So pleased that my friend & colleague is being honored in this way!

My Wesleyan University blog: 'On protests, encampments, freedom of expression'. roth.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2024/04/30/on-…

Roger Rosenblatt on his beautiful friendship with Helen Vendler: “I think we both sensed that we had found someone we could trust with our lives.” via @NYTOpinion nytimes.com/2024/04/30/opi…

.The Forward Jewish Currents Wesleyan University Richard Blumenthal Chris Murphy 🟧 Rosa DeLauro President Biden

“Modifying endowment policies..would do nothing to help the plight of Gazans. Pressuring the..government [for] a humanitarian ceasefire coupled with..effort to release the hostages would do far more to lead us from the narrow place that Gaza has become.” forward.com/opinion/607120…

.Jen Silverman Students “do not want to be seen representing any values they do not personally hold..in a moment in which our world has never felt so fast-changing and bewildering, our stories are getting simpler, less nuanced” via @NYTOpinion nytimes.com/2024/04/28/opi…

Proverbs, 24:10:
If you showed yourself slack in time of trouble,
Wanting in power,
If you refrained from rescuing those taken off to death,
Those condemned to slaughter—
If you say, “We knew nothing of it,”
Surely He who fathoms hearts will discern [the truth],

While we focus on campus protesters, Trump. “In 2016, I declared, I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.” …”This is [expletive] revenge.”
via @NYTimes nytimes.com/2024/04/27/mag…

Mark Mazower on Columbia “one may find the protesters infuriating, intolerant and self-righteous. But the one thing they have not been in these days is violent.” ft.com/content/f0e3e8… via @ft

Read Ross Douthat on how students have been carefully taught to see “Israel [as] the singular scapegoat for the sins of defunct European empires and white-supremacist regimes.” via @NYTOpinion nytimes.com/2024/04/27/opi…

“appalling chants and occasional hints of violence from students on a tear are not ultimately the problem. Intellectual degeneration is the problem. Otherwise, the existential attacks on Jews, euphemistically advocated, would not be under discussion.” wapo.st/3JADbiE

We learn “engaged in deep listening &in trying to think for ourselves in the company of others…being a student..means being open to others..to expand one’s thinking, to enhance one’s capacities for appreciation, for empathy &for civic participation” TIME time.com/6969851/academ…

“rejecting the vicious tactics of the war in Gaza, doesn’t make one a supporter of terrorist violence; starving Palestinians in Gaza won’t secure freedom for the hostages. In these dire conditions, it’s no wonder that colleges are faced with legitimate protests”

So many new pragmatists…so little time

“We reiterate our call on Hamas to release the hostages, and let us end this crisis so that collectively we can focus our efforts on bringing peace and stability to the region.” - 🇺🇸 🇦🇷 🇦🇹 🇧🇷 🇧🇬 🇨🇦 🇨🇴 🇩🇰 🇫🇷 🇩🇪 🇭🇺 🇵🇱 🇵🇹 🇷🇴 🇷🇸 🇪🇸 🇹🇭 🇬🇧 whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…

Breaking the rules and engaging in violence are not the same thing. There should be consequences for each, but different consequences. Do we disgree?

.David Brooks on our epistemic dysphoria: “People segregate into intellectually cohesive teams, which are always dumber than intellectually diverse teams. Issues are settled by intimidation, not evidence” via @NYTOpinion nytimes.com/2024/04/18/opi…

Our crisis of democracy is not being addressed by campus protestors 'In the noise of contemporary politics, it’s hard to practice authentic listening; in the glare of the media’s campaign cameras, it’s hard to see things from someone else’s point of view. But that is our task.'

“Every college needs a set of policies balancing the need to provide ample opportunity for free expression..with the need to preserve the..functioning of the university..The critical feature of such regulations is that they be content-& viewpoint-neutral.” chronicle.com/article/protes…

“Students are free to express themselves within the confines of neutral rules..Students who instead wish to commandeer campus spaces to impose costs on others and prevent them from pursuing their own activities should expect to face discipline”