Wesleyan in the News: January 2025

President Michael S. Roth ’78 called for wider access to higher education in a piece for The New York Times on anti-elitism. Roth highlighted Wesleyan’s partnership with the National Education Equity Lab, a nonprofit that offers free college classes to Title I high school students to increase educational opportunities for low-income students. “Education transforms lives; we just need to make it more widely available.” Roth’s piece was mentioned in a later Boston Globe article. 

Roth also wrote a piece on a collection of letters by neurologist Oliver Sacks for The Atlantic. “Writing would be his way of seeking recognition, of staying connected with friends and family—and with his own experience,” Roth wrote. 

Roth challenged colleges and universities taking a stand of institutional neutrality in a recent Teen Vogue story. He described it as a way for administrators to avoid controversy. “I find it pathetic, actually, that university leaders won’t stand up for what they do believe in,” he said. “They seem to believe that their institutional position prevents them from speaking, and I believe their institutional position requires them to speak out so that students and faculty and staff know what the president thinks.” 

Roth joined Randy Cohen’s podcast “Person Place Thing” on WAMC where guests discuss things they care about—one person, one place, and one thing. Roth discussed Sigmund Freud, the Alpha Delta Phi kitchen, and a map of Hegel’s universe.  

Bill Belichick ’75, Hon.’05, P’07, who has won the most Super Bowls as a head coach in NFL history, is taking on the college game. Belichick was named the next head coach of UNC football on Dec. 11. Belichick spent 24 seasons as head coach of the New England Patriots, taking them to nine Super Bowls and winning six.  

Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, creator of Hamilton and In the Heights, spoke with The Independent for a story on his work creating the soundtrack for Mufasa: The Lion King, a live-action prequel to live-action remake of The Lion King from 2019. 

Distinguished Associate Professor of the Bailey College of the Environment and Earth and Environmental Sciences Helen Poulos, a plant ecologist, spoke with the Los Angeles Times for a story on fire prevention following the Palisades fire in January. “It’s very simple. When we talk about that wildland urban interface, cutting funding means you have more risk to communities,” Poulos said. 

Gary Yohe, Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, discussed the impact of the California wildfires on broader United States insurance systems in a piece for The Conversation. “But the scale and intensity of the Southern California fires — linked in part to climate change, including record-high global temperatures in 2023 and again in 2024 — has brought a big problem into focus: In a world impacted by increasing climate risk, traditional insurance models no longer apply,” Yohe wrote. 

Joseph Fins ’82, Hon.’22, a bioethics scholar, wrote a tribute to the late President Jimmy Carter for The Hastings Center. Fins covered Carter’s concession speech on Election Day in 1980 for WESU. “Election night 1980 seemed like a final chapter but it was in fact a prelude to a life pursuing the good,” Fins wrote. “One can only hope that Carter’s connection to the early days of bioethics helped to guide the arc of his moral universe. It would be a legacy of which our field could justifiably be proud.” 

Teen Vogue interviewed Steve Stemler, professor of education studies and psychology, for a story on legacy admissions. “If legacy status, which is more or less a proxy to race, is a factor that you’re able to count, but race is not, people will start to say there’s a logical inconsistency here,” Stemler said. 

Joan Cho spoke with Vox for a piece on political chaos in South Korea in early January, following a failed attempt to arrest former President Yoon Suk Yoel, who was impeached shortly after declaration of martial law in the country. Cho described Yoon’s party as “heavily influenced by government propaganda about anti-Communism, and [the] North Korean threat.” 

Actor-producer Rosario Dawson will play a lead role in the film adaptation of Unmerciful Good Fortune, a play written by Associate Professor of Theater Edwin Sanchez, according to Deadline. 

The Pruzan Art Center was featured in Art and Object for its unique architectural design. Nathan Rich, founding partner of designers Peterson Rich Office, said “the project was an opportunity to bring this long hidden and impressive art collection to the center of campus to be experienced by a wide range of students and community members.” 

NPR’s “Fresh Start” used a clip of a speech given by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Wesleyan in 1966 for a podcast episode on his legacy. 

Professor of Astronomy Seth Redfield spoke to CT Insider about nearby planets that could have the conditions to support life for a story on a renewed debate on aliens following drone sightings in New Jersey over the holiday. “We have discovered about 30 rocky planets that may have conditions for liquid water to exist on their surface,” Redfield said. “Most of them are within 100 light years, so quite close.” 

Dean of Arts and Humanities and Professor of Music Roger Grant received an Outstanding Publication Award from the Society of Music Theory for his paper “Colonial Galant: Three Analytical Perspectives from the Chiquitano Missions.” 

Khalilah Brown-Dean, Rob Rosenthal Distinguished Professor of Civic Engagement, was named to the CTMirror’s Board of Directors.  

Brown-Dean will also receive a “Spirit of Hope” award from the Junior Achievement of Southwest New England’s Hartford and New Haven Business Hall of Fame.  

Jacob’s Pillow Creative and Executive Director Pamela Tatge ’84, MALS’10, P’16 received a national award from the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, according to the Berkshire Eagle. Tatge received the 2025 Fan Taylor Distinguished Service Award for her contributions to equity and accessibility at the center. 

Peter Rutland, Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, called for the end of political assassinations in Responsible Statecraft after the murder of a Russian general by the Ukrainian Secret Service on Dec. 17. “Russia is responsible for war crimes in Ukraine — with the worst being Putin’s decision to launch the invasion in the first place,” Rutland wrote. “But if Ukraine continues to commit acts that violate the laws of war, it undermines the legitimacy of its cause, and gives Russia additional ammunition in its propaganda war against the West—a war that it is winning in the Global South.” 

Jennifer Tucker, professor of Technology, Law, and Visual Culture and founding director of the Center for the Study of Guns and Society, appeared on a panel at Yale University on new strategies surrounding gun litigation. During the conversation Tucker pointed to research that finds firearms are more dangerous today than they were in the 18th century, especially for vulnerable groups like those at risk of domestic violence.