8/2/25

AN INSPIRED VOICE FROM
- AND FOR - HIGHER-ED
"Ransom" and "protection money:" What Wesleyan's Michael Wolf says Trump is demanding from the nation's universities and colleges.

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY'S campus in Middletown, Conn. CREDIT: Wesleyan University

IN MY LAST DANGEROUS TIMES POST,  I featured a broadcast interview with an academic veteran, M. Lee Pelton, whom I thought gave voice to the worst arguments that higher education officials are using as they give in to President Trump’s extortion and shake-downs demands.
     Pelton, former president of  Willamette University and Emerson College, argued on a Boston radio talk show that the government’s financial hold over universities is so vast that “. . .you find yourself in a position of having to capitulate.”
     But there are more inspired collegiate voices, and an eloquent one is that of Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.
     He appeared on a recent PBS News Hour broadcast, and described a settlement Columbia University made with the Trump administration as equivalent to  paying "ransom" to a  kidnapper. And that paying "protection money" to Trump compromises not only the independence of colleges and universities,  but many other American institutions.
     My own view is that no college or university – no law firm, no media organization – should ever let themselves be bullied by Trump.  I like how Rhode Island Atty. Gen. Peter Neronha put it after Brown University in Providence announced a settlement with Trump
     “I think he’s a blackmailer, frankly,” Neronha said of Trump to the Boston Globe. “My overall view is to fight, not give in, even if it requires sacrifice.”
    As I did with Pelton’s statements, I’m copying the Roth interview transcript.
     I don’t think transcripts make for great reading, but they do put the speakers’ views in context. You can follow this link to the archived  News Hour broadcast.
     
THE NEWS HOUR INTERVIEW

MICHAEL ROTH, president of Wesleyan University. CREDIT: Wesleyan University

AMNA NAWAZ, of the News Hour: Columbia University and the Trump administration have reached a deal that restores federal funding and research grant money to the university. As part of the agreement, Columbia will pay $200 million to the federal government over three years and an additional $21 million to resolve alleged civil rights violations against Jewish employees.

The university agreed to suspend, expel, or revoke degrees from some 70 students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and it will issue a report to a monitor to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion is not promoted on campus. Columbia, which was at risk of losing billions of dollars from the government, says it retains its academic freedom.

For a closer look at this agreement and what it means for a higher education in the U.S., I'm joined by Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University. President Roth, welcome back to the "News Hour." Thanks for joining us.

MICHAEL ROTH: Thanks for having me.

NAWAZ: So let's just start with your initial reaction. When you heard the news and the details of this settlement, what did you think?

ROTH: Well, I felt like one must feel when you have paid a ransom in a kidnapping situation and the person who's been kidnapped is returned safely.
You think, thank goodness, the kid's OK, or the person kidnapped is OK. But I wouldn't praise the agreement that led to the liberation of the kidnapped person. And so, in this case, I was pleased that this particular moment of assault on higher education by the Trump administration has been resolved, at least for now, although who knows? These agreements come and go with this White House.

I was and I am distressed that, in this country today, the executive branch of the federal government wants to be able to dictate terms to private universities, law firms, newspapers, TV stations. And so all of these things are evidence that the current administration is trying to erode support for institutions in civil society.

NAWAZ: Let me put to you, if I may, what the acting president of Columbia University, Claire Shipman, said in an interview on CNN this morning defending the terms of the deal.

Claire Shipman, Acting President, Columbia University:

"I think there are a couple of really important things about this agreement from our point of view. One, it doesn't cross the red lines that we laid out. It protects our academic integrity. That was, of course, essential to us.

"And, two, it does reset our relationship with the federal government in terms of research funding. And it's not just money for Columbia. I mean, this is about science. It's about curing cancer, cutting-edge, boundary-breaking science that actually benefits the country and humanity."

NAWAZ: President Roth, do you believe that, after this deal, Columbia can move forward with full academic freedom, as President Shipman there is saying? And what do you believe the downstream effects of making a deal like this are for other universities?

ROTH: Well, it's very clear that if you annoy the White House in this regime, you could get sucked into a process of litigation or fines that bear no relation to the facts of the matter, but just become a way of expressing loyalty, of conforming to the wishes of the government.
 
We saw it at UVA (University of Virginia) just a week or two ago. You see it now at George Mason (University). This is an effort to tell universities, as they have told law firms, as they're telling newspapers and as they have done with TV stations, telling these organizations, you are not independent. If you contract with the federal government, we have a — we, the government, has the right to tell you what to do.

This agreement does protect many things at Columbia. And, again, I'm not criticizing them for signing it. I don't criticize the parent for paying a ransom to get their kids back. They're getting their science back. But they're also telling the federal government, you can tell us how to run our Middle East studies program, telling the federal government, you can tell us how many police officers we should have at a minimum on campus or how students should be disciplined.

The White House has determined how students should be disciplined at a private university. This is massive overreach. This is an assault on the independence of civil society in America. And conservatives, liberals, moderates, they should all be concerned when a White House tells you how to run your private associations.

NAWAZ: So you're saying they should be concerned. As you note, Columbia is not the only university that's been targeted by this administration. Harvard, as we have been covering, has actually been fighting the administration in court, but we know there's also settlement talks going on. Do you believe universities and colleges will have no other choice but to make some kind of deal in order to move forward?

ROTH: Well, I do think that, when you're dealing with a very, very powerful entity like the federal government, especially when it doesn't obey its own laws — I mean, there are no findings of fact here about what the specific actions of anti-Semitism were — or discrimination against white people.

There's no findings of facts there. It's just, you give us $221 million, and then we allow you to compete for grants. I mean, it's a very old-fashioned game. You pay the powerful figure so that you can go along and continue to operate.

Now, you operate in a way, of course, that you don't want to annoy that powerful figure or that powerful organization. And it sends a chilling message across America that, if you have a late-night comedy show, if you have a law firm, if you are working in an educational institution or a library, or, as we read today, in a museum like the Smithsonian, if you don't please the president, you are at risk.

And, again, I don't blame them for trying to make the best of that situation, but, as Americans, I'm not worried about Columbia. I'm not worried about Wesleyan. I'm worried about the country, where we are being subject to a White House that thinks it could tell us what to do at every turn.

NAWAZ: As you know, the administration has long argued that this was about combating antisemitism on campus. This was a deal welcomed by Columbia's Hillel Jewish organization.

The executive director said in part: "The announcement's an important recognition of what Jewish students and families have expressed with increasing urgency. Anti-Semitism at Columbia is real. It has a tangible impact on Jewish students' sense of safety, belonging, and their civil rights."

I guess the question, President Roth, is if it makes Jewish students and staff feel safer, did the administration pressure and the deal do what it intended to do?

ROTH: How does paying the government $220 million to do basic science make Jews safer? As a Jew, I find this horrific.

I know anti-Semitism is real, and I know it was real and is real at Columbia, as it is in Congress, as it is in most places in the United States. But the idea that you pay off the government in order to get them off your back so you can do cancer research, and that's good for the Jews, I think it's ridiculous.

We don't need the White House to tell us anti-Semitism is real two weeks after the Defense Department contracts with Grok, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence entity after it praised Hitler.

This is an administration that is not concerned with Jewish welfare. I am concerned with Jewish welfare as a Jew, as a professor, as a college president. I think it's really important to call out anti-Semitism.

But to pay up basically protection money in a way that's supposed to make Jews safer, I think, in the long run, it's — as we say in my community, it's not good for the Jews.

NAWAZ: That is Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, joining us tonight. President Roth, thank you for your time.

ROTH: Thank you for having me.

A COMMENTATOR to my previous post, D. Neale Adams, (See it below) noted that I overstated the case in asserting that Lee Pelton speaks for all  campus officials in rationalizing a devil's bargain with Trump. 
     Adams is right - the academic barrel is not completely rotten, and, in fact, I had planned today's Roth interview as a follow up and contrast to Pelton.
     What led to my exaggeration is the worry that unless enough campus institutions fight back as a group, Trump-the-bully will have a greater chance of success. I should be more careful as a writer - as should the campus quislings.
     In short, bullies can be beaten - but only if enough would-be victims stand up to them.
     As the cliche/ slogan goes ( not necessarily from Ben Franklin):
     'We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.'

The following links were used in preparation of this post:

• https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/what-columbias-settlement-with-the-trump-administration-means-for-higher-education
• https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/31/metro/shameful-students-alumni-say-brown-deal-with-trump-administration-disrespects-trans-students/