Michael Roth, the president of Wesleyan University, on the PBS NewsHour last night, commenting on Columbia University’s payment of $221 million to the federal government. From the NewsHour transcript:
“There’s no findings of facts there. It’s just, you give us $221 million, and then we allow you to compete for grants. I mean, it’s a very old-fashioned game. You pay the powerful figure so that you can go along and continue to operate.
“Now, you operate in a way, of course, that you don’t want to annoy that powerful figure or that powerful organization. And it sends a chilling message across America that, if you have a late-night comedy show, if you have a law firm, if you are working in an educational institution or a library, or, as we read today, in a museum like the Smithsonian, if you don’t please the president, you are at risk.
“And, again, I don’t blame them for trying to make the best of that situation, but, as Americans, I’m not worried about Columbia. I’m not worried about Wesleyan. I’m worried about the country, where we are being subject to a White House that thinks it could tell us what to do at every turn.”
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