Michael Roth condemns Trump’s stance on immigration and DEI cuts, pledges Wesleyan’s commitment to ‘non-discrimination’
Wesleyan University President Michael Roth condemned Donald Trump’s immigration and education policies following his presidential election victory.
“It may be challenging now to remember that democracy and higher education have been good for each other. We don’t have to pretend to be neutral, but we do have a job to do,” Roth stated in a news release Wednesday.
He condemned the “mass deportations promised by president-elect Trump” as a threat to students “who may be undocumented.”
It is a “cause of great concern to many in our community,” Roth stated.
He pledged not to cooperate with the federal government in efforts to deport students or staff “because of their citizenship status.”
“As we said after the election of 2016: Wesleyan will remain committed to principles of non-discrimination, including equal protection under the law, regardless of national origin or citizenship,” Roth stated.
Further, the university president condemned Trump’s promise to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion departments and “punish those schools who do not live up to his version of civil rights standards.”
Roth promised to “redouble” the school’s efforts to “enhance belonging.”
“At Wesleyan we have long believed in the educational power of diversity, and we know that our Office for Equity and Inclusion has a vital role to play in our educational mission,” he stated.
Additionally, Roth condemned “attacks on higher education, on democracy, on the rule of law” that “threaten to sweep away freedoms that have been hard-won over the last 100 years.”
Students “work to think for themselves so that they can be engaged citizens of a democracy rather than mere subjects of an authoritarian regime,” he stated.
“However we feel about the election’s results, we must strive to make education and democracy protect and nurture one another,” Roth stated.
This is not the first time President Roth has publicly denounced Trump. Last month, Roth called the president-elect a “threat to higher education” and urged schools to avoid being “neutral” this election season, The College Fix reported.
Many universities have recently embraced “institutional neutrality,” but “this is exactly the wrong time for such a retreat,” Roth stated in an op-ed.
“As one of the most consequential elections in American history approaches, we must do everything we can to help students work on campaigns and facilitate voting,” he stated.
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