The question on everyone’s minds since the announcement of the new president on Monday has been: “What will he be like?”
Michael Roth has been selected as the next University president, and everyone wants to know. We can venture a few guesses.
Roth will begin his presidency in the middle of a five-year plan initiated by his predecessor. Therefore, major policy changes are unlikely in the short term. However, Roth can make an immediate impact on the campus atmosphere. His communications skills (he’s a talker) could go a long way to renewing the administration’s relationship with both faculty and students, which has been under stress the past few years. He’s certainly coming with ideas but, more importantly, he seems eager to listen, discuss, and take part.
We hope he manages to teach a class here, as he now plans. Regular interaction with students in the classroom could forestall tensions from reaching the level of dramatic confrontation faced by presidents Bennet and Chace. Roth will be able interact with faculty as a fellow teacher, not only as a manager. An important first goal for Roth should be building trust. Taking the effort to teach a class would be a step in the right direction.
Coming from California College of the Arts, a small, regional institution, we hope Roth will bring to the University a fresh approach to administrative duties. He has been removed from the cutthroat competition of East Coast prep schools. We hope his spirit stays in San Francisco. A degree of unconventionality may be what is needed in the years ahead to tackle entrenched institutional issues.
Roth is young and he comes without much of a reputation. How can we tell if he’ll be good for Wesleyan? But then, what is good for Wesleyan? There are so many things that we, as a community, want to do and achieve. We can’t do them all at once. Roth says he is willing to listen. That’s what we want, at least for now: someone who will listen well, weigh all the options, and then make tough-minded, fair decisions.
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