Updated April 17, 2025 at 12:34 PM ET
Wesleyan University President Michael Roth says he finds no comfort in the Trump administration's supposed fight against antisemitism on college campuses.
Roth, the first Jewish president of Wesleyan, told Morning Edition that the White House is "using antisemitism as a cloak" and threatening to defund universities to get them to "express loyalty to the president."
In the latest battle between the Trump administration and America's most prestigious universities, President Trump threatened to revoke Harvard University's tax-exempt status. The threat came after the university refused to comply with the administration's demands, which included immediately shutting down all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and policies at the school.
Roth says that canceling DEI programs does not protect Jewish people, but instead reduces access and fairness on campuses.
The White House maintains that its actions are aimed at combating antisemitism on college campuses. In the last month, the administration has canceled or frozen nearly $11 billion in federal grants at several universities.
Though Wesleyan is small and does not have billions of federal dollars at stake, Roth says what is at risk is "the freedom to pursue research, the way you see fit as a professional in your field."
Roth spoke to NPR's A Martínez about how federal funding cuts will impact smaller universities and why he doesn't believe the administration is genuinely interested in protecting Jewish people.
The following excerpt has been edited for length and clarity.
A Martínez: Michael, what pressure has your university felt from the administration, if at all?
Michael Roth: Well, like many universities around the country, we have seen grants to our individual researchers canceled. Often with just a two sentence email saying, "Your grant is being canceled because it no longer meets the priorities of the administration." And that's pretty chilling because we've never had grants, let's say, for historical research or biomedical research, have to somehow follow the priorities of a new administration. This is a new and quite terrifying prospect.
Martínez: You wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times, which noted that you're the first Jewish president of a formally Methodist School. And you said that today's fight against antisemitism is "a cover for a wide range of agendas that have nothing to do with the welfare of Jewish people." What did you mean by that?
Roth: Well, it's pretty clear. When you see these attacks on different universities ranging from saying to cancel your DEI programs, which really just means canceling access or fairness on your campus, or canceling research projects on diabetes or tuberculosis. Canceling those programs will not protect Jews.
I know that antisemitism is a real thing and it's on the rise worldwide. But this is like using antisemitism as a cloak to do other things, to get universities to express loyalty to the president. And this is new terrain for the United States. We have to call it out, because it really has nothing to do with stopping antisemitism.
Martínez: You could probably find plenty of Jewish Trump supporters who would say that President Trump has done more for Jews and Israel than any other president. Is there a difference for Jewish people between the Trump administration's support of Israel and how it claims it fights antisemitism?
Roth: I think that the Trump administration's support for Israel has attracted many Jews who feel beleaguered by their fellow citizens being critical of the current Israeli government. I myself support Israel's right to defend itself. I don't applaud the way they're conducting a war in Gaza, which has displaced so many people and killed so many children and other noncombatants.
But I understand that my fellow Jews often think somebody who supports Israel must be good for us. But what I wrote that column about is that supporting Trump because he supports Israel, even though he's violating the law, even though he's violating civil rights, is going to turn bad for the Jews. Because we depend on the rule of law, we depend on civil rights, and we abandon them at our peril.
The digital piece was edited by Obed Manuel and Kristian Monroe.
Copyright 2025 NPR
