Education

University President Laments Trump’s ‘Degradation Of Our Culture’

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Rob Shimshock Education Reporter
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A university president lamented the “degradation of our culture” caused by President Donald Trump, in a Tuesday column.

Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth made this remark and others critical of Trump in a column for The Washington Post.

“The climate on campus [during graduation] is always festive, but this year, we can’t help but be affected by the pollutants of cynicism and craven disregard for principle in our national atmosphere,” Roth noted. He has served as a university president for nearly two decades, first at California College of the Arts and now at Wesleyan in Connecticut. “The Trump White House has set the tone, and far too many politicians and pundits are dancing to the tune. Graduating students will be entering a world in which invective, insult and manipulation threaten to become the norm.”

Wesleyan University’s head emphasized intellectual inquiry and diversity of thought in his column, but went on to characterize life in the United States as life “under an anti-education regime.”

“President Trump’s disregard for facts didn’t prevent him from being elected, of course, but that doesn’t mean as educators we should give him a pass when he lies, when he incites hatred, or when he engages in reckless behavior that undermines the very notion of learning from one’s mistakes,” Roth explained, going on to note that many individuals who supported Trump in the election have shown disgust at his “dangerous rhetoric” and his policies. “To call attention to this degradation of our culture is not to support political correctness, but to support our ability to learn from one another.” (RELATED: Prof Wanted Students’ ‘Fingers To Curl Up With Shame’ When He Used The ‘R-Word’ In Poem)

The Washington Post’s education section frequently gives column spaces to left-wing or anti-Trump teachers and professors. An Iowa State University communications and poetry writing professor took to its pages in April to complain about a student who used the word “retard” in a poem.

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