Wesleyan’s Roth Denounces “Demonizing” and “Scapegoating,” Then Attacks Billionaires as Crowd Cheers

Plus, a postscript on Harvard hiring three former Biden officials

Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth as seen in a photo provided by the university’s communications office.

Wesleyan University in Connecticut has put up online the May 25, 2025, commencement remarks of its president, Michael S. Roth. The excerpt Roth posted on X highlights this passage:

Freedom of expression is vital for educational institutions—as are diversity, inclusion, and equity. That’s why the recent attacks on DEI are so misguided. Of course, we should practice anti-discrimination, but that won’t be enough to create the heterogeneity out of which a robust education grows. We need safe enough spaces for people from diverse backgrounds with a mix of ideas to learn from one another with courage and resilience, and we must ensure that access to those spaces and conduct within them are fair. We know how to do this without demonizing minority groups or minority opinions. We know how to do this without stirring up engagement through rage, scapegoating, and hatred. And we can do it, as long as we resist the attempts by politicians and their billionaire allies to drown us out with invective and fear mongering.

The 8 minute, 37 second speech was interrupted by applause exactly three times. One of the times was after the sentence attacking “politicians and their billionaire allies.”

It takes a certain kind of lack of self-awareness to give a speech denouncing demonizing minority groups and scapegoating and then in the next breath to beat up on billionaires, then wait expectantly for the crowd to cheer.

Later on in the speech, Roth said, “I am encouraged to believe that we may yet be able to build a politics and a culture characterized by compassionate solidarity rather than fear and resentment.” I guess there is a “billionaire allies” exception to the Roth opposition to a politics of resentment.