October 7 Is Not the Time for Institutional Neutrality

Michael S. Roth, president of Wesleyan University (CT) and the author most recently of The Student: A Short History, writes: 

When Hamas attacked Israeli civilians a year ago, I immediately posted this on my university blog: I’m looking with horror, sadness and disgust at the images of Hamas atrocities as the organization has launched a war that will only cause more horrific trauma to a region already scarred by too much suffering. The kidnapping and slaughter of civilians, and the celebration of vicious murder by armed fighters, recalls the worst dimensions of human violence. The war that Hamas unleashed this morning will be devastating. It already is.