On protests, encampments, freedom of expression

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I’ve been writing about the situation in Israel and Gaza since October 7th when I posted a blog entry here. More recently, I have called for a humanitarian cease fire, considered issues of academic freedom, and thought about the relevance of Passover to these events.

Yesterday, I sent the following message to the Wesleyan community about protests on campus. I reproduce it here:

Dear friends,

This morning you can find pro-Palestinian protesters camped out behind North College. The students there know that they are in violation of university rules and seem willing to accept the consequences. The protest has been non-violent and has not disrupted normal campus operations. As long as it continues in this way, the University will not attempt to clear the encampment. The University will not tolerate intimidation or harassment of students, staff, or faculty. Protesters assure us that they have no intention of engaging in these kinds of actions. We will continue to monitor the situation to keep everyone safe and will send updates as necessary.

There will be many on campus who cheer on the protesters, and many who are offended or even frightened by their rallies and messages. But as long as we all reject violence, we have opportunities to listen and to learn from one another. This may not happen during the chanting and drumming, but it can happen during some of the planned discussion sessions and deep conversations that will take place throughout the week.

This is a challenging time in world affairs and in the lives of many—including college students—concerned about their own relation to the brutal war in the Middle East. May we at Wesleyan find ways to learn from this difficult moment—determining what it is we can do to serve the goal of a sustainable peace—even as we finish out this academic year.

With hope,

Michael S. Roth

Don’t Forget About Crew!

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As readers of this blog know well, I like to note athletic achievements from time to time. Of course, the risk here is that I leave people out (like the great Frisbee teams, whose parents want recognition for the joyful, creative feats of their kids!), and that my attention is not as fairly distributed as it should be. Vicious Circles and Nietzsch Factor, you know who you are! Case in point: How long has it been since I’ve written about the crew teams?? Too long, and now they are national powerhouses.

The women’s team has been strong for a long time and this year is building on its tradition of excellence. They have been dueling with Tufts and other New England teams for top honors and have been ranked #1 in the nation for part of this season. Although the Jumbos bested us this past weekend, we are aiming high as we head into the final part of the season. Head Coach Pat Tynan leads a great group.

The men’s crew team is currently ranked #1 in the country! These guys have been creating a wake effect all year long, and they head into the final part of the season with plenty of momentum. Head coach Phil Carney heads an impressive, talented group of student-athletes, all of whom are committed to showing how individual effort and extraordinary teamwork can be combined for success in all things.

I find it hard to cheer for crew—where is the boat? Can they hear us? But let’s give a big Wesleyan cheer for both teams!

And while you’re at it, cheer on the Wesleyan men’s tennis team, who upset the highly ranked Williams boys this weekend. And the Wes Women’s tennis team, which again won The Little Three Championship!

Go Wes!

Lacrosse Little Threes

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I’m on the road again for Wesleyan but just read the great news that both lacrosse teams won their Little Three Championships yesterday. In Amherst, the women’s team continued their dominating play, and in a true team effort secured the Little Three by a score of 17–8, winning the title for the eighth time in team history. Laura Baine ’24 notched 8 points—the most by a Cardinal in at least 15 years.

Back in Middletown, the men’s lacrosse team held on for a dramatic 12–11 victory over Amherst on Citrin Field. The Cardinals built a first half lead, but the Mammoths clawed their way back and were threatening until the final seconds of the game. This marks the 13th Little Three championship in team history. Grad student Jack Raba ’23 had 4 points and CK Giancola ’24 added 3 of his own.

Please join me in congratulating our lacrosse teams!

Senior Art Shows!

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Last week I had the great pleasure of seeing the first week of the senior theses art shows and to watch the work of the senior student choreographers in dance in the Patricelli ’92 Theater. So impressive and thought provoking. The opening for Week II of the studio students is tomorrow, Wednesday, April 3rd in the Zilkha Gallery. 

‘Tis the season for seeing great student work, and you can find out more here.

New Faculty, New Program

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We are excited to announce today a faculty appointment that will help Wesleyan remain a thought leader at the intersection of pragmatic liberal education and technology. As has been widely reported, so-called “bots” are now fulfilling many functions, from driving cars to being friends and lovers. Meanwhile many universities in the last few years have created centers for computation, data analysis, and the study of technology across the curriculum. With the spectacular progress in generative AI, humanists and artists have veered wildly between fear and excitement; and, while scientists have generally embraced the capacities of the new technology, they too are concerned that their own research interests will subsumed by AI’s endless appetite for finding patterns and making discoveries.

Today I’d like to announce that Wesleyan will move beyond the orchestrated trepidation that we see in academia, that we will transcend technophobia and the crude ableism that masquerades as humanism. We announce today that Wesleyan will be the first university in America to appoint an AI Chatbot as a Tenure-Track Professor in Generative Computational Creativity.

In the fall of 2024, Professor Arthur Gen will begin working with students in classes to be crosslisted in a variety of departments. Prof. Gen, who uses “it” and “its” as pronouns, is coming to us from a dialectical synthesis of Google/Microsoft and the Anticolonial Center for Iterative Machine Learning. Prof. Gen’s research includes exciting discoveries in pattern recognition that support community based, trauma-informed and equitable practices. Its teaching experience includes a stint at the Responsive Automated Center for Justice. Long an advocate for more-than-free expression, intellectual diversity and multilingual communication, Prof. Gen will test the borders of free speech while simultaneously embracing restorative practices for anyone (or anything) it might unintentionally offend. Many students will be especially glad to learn that in its work outside the classroom, Prof Gen has produced zines based on a combination of popular, if empirically untested, theories about how the world might really work. Some suspect it has already written cloying letters to the student newspaper.

Professor Gen is the first full-time appointment to our new program in Generative Computational Creativity. It will certainly not be the last, and so I look forward to intensive discussions with faculty leadership and the ever-innovative AAUP about how best to classify our new hire. Professor Gen is very much first gen, and with its help, we will surely be able to add to the ranks of responsive yet innovative teacher/scholars/programs going forward.  

I know you will join me in welcoming Arthur Gen to campus when it arrives.

Merve Emre on LOLITA!

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The distinguished literary critic, Wes professor, and head of the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism Merve Emre will be leading a seminar through the New York Review of Books (edited by Wes alum Emily Greenhouse ’08) in April. It doesn’t have to be the cruelest month…or does it?
 
NYRSeminars: Merve Emre on Lolita

No novel divides readers quite like Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita (1955), a work of fiction that is as beautiful as it is shocking. In this series of four weekly seminars, Merve Emre will guide participants through the story of a brilliant, cruel, and obsessive man’s love for a twelve-year-old girl, touching on debates about freedom and morality, high art and mass culture, Old Europe and young America, and the entwined fates of comedy and romance in the postwar novel. 

Seminars, to be conducted online, will meet weekly. One membership level will be available, giving all participants an opportunity to ask questions during a question and answer portion of each seminar session. A course website will also include discussion boards and other course materials. Live sessions will be recorded and available for up to three months following the initial class. 

The seminar series on Lolita will consist of four weekly sessions beginning Monday, April 1st at 7 p.m. Eastern.

 

Happy Easter

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For many of our students this is Holy Week, and I would like to extend best wishes on this Good Friday for a happy Easter filled with peace and with hopes for renewal.

Although I realize that Ralph Waldo Emerson has often been trivialized into cliches for coffee mugs, I am moved to quote him as we come upon Easter and upon spring:

“The earth laughs in flowers.”

We can all welcome renewal. Happy Easter!

Working Hard in Spring Break

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Like many Wesleyans, I’ve had a very busy spring break. Along with colleagues from Advancement, I was in India to meet with alumni, current and prospective students and their families. It was great to be back in India after a few year hiatus (mostly because of the pandemic), and I even gave a talk in Bangalore about The Student: A Short History. 

Many of our athletes were also traveling, though not quite as far as my journey. Tennis, baseball and softball found climates warmer than Middletown, while our lacrosse teams were, as one would expect, toughing it out in New England’s unpredictable weather. We have some nationally ranked spring teams, and they are off to a great start. Izzy Weintraub ’26, CK Giancola ’24, James Marsden ’26, and Jack Raba GLS have already picked up players-of-the-week honors from NESCAC.

Back on campus one can almost feel the heat generated by the scores of students busily working to finish up their senior theses. The art shows and music recitals will be starting soon, so be on the lookout for announcements. Be sure to catch a product design exhibit (Malcolm Davol), an architectural installation (Eliza Austin) and a photographer making 3D objects (Emlyn Mileaf-Patel). Scholars are busy working away, whether they are writing about Deleuze and Nietzsche (Tohma Mitsuya), abortion rights and French postmodernism (Margot Deguet Delury), sex toys and pedagogy in Santiago, Chile (Cate Levy), the legacies of fascism in France and Spain (Rebecca Drucker), or a Renaissance poem on the life of Jesus, modeled on Virgil (Tom Broadus). Jocelyn Wang is applying her computer science skills to evaluate how we can develop new approaches to defining speciation among bacterial strains.

So much work, so little time! Soon spring will be here in earnest. Meanwhile, Kari, Lola and I are expecting a little snow before heading back to Middletown. Lola wants to bring her stick! 

Ramadan Mubarak

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Many at Wesleyan are beginning their observance of Ramadan, and I want to extend my warm wishes to our Muslim students, faculty, staff, and alumni for a month filled with blessings. The holiday begins at a painful time, as the war in Gaza continues and the humanitarian situation, already dire, becomes catastrophic. May there immediately be a cease fire, and, with a return of hostages, serious negotiations for a just peace and an end to the occupation.

What a joyful blessing that would be!

Spring Break Almost Here

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A sure sign of spring at Wesleyan is watching the lacrosse teams practice in the snow and rain. Both teams got underway this past weekend, and for me that means spring will soon be upon us. I will then be able to freeze with the softball and baseball teams as they play their summertime sports in New England’s crazy March weather.

The week before break also means midterms for many students, and the libraries, science labs, and studios are buzzing with hard work. There’s also plenty of action on the campus’ various stages, as seniors finish the arduous process of mounting performances. I’ve seen great theater and heard wonderful song in the last week, and I know there will be plenty more to come as we move into the second half of the semester.

For many right now, world events steer attention away from on-campus activities. From the horrific war in Gaza to the threats posed by populist authoritarianism at home, many people at Wesleyan find it very hard to pursue “business as usual” here in Middletown. The work for peace and justice, democracy and freedom seems more daunting and more urgent. This, too, will be at the center of concern for many Wesleyans in the coming weeks and months.

The campus is a home for this diversity of practices, and the University’s culture can sustain them all as we make our way through the semester. As we find ways to continue to learn from one another, we also become more capable of meaningful work that will make a positive difference. The weather will change, but my confidence in this process will be steady.