--- title: Michael S. Roth | TIME description: Roth is president of Wesleyan University. His most recent book is The Student: A Short History. canonical: https://time.com/author/michael-s-roth/ og:title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:url: https://time.com/author/michael-s-roth/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 300 og:image:height: 300 og:image:alt: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:type: profile twitter:card: summary twitter:title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates twitter:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Michael Roth ## Michael Roth Roth is president of Wesleyan University. His most recent book is [_The Student: A Short History_](https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300280159/the-student/). ## Michael Roth *  Aug 6, 2025 ### [What Jewish Tradition Teaches Us About Violence in Gaza](https://time.com/7307712/jewish-tradition-violence-gaza/) "Even in a time of war, even when conditions are most brutal, Jews are commanded to observe restrain... [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Mar 28, 2025 ### [Appeasing President Trump Won’t Work](https://time.com/7272520/appeasing-president-donald-trump-wont-work/) From Columbia University to Paul Weiss, leaders have quickly surpassed de-escalation and appeasement... [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Apr 23, 2024 ### [Academic Freedom Is More Important Now Than Ever](https://time.com/6969851/academic-freedom-is-more-important-than-ever-now/) We only have academic freedom because of guarantees established by generations of political struggle... [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Nov 22, 2023 ### [For College Leaders, Silence on Israel-Hamas Is Not Golden](https://time.com/6339107/university-leaders-voices-israel-hamas-war/) The fear of alienating donors, students or faculty must not be confused with compassion or tolerance... [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) Meta: null ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","@id":"https://time.com/","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/author/michael-s-roth/","name":"Michael Roth"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Person","@id":"https://time.com/author/michael-s-roth/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/author/michael-s-roth/"},"name":"Michael Roth","jobTitle":null,"description":"Roth is president of Wesleyan University. His most recent book is The Student: A Short History.","url":"https://time.com/author/michael-s-roth/","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/"}}] ```