMendelsohnNYC) January 15, 2021
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Keeanga-Yamahtta T. 2 days ago

The real coup twitter.com/AriBerman/stat… Retweeted by Michael S Roth

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Michael S Roth 1 day ago

Read ⁦@parul_sehgal⁩ on judgment, Saunders &Chekhov: “Saunders writes that the story seems to ask us to sit in judgment of the character, to ask, “Is this trait of hers good or bad?” Chekhov, he tells us, answers: “Yes.” via ⁦@nytimesbooks⁩ nytimes.com/2021/01/12/boo…

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Michael S Roth 1 day ago

Read ⁦@jenszalai⁩ on use & abuse of Orwell ‘s “1984” “the novel itself isn’t so much a treatise on free speech absolutism as it is a warning about the degradation of language and the potency of lethal propaganda.” ⁦@nytimesbooks⁩ nytimes.com/2021/01/13/boo…

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Michael S Roth 2 days ago

So pleased to see this @wesleyan_u students getting their work out! twitter.com/wesleyan_u/sta…

As a result of an assignment from Professor Fred Cohan's course, Global Change and Infectious Disease, more than 25 students have had their work published in newspapers across the US – many citing the University’s COVID-19 safety protocols.https://t.co/Msxzk3XkA2

— Wesleyan University (@wesleyan_u) January 13, 2021
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Michael S Roth 2 days ago

Dayenu twitter.com/aedwardslevy/s…

in most other presidencies we do not impeach even once

why, in this presidency, do we impeach twice

— Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy) January 13, 2021
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Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins 2 days ago

Extremist movements in 20th century Europe are often viewed in ideological terms. In the US they have been associated with religious extremism. Fascism as a category of analysis in the US might be debatable, but cultish, millenarian, religious sects are as American as apple pie. twitter.com/dbessner/statu… Retweeted by Michael S Roth

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Eddie S. Glaude Jr. 2 days ago

Where is the bottom? Retweeted by Michael S Roth

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Michael S Roth 2 days ago

Read insightful ⁦@AdamSerwer⁩ “The belief that only impoverished people engage in political violence—particularly right-wing political violence—is a misconception often cultivated by the very elites who benefit from that violence.” @theatlantic theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

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Michael S Roth 3 days ago

Re-posting from the early summer: "Higher Education Needs Antifascism Now" #IntellectualDiversity does not = total neutrality insidehighered.com/views/2020/06/…

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Michael S Roth 3 days ago

Read ⁦@risenc⁩ on “the modern American experience, from immigration &the promise of postwar abundance, through the tumult of the 1960s, to the search for meaning in a secular society —&finally, in the early 21st century, to the ravages of a pandemic” nytimes.com/2021/01/11/obi…

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Michael S Roth 4 days ago

Read @samuelmoyn "Cruz & Hawley have been making..outrageous moves..not because they learned them at Harvard &Yale, but because Harvard &Yale put them in a position to ascend to the heights of U.S. politics as it shifted so disturbingly over recent years" chronicle.com/article/the-fa…

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Wesleyan University 4 days ago

Wesleyan University Press authors Hafizah Geter, Rae Armantrout, and Honorée Fanonne Jeffers were recently longlisted for awards from PEN America. fal.cn/3cFkT Retweeted by Michael S Roth

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Michael S Roth 4 days ago

@jasonintrator @Notorious_RSG @dbessner Same claim the Communists made about the socialists in the 1930s Germany. SPD more dangerous than NSDAP

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