Higher education is at an inflection point. The stakes are clear. Will our universities continue to be spaces of truth and rigorous academic inquiry—or will they become fortresses of cowardice, where administrators prioritize their careers over their moral obligations and community?
At Wesleyan University, President Michael S. Roth has taken a stand. He’s not whispering behind closed doors. He’s not retreating into risk-averse, legalistic statements. Roth is calling out the political attacks on higher education for what they are. He’s defending the core values of our universities—academic freedom, knowledge production, student success, diversity, and the constitutional rights of faculty, staff, and students. While many others waffle, President Roth leads.
But what about your university’s leaders?
We need academic leaders with the skill, vision, and moral clarity to lead in times of crisis—leaders who even recognize when a crisis is unfolding.
Is your favorite college president wandering around whispering their support—telling faculty, students, and staff that they “stand with them” but refusing to actually stand up in public? Worse, are your academic leaders using university resources to actively litigate—internally or externally—against faculty, staff, or students to limit their freedom of speech because it’s the politically expedient thing to do?
The Palestinian-Gaza solidarity protests made one thing clear: too many academic leaders were unprepared, reactionary, and lacked the moral clarity to lead when it mattered most. Those who failed that test of leadership will fail this one too.
Higher education doesn’t just need leaders who talk about values in their speeches—it needs leaders with the courage and skill to defend them when it counts.
What Should Be the Focus of Higher Education Leadership?
If higher education is going to survive as a bastion of democracy, knowledge production, and free thought for everyone, we must demand better. We must ask:
- What does it take for our students to be successful? Our students need institutions that foster critical thinking, civic engagement, and open debate. They don’t need universities that cave to political pressures and suppress intellectual curiosity.
- What does it take for our faculty to be successful? Faculty need academic freedom, full stop. They need the ability to speak, conduct research, write, and teach without fear of retaliation. They need university leaders who will stand up for them when they are attacked for speaking the truth.
- What does it take for our staff to be successful? Staff are the backbone of our universities. They need protection from political purges. They need higher education leaders who don’t cave to external pressures and use staff as scapegoats to save their own careers.
Universities Should Not Be Run by Politicians
Let’s be clear: the focus of higher education leadership should be on the success of students, faculty, and staff—not on pleasing the latest political actor. University presidents should not be shaping their decisions based on the whims of external forces that see higher education as an ideological battleground instead of a place of learning.
The real question is: How will history remember us?
The point of politically motivated crackdowns is not just to punish—it’s to silence. If a university president fires one faculty member, others learn to stay quiet. If a student is expelled for protest, others learn to sit down. If a DEI program is dismantled, the next administrator won’t fight for it.
History will not be kind to those who stayed silent while the mission of universities is dismantled.
Who Should Be Leading Our Universities?
Now more than ever, we must rethink who we hire as presidents, provosts, and vice presidents. We don’t need:
❌ Leaders who hide behind inaccurate information.
❌ Leaders who say “both sides” while democratic values and knowledge production are being dismantled.
❌ Leaders who are terrified of becoming a target, so they choose silence over courage and saavy.
Instead, we need:
✅ Leaders like President Roth, who understand that a university’s mission is not neutrality—it is protecting the academic community’s ability to find truth and knowledge regardless of politics.
✅ Leaders who believe academic freedom is not negotiable and can communicate this concept effectively internally and externally.
✅ Leaders who protect the rights of their students, faculty, and staff, even when it’s hard.
Preserve Higher Education by Fighting for It
Preservation of universities is not about staying neutral —preservation means taking action so that students can be successful and knowledge production can continue safely. It means standing up for your community.
President Roth is showing us what moral clarity looks like in higher education. The real question is: How many of our higher education leaders are willing to do the same in this historical moment?
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