President Donald Trump speaks at a meeting of the cabinet at the White House on April 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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Wesleyan University President Michael Roth says he finds no comfort in the supposed struggle of the Trump administration against anti -Semitism on university campuses.
Roth, the first Jewish president of Wesleyan, said Morning edition Let the White House “use anti -Semitism as a coat” and threaten to undo universities to “express their loyalty to the president”.
In the last battle between the Trump administration and the most prestigious American universities, President Trump threatened to revoke the Harvard University Tax exemption. The threat intervened after the university refused to comply with the requests of the administration, which included the immediate closure of all the programs and policies of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at school.
Roth says that the cancellation of Dei programs does not protect the Jewish people, but rather reduces access and fairness on campus.
The White House maintains that its actions aim to combat anti -Semitism on university campuses. Last month, the administration canceled or frozen nearly $ 11 billion in federal subsidies in several universities.
Although Wesleyan is small and has no billions of federal dollars at stake, Roth says what is in danger is “the freedom to continue research, the way you judge it as a professional in your field”.
Roth spoke to A Martínez de NPR on the way in which federal funding reductions will have an impact on small universities and why he does not believe that the administration is truly interested in protecting the Jewish people.
The following extract was published for duration and clarity.
A Martínez: Michael, what pressure did your university felt from the administration, if applicable?
Michael Roth: Well, like many universities across the country, we have seen subsidies to our individual researchers canceled. Often, with only one email of two sentences saying: “Your subsidy is canceled because it no longer responds to the priorities of the administration.” And it is quite frightening because we have never had subsidies, say, for historical research or biomedical research, must follow the priorities of a new administration. This is a new and fairly terrifying perspective.
Martínez: You have written an opinion article in New York hourS, who noted that you are the first Jewish president of a formally methodist school. And you said that today’s fight against anti-Semitism is “a cover for a wide range of agendas that have nothing to do with the well-being of the Jewish people”. What did you mean by that?
Roth: Well, it’s quite clear. When you see these attacks on different universities that you say to cancel your Dei programs, which really means canceling access or equity on your campus, or the cancellation of research projects on diabetes or tuberculosis. The cancellation of these programs will not protect the Jews.
I know anti -Semitism is a real thing and it is up to the world. But it is like using anti -Semitism as a coat to do other things, to bring universities to express his loyalty to the president. And it’s a new land for the United States. We must call it, because it really has nothing to do with the stop of anti -Semitism.
Martínez: You could probably find many Jewish supporters of Trump who would say that President Trump did more for the Jews and Israel than any other president. Is there a difference for the Jewish people between the support of the Trump administration in Israel and how he claims that he fights anti-Semitism?
Roth: I think that the support of the Trump administration to Israel has attracted many Jews who feel besieged by their critical fellow citizens towards the current Israeli government. I myself support the right of Israel to defend itself. I do not applaud the way they waged a war in Gaza, which has moved so many people and killed so many non-combatants.
But I understand that my Jewish colleagues often think that someone who supports Israel must be good for us. But what I wrote about this chronicle is that to support Trump because he supports Israel, even if he violates the law, even if he violates civil rights, will become bad for the Jews. Because we depend on the rule of law, we depend on civil rights and we abandon them at our own risk.
The digital part was published by Obed Manuel and Kristian Monroe.
