Michael S. Roth '78 
Kari and I got to the voting station on campus early this morning. It’s Election Day — time to cast your vote!
Whether your concerns are immigration or inflation, reproductive rights or human rights, democracy or public health…. Whatever your concerns, please make your voice heard today!
As we are about to head into November, we are one week from Election Day on November 8. I trust by now Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff have a plan for voting, and I imagine many of you are working on behalf of a candidate or issue of your choice. Readers of this blog know I believe that learning through civic practices is a crucial dimension of a liberal education, and we are doing what we can to bring the educative dimensions of democracy to our campus (and to other campuses). This is an urgent project.
A few weeks ago, I published an essay in The Boston Globe about the importance of these midterm elections. I cross-post it here. So much is at stake right now. You can make a difference.
College mission: Encourage diverse views but protect democracy
This fall many college leaders will struggle with how to navigate an intense election season in which the polarization of the country is seemingly everywhere. Higher education officials usually try to maintain their nonpartisan status, both for legal reasons (as employees of tax-exempt not-for-profits) and for educational ones. Our job as administrators and teachers is not to tell students what to think about politics but to help them formulate their own views while considering the best available information and most thoughtful perspectives.
In the summer of 2016, I broke from this tradition because the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump represented not just a political choice for teachers and students but a clear threat to our educational mission. At the time, I wrote that he was “using the tools characteristic of demagogues and fascists to do the only thing that really matters to him: gaining power. He will say anything that he thinks will help him win, and there is no telling what he will do if he is successful.”
We now know more about that. We know that Trump encouraged a coup in the wake of his electoral defeat and that he continues to advocate for the dismantling of our democracy. He is backing candidates who proudly claim that if they lose the election, it has to have been rigged, candidates who want to hinder from voting those unlikely to support them. And how can we not be alarmed by the apparent readiness of Trump and his allies to remove from the federal workforce anyone who disagrees with their approach to America First. As Trump said at a rally last March, “We will pass critical reforms making every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States.” Known as “Schedule F,” it means tens of thousands of people could be in danger of losing their jobs if Trump is elected in 2024. Positions of power would be filled not on the basis of competence but of fidelity.
This is not about policy differences but about the mechanisms and values of our representative system. And that’s why educators at all levels must speak out to defend democracy. We must also speak out to defend those who have already become the victims of creeping authoritarianism. Vulnerable poor and working people, members of marginalized groups, and immigrants are already being harassed by would-be strongmen and their cronies. Texas and Florida are only the most obvious examples where governors emulate Trump’s demagogue playbook by scapegoating trans people and migrants to energize the base emotions of some of their strongest supporters. After the election of 2016, some campus leaders vowed to protect immigrants who felt threatened by Trump’s election, and now we must remind politicians that schools and colleges have a responsibility to educate all students.
As we defend the processes of democracy and the most vulnerable members of our community, we must also protect the rights of all students on campus. This includes ensuring that those who identify as conservatives are not further marginalized by our efforts to protect the democratic process. We must not confuse the rejection of authoritarianism with a partisan suite of policy judgments about domestic and foreign affairs. The defense of democracy always includes the defense of one’s right to express views other than the majority’s. We must not encourage campus authoritarianism just because there seems to be a local consensus about what it means to be progressive.
A broad, inclusive college education is so valuable because through it we learn to reason together. We learn to engage in ongoing conversations with people different from ourselves and whose views we might find objectionable. This serves the country as a whole by creating habits of open-minded discussion and practiced, free inquiry. The authoritarianism we see growing in the United States and around the world pulls apart the very fabric of liberal education and would make it impossible for us to continue this work.
We in higher education must energetically cultivate democratic values—including freedom of expression, rights to representation, and the protection of the vulnerable—at home on our campuses. And we must take a stand against the would-be strongmen who threaten these values in our country and beyond. As educators, we should encourage our students and colleagues to join us in fighting for basic democratic rights. And should that fight be lost in America and the capacity to reason together be rendered pointless (or even persecuted), what then becomes of a genuine education? The nature and mission of our colleges and universities will change fundamentally. That so many are demanding just that should be warning enough.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, many have come to recognize that the elections on November 8 can have an important impact on how women are able to access reproductive health care across the land. Some candidates aim to impose total bans on abortion, and others want to leave the choice entirely in the hands of the pregnant person and their doctor. As a university president, it is not my role to tell people what to think about the complexities of this issue. But it is my role to remind Wesleyans of the importance of learning about the issue and of participating in public discussions of it.
In this regard, I’d like to remind everyone of a campus event sponsored by FGSS and Wesleyan Reproductive Advocacy & Legislation this Thursday, October 20 at noon in Judd Hall, room 116. Faculty and students will gather to discuss their views on access to reproductive health care.
I’d also like to remind everyone that it’s not too late to apply for mini-grants to support work on political campaigns and voter registration efforts. Learn more about the JCCP Political Engagement Fund and apply online.
The Wesleyan Volleyball team is on a roll, and last weekend captured the Little Three Championship by beating Williams and Amherst in back-to-back wins. This is a great group of student/athletes, led by a dedicated coach in Ben Somera.
Congratulations and good luck with the rest of the season!
I was in North Carolina this week, talking about civic engagement at Duke and at the University of North Carolina. At Duke, I met with faculty and students who have been part of the Sanford School of Public Policy and DukeEngage, programs that promote student learning through practices in the public sphere. At UNC I was part of a panel on civic engagement and intellectual diversity, subjects about which I’ve often written.
What really came home to me when I was talking with students, teachers and other community members was just how important these midterm elections are. There are people on the ballot in North Carolina and elsewhere around the country who are determined to change the rules of democracy so as to cement power and privilege to prevent further democratic change. This means people who will restrict voting rights, roll back gains made by women and minorities, and undermine the basic freedoms that are essential to our educational and electoral systems. All elections matter, but these midterms are crucial.
That’s why we are promoting mini-grants for students who want to travel to states where there are especially competitive races. You can get travel funds to work over Fall Break in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Florida… Wherever you think you can make a difference for the candidate or ballot measure of your choice. Who or what you support, of course, is entirely up to you.
Please have a plan to vote on November 8, and let’s do what we can to help others make their voices heard.
Over the years, I have had several students from Iran in my online classes at Coursera. Lately, I’ve been reading about student political action at Sharif University in Tehran with a mixture of admiration and horror. Admiration, since the students there have shown such courage in their protests since the funeral of Mahsa Amini a few weeks ago. Horror because of the brutality of the regime’s response to these protests. Human rights groups put the death toll at well over 100, as students and their allies refuse to back down in the face of violent tyranny.
Mahsa Amini had been arrested for “unsuitable attire,” and she then died in police custody after falling into a coma. This is official brutality at its worst, and young women and men across Iran have protested against a regime that denies people their basic freedoms. Universities depend on these freedoms to do their work, and the violence with which they are currently being attacked is deplorable.
Raising our voices of solidarity with Iranian students fighting tyranny may not save them from the tear gas, batons and bullets of the Revolutionary Guard. But if it gives even one protestor a little more energy, we ought to join the chorus of those calling for an end to the oppressive violence in Iran.
It’s early days, but already some Wesleyan athletes have been recognized for extraordinary achievement. Let’s start with a great volleyball player on a tremendous team. Mariko Tanaka ’24 was named NESCAC Player-of-the-Week last week as she had games where she led the team in digs and then in kill percentage. She’s a force for good things and all of her teammates benefit from her strong play.
Speaking of strong play, Liam Devanny ’23 has been all but unbeatable in the goal for the men’s soccer team. He already has multiple shutouts under his belt, including great games against the nationally ranked teams from Tufts and Brandeis. Like volleyball, the men’s soccer team is off to an excellent start, and I’m so pleased to see Liam recognized as a Player-of-the-Week by NESCAC.
And speaking of excellent starts, the football team looked very impressive on Saturday. And most impressive was defensive tackle Nick Helbig ’23, and his strong play was acknowledged with the New England Football Writers’ Gold Helmet Award. This is a signal award for anyone, and especially rare for a defensive tackle. Nick was also named player-of-the-week by NESCAC.
Come out and cheer on Wesleyan’s wonderful student-athletes. Go Wes!
Such an exciting week at Wesleyan as we welcome members of the Class of 2026 and help them launch their college journeys. Meeting new people from around the world, discovering new perspectives, and hearing about experiences so different from their own—this is just the beginning. Every year I hear from students who get to know people they never would have expected to meet and others who discover folks who share so many of their interests.
In these first weeks of the semester, people will notice there is a lot of old-fashioned construction on campus. You can’t miss the work on the Public Affairs Center and the new art gallery next to Olin Library, but you might not know that underneath there are new pipes that will dramatically increase our energy efficiency. Up at Long Lane (behind the softball field), you can see the new building for the Neighborhood Preschool, and before long we hope to begin construction on the new Life Sciences Building. Read more about this work in The Connection.
But for most students, new or old, it’s not the buildings that matter most at the beginning of the semester. It’s the opportunity to learn by forming new friendships and indulging their curiosity through the breadth of Wesleyan’s open curriculum. There are so many exciting things to study and people to learn from that I hesitate to highlight any in particular, but here are some that students might not discover immediately on their own as they launch their academic careers:
Students beginning their college careers this fall are doing so at a time of great turbulence in the world. From the brutal invasion of Ukraine to the ongoing climate crisis, from the lingering COVID-19 pandemic to the threats against democracy…. These are very demanding times. Reading the news, I am often filled with despair at the challenges that face us. But when I meet the students beginning their journeys at Wesleyan, I can’t help but feel more hopeful. By learning to work together, we have a chance to defend democracy, promote public health, and create culture peace not culture war. We can reject the polarization that often stymies our political system and embrace discovery in an atmosphere of intellectual diversity and compassionate solidarity. Pragmatic liberal education brings joyful resolve into our lives at Wesleyan and far beyond the campus.
Best wishes for the start of the semester!
I received word earlier this summer that a dear friend of Wesleyan’s, Frank G. Binswanger Jr., had passed away. Frank graduated more than 70 years ago, but he remained keenly interested in alma mater. He was a trustee during the 1970s when two of his children were undergrads (along with me). Over the years, I would receive questions, advice and encouragement from Frank, and, with his wife Suzanne, we had occasion to raise a glass or two together to toast our beloved university. There have been more than ten Binswanger family members who’ve attended Wesleyan over the years.
Many at Wesleyan know the Binswanger name because of the teaching prize that Frank and his brother John ’54, P’83, GP’ 06, ’10, ’16 in honor of their father. Each year at Commencement we celebrate Wesleyan’s commitment to its scholar-teachers when members of the Alumni Association Executive Committee choose three faculty as recipients of the Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Frank took real pride in having helped establish this tradition.
Teaching, learning, philanthropy — Binswanger traditions. May Frank’s memory be a blessing.
On America’s birthday:
A toddler wanders around, lost. Kind strangers come to help. What happened? Aiden’s parents were killed, along with several others, by a sniper in Highland Park.
Wandering, lost…. The unspeakable is everywhere around us.
We don’t have to live this way.
May their memories be a blessing.
