Wesleyan in the News - June 2025
President Michael S. Roth ’78 joined CBS News Face The Nation on June 1 to discuss the threats facing higher education, including restrictions of international student visa applications. “This idea that we're supposed to actually conform to the ideologies in the White House, it's not just bad for Harvard or for Wesleyan, it's bad for the whole country because journalists are being intimidated, law firms are being intimidated, churches, synagogues and mosques will be next,” Roth said. “We have to defend our freedoms.”
Roth spoke with The New York Times on May 28 following Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announcement that the Trump administration would “aggressively revoke” visas of Chinese students. “I think it is terribly misguided, counterproductive and another way in which we are shooting ourselves in the foot,” Roth said.
The New York Times spoke with Roth for continuing coverage of Rubio’s announcement on May 29. “If we’re competing with Chinese industry and science, it behooves us to understand the competition as well as possible and not to isolate ourselves,” Roth said.
Roth also appeared on CNN’s “OutFront” on May 24 to discuss recent crackdowns on higher education by the Trump administration.
“I think this reason about anti-antisemitism is bogus and you see this in the Department of Education’s letter to Harvard, cutting other funding they don’t mention anything about antisemitism or Jews, so I think that’s a subterfuge to try to get more control over what happens at a campus,” Roth said.
He also appeared on MSNBC’s "Prime" with Ali Velshi after a judge blocked Trump administration efforts to bar Harvard University from enrolling international students. “It's not so much about Harvard and international students in Cambridge,” Roth said. “It's about our freedom to enroll students who want to learn and our freedom to teach the way we want to teach, and have them do the research that they find most valuable.”
Roth joined Heterodox Academy’s “Heterodox Out Loud” podcast for an episode on public trust in higher education, intellectual diversity, diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and university leadership’s role in managing political pressure.
Richard Grossman, Andrews Professor of Economics, wrote a piece for Time Made by History on the historical results of policymakers ignoring economic principles. “The lesson of the past is that ignoring experts and stubbornly persisting in his new tariff regime will prove catastrophic for the economy. Unlike previous policymakers, Trump still has a chance to avoid doubling down on his blunder.”
Author Paul Yoon ’02 received a 2025 Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, honoring his creative work. Yoon has written five books and is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship.
Joshua Boger '73, Hon. '18, P '06, '09 received an honorary Doctor of Science from Princeton University for his leadership in biotechnology. Boger founded Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, which developed the first effective treatment for cystic fibrosis and co-developed the first approved gene-therapy drug using CRISPR technology.
Andrew Tsui ’01, a healthcare lawyer, was profiled by GQ for his work to promote ike jime, a traditional method of slaughtering fish that some consider more ethical.
Screenwriter Jessica Sharzer ’94 is set to direct She Started It, a movie based off a screenplay she co-wrote with Sarah Masson adapting a thriller novel of the same name, according to Variety. Casting for the film is currently underway.
The latest episodes of Shapiro-Silverberg University Professor of Creative Writing and Criticism and Shapiro Writing Center Director Merve Emre’s LitHub- and New York Review of Books-sponsored podcast series The Critic and Her Publics features conversations with Yahdon Israel, senior editor at Simon & Schuster, and Ben Calhoun, executive producer of “The Daily” podcast from The New York Times.
The annual NBC TV Writers Program announced its Class of 2025-27, selecting William McGhee ’17 and nine other writers for its television writers development program, according to Deadline. Since graduating from Wesleyan, McGhee has worked on hit shows like Succession and Rick & Morty.
A video of Andrew VanWyngarden ’05, of the band MGMT, performing the band’s Grammy-nominated, hit song “Kids” for a group of alumni at Wesleyan’s Reunion and Commencement Weekend went viral on TikTok, according to a story from Stereogum.
Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought Peter Rutland joined “Attitude with Arnie Arnesen” to discuss Russian President Vladimir Putin’s control of the media.
