MICHAEL ROTH SPEAKS ON THE CRISIS FACING HIGHER EDUCATION

CONTACT: Jeanne Meyers                                           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Co-founder/Director
The MY HERO Project
[email protected]

Michael RothThe MY HERO Project/Michael Roth

APRIL 24, 2026 — LAGUNA BEACH, CA 

President of Wesleyan University Michael Roth joined the Eva Haller Salon Series to discuss the crisis facing higher education, including the mounting political pressure to censor curricula, the challenges of maintaining open discourse during the 2024 election season, and the vital role of the university in preserving democracy.

Under Roth’s leadership, Wesleyan has seen several improvements to the physical campus including the soon to be completed life sciences building, as well as the launch of interdisciplinary programs focused on such areas as public life, creative writing and criticism, the environment, film, East Asian studies, integrative sciences, education studies, science and technology, and design and engineering. Roth also oversaw a record-breaking fundraising effort—raising more than $482 million, primarily for financial aid—providing more students with access to quality education.

During the salon, Roth outlined the pressing issues impacting universities across the US, as well as his mission to inspire conversations across the political divide and embolden students to fight for democracy.

One of the ways to ensure ideological diversity, Roth argued, is to ensure that the faculty are intentional about diversifying the campus. He explained

We have to be very intentional about ideologically diversifying the faculty, because if we’re not intentional about it, it doesn’t happen. […] Trying to be very intentional about hiring a faculty whose political views aren’t identical to the people you already have is a very important feature.

This is particularly important if the relationship between universities and general society are to improve. Said Roth

Such an important critique of universities in the last few years has been that they’re excessively woke, and that the faculty believe there’s a very limited range of political views that deserve any respect at all. That’s not a good prescription for a good relationship between the campuses and society.

Recently, Roth has been reaching out to politically right-leaning faculties and civic programs to organize events and encourage healthy debate between students with opposing political views. “What we need,” said Roth in the salon, “are concerted efforts to help our students confront positions, point of views, or ideologies that they don’t find congenial.”

In closing, Roth summarized: “Democracy is not a spectator sport. You shouldn’t be neutral, you should participate, you should listen closely to people with whom you disagree.”

Watch the salon here.

About the Eva Haller Salon Series

The Eva Haller Salon Series, produced by Heidi Grochelle and Eva Haller, brings together artists, scientists and media makers from around the globe. Long time friend of MY HERO, Eva is a 95-year-old activist, philanthropist, and holocaust survivor who has devoted her life to mentoring generations of women and children.

The Eva Haller Salons take place virtually every Saturday at 2:00 PM PST. To request an invitation to attend the Salon Series please email [email protected]

Learn more here.

Explore and watch previous salons here.