¡°There is a lot of dispute and dissent on campus and students always have very good reasons to protest, though sometimes they¡¯ll cross the line,¡± reflected Michael S. Roth, president of Wesleyan University, on the Connecticut liberal arts college¡¯s ¡°protest culture¡±.

Some university leaders might view a lengthy occupation of their offices as going too far, but Professor Roth found he could hardly object to this course of action when climate-change activists held a two-day sit-in at his offices in May 2015.

¡°When the students told me they were going to occupy my office the following day, I?asked why they didn¡¯t just do it straight away,¡± recalled the Brooklyn-born humanities professor, who has led his own alma mater since 2007. ¡°They reminded me that I¡¯d been involved in a similar protest and tomorrow was the anniversary,¡± said Professor Roth on his own involvement in a 1978 occupation?about Wesleyan investments in apartheid South Africa.

Eventually, students withdrew after Professor Roth agreed to sever any endowment links to America¡¯s industrial prison complex and discuss divestment from fossil fuels.

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Such stand-offs at Wesleyan haven¡¯t always ended so amicably, with a 10-day sit-in in 1988, again over South Africa, leading to the arrest of more than 100 students. That cemented its ,?after famous anti-nuclear and anti-war protests throughout the 1970s, with a Janis Joplin and Grateful Dead concert kicking off a 1970 student strike. More recently, protests have focused on abortion rights, staff working conditions and the end of need-blind admissions.

On occasion, Professor Roth has been jostled by protesters on campus, but said the trigger for disciplinary action?was generally only when students?sought?. ¡°I¡¯ve had people try to stop me from speaking, usually because they disagree with my policy ¨C when you cannot speak, that¡¯s when someone has crossed the line. If it happens once, then there is a warning, and if it happens multiple times then there is a procedure [for disciplinary action].¡±

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The invitation of right-wing speakers to campus had led to some hostility from staff and students, explained Professor Roth, who recalled how a professor told him the platform given to a hardline Trump supporter was ¡°obscene¡±.

¡°We started a guest speaker series for those with conservative views and I did wonder if anyone would come along ¨C our first speaker was pretty extreme, but the auditorium was packed,¡± he recalled. ¡°No one tried to stop him speaking but, thanks to question after question, the crowd was able to see he was wrong,¡± Professor Roth added.

¡°We had the same when Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court justice, came to campus not long before his death ¨C he¡¯s someone who I think has done more harm to the American constitution than anyone since the 1800s, but I had to introduce him,¡± he said.

¡°My colleagues stood outside banging pots and pans when he arrived, and people stood up in orange jumpsuits, but overall the event went well ¨C he was as fiery as you¡¯d expect and, although I don¡¯t think he changed anyone¡¯s mind, we did show that you can have a good argument with anyone rather than trying to deprive someone of their views.¡±

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The Scalia visit?might also highlight what many see as a distinct lack of conservative voices within academia more generally ¨C with so-called liberal bias being cited in a number of recent state laws targeting higher education, most notably the DeSantis ban on critical race theory?being taught in public colleges in Florida. For Professor Roth, ¡°intellectual diversity is not the biggest issue faced by higher education¡±, but one that universities should confront.

In 2017, Professor Roth courted controversy for unveiling plans for , which involved creating teaching posts for more right-leaning scholars. ¡°My colleagues from the left thought I¡¯d sullied the very idea of affirmative actions, but I was clear that faculty has a bias to the left and we had to look at this,¡± he said.

Familiar arguments that academia¡¯s left-wing bias arises mainly because scholars are, by nature, sceptical, iconoclastic and motivated to challenge injustice did?not wash either, argued Professor Roth.

¡°When we say that we simply hire the best person for the job, that sounds suspiciously like those bastards that I used to fight against who would claim the reason we don¡¯t hire women is that they¡¯re not the best candidates,¡±?said Professor Roth.

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Navigating the tricky task of diligently listening to student complaints while ignoring the shriller voices seeking to shut down debate remains a tricky task at an institution?that celebrates its protest culture. Ensuring all voices are heard involves keeping ¡°the borders of what is acceptable speech as wide as possible without ever letting it descend into hate speech¡±, said Professor Roth.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com

This is part of our ¡°Talking leadership¡± series with the people running the world¡¯s top universities about how they solve common strategic issues and implement change.?Follow the series here.

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