Wesleyan in the News: February 2026
President Michael S. Roth ’78 wrote an opinion piece for MS NOW celebrating the bravery of U.S. District Judge William G. Young and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who criticized President Trump in January for his “authoritarian” efforts to suppress dissent in institutions across the country. “[T]he price of allowing the preferences of any president to dictate the policies and practices of organizations that depend on freedom and autonomy is to destroy the legitimacy of those organizations,” Roth wrote, urging his fellow higher education leaders to challenge the administration’s efforts to reform colleges and universities to fit its agenda. “The price of letting any president rule over the country with no limitations but his own mind is the destruction of our democracy.”
The New York Times spoke to Victoria Pitts-Taylor, chair of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, about the fashion industry’s trend towards an increasingly corseted and manufactured feminine form. “The rise of right-wing gender politics has paralleled, not coincidentally, the shrinking of waists and the embrace of the hourglass,” Pitts-Taylor said.
Space.com spotlighted new research by Meredith Hughes, chair and associate professor of astronomy, and her team into the chaotic period between early planet formation and mature systems around adult stars. Using the world's largest radio telescope project, ALMA, the researchers were able to capture new snapshots of this ‘adolescent’ phase, which is shaped by collisions between bodies of various sizes. “We've often seen the 'baby pictures' of planets forming, but until now, the ‘teenage years’ have been a missing link,” Hughes said. “This project gives us a new lens for interpreting the craters on the moon, the dynamics of the Kuiper Belt, and the growth of planets big and small. It’s like adding the missing pages to the Solar System's family album.”
Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, assistant professor of history in the College of Social Studies, spoke with political philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah about the religious origins of the social sciences for his ongoing interview series at The Nation.
Van Vleck Visiting Professor of Mathematics Alex Margolis wrote about Holocaust educator Eva Schloss, Margolis’ late grandmother and stepsister to Anne Frank, for The Jewish Telegraphic Agency after the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum called comparisons between ICE aggression and the Holocaust “deeply offensive.” “Remembering the Holocaust does not mean waiting for gas chambers before we speak,” Margolis wrote. “It means recognizing how ordinary policies—immigration bans, detention regimes, and mass deportations—prepare the ground for mass violence. These are through lines in history. My grandmother spoke because she recognized these patterns as they emerged.”
Sharon Belden Castonguay, executive director of the Gordon Career Center, joined UConnect’s Career Everywhere podcast to discuss the value of a liberal arts education in a changing job market. “I feel very firmly that the safest education you can have right now is a liberal arts education,” Castonguay said. “Because if you don’t know what the jobs are going to be so that you need to be flexible and you need to be able to learn new things quickly and you need to be able to connect the dots, this is in fact the safest thing that you can do.”
Oona Metz ’89, author of Unhitched: The Essential Divorce Guide for Women, spoke to CBS News and wrote a TIME article on the reasons why many women initiate divorce. “Women tend to be more actively engaged than men in initiating, maintaining, and, when necessary, ending marriages,” Metz wrote. “Many of the women who attend my support groups deeply value the institution of marriage, but ultimately leave because, despite years of effort, they are unable to engage their spouses in improving their partnerships.”
Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies Gary Yohe analyzed the legal history of climate regulations in The Conversation as the Trump administration attempts to rescind the 2009 "endangerment finding" that underpins much of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s work in the years since. “As an economist who has studied the effects of climate change for over 40 years, I am concerned that the EPA rescinding the endangerment finding on the basis of faulty scientific assessment would lead to faster efforts to roll back U.S. climate regulations meant to slow climate change,” Yohe wrote.
Authority Magazine interviewed Visiting Professor of Music Pete Ganbarg, two-time Grammy award-winning music executive, who shared stories from different points in his career and offered advice for those pursuing a career in live performance. “Don’t wait for permission for anything. If you believe in your idea, do it,” Ganbarg said. “If it’s successful, you may get a slap on the wrist but hopefully it’ll be while they’re handing you a bonus.”
Christine Clarke ’18 wrote about her journey from working on Wall Street to becoming a content creator for HubSpot.
The Andover Townsman spotlighted a key play by Wesleyan men’s basketball player Zach Wolinski ’28 in a close win over No. 1 Trinity on Jan. 24, ahead of a matchup against No. 9 Tufts. “One of the great things about Wesleyan is our fans travel and our alumni always come out,” Wolinksi said. “We expect a big crowd at Tufts. Their team and their fans are great, too. Our league is so good. Every game is so much fun to prepare for and play.”
Associate Vice President for Information Technology Karen Warren was awarded NERCOMP’s Mark Berman Community Outreach Award, which “recognizes a person who demonstrates excellence in nurturing relationships and bringing people together within higher education, regardless of who they are, where they are in their career, or their personal or professional identity.”
