Colleges are ‘struggling’ to make ends meet (except when it comes to paying some of their presidents) and consequently, Humanities programs are getting axed.
This very perceptive and very informative report by NPR is very much worth reading.
The State University of New York has had to cut $640 million from its budget, and the president of its Albany campus recently announced the suspension of five humanities programs, including French, Italian, Russian, classics and theater. Although there have been cuts at SUNY Albany in everything from journalism to business, the fact that five humanities programs have been suspended has resonated with the public and the press. Upon learning about the suspension of the foreign language programs, David Wills, a professor of French, was shocked at first, but then he was angry. “None of us accepted that it was something that a university could do and still call itself a university,” Wills said. “This is not a university if you only have one non-English European language program left standing.”
Do continue reading the essay. The good Prof is right, a University isn’t a university if it devalues such important subjects.
Related Articles
- On the Role of the Humanities (medhumanities.org)
- Private College Presidents Rake in Millions of Dollars (dailyfinance.com)
