Colleges defend humanities amid tight budgets - Page 2 of 3

At Amherst College in western Massachusetts, a healthy endowment makes closing the doors a remote possibility at best.

But its president, Carolyn “Biddy” Martin, experienced the same concerns about the humanities in her previous job as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was tapped this year to serve on a commission for the American Academy of Arts & Sciences to review the issue.

Martin said many universities struggle with declining enrollment in those fields, making the classes an easy budget target if their worth is not defended.

“There are more and more people in higher education — and I hope political leaders — who are understanding that an over-leaning emphasis on the sciences to the expense of the humanities is not a good thing for the country,” she said.

Therein lays the debate for many, though, including Gov. Scott in Florida, who is unapologetic about his push to direct tax dollars toward rapidly growing science, technology, engineering, and math fields, known collectively as STEM.

And since state governments control nearly two-thirds of all higher education funding, according to the National Governors Association, their embrace or disregard for humanities can affect the study paths of hundreds of thousands of students.

The governors’ organization published recommendations for states this year on how to align their higher education priorities with their labor markets and economic development, citing Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, and Washington for “bold, comprehensive strategies” in those efforts.

It did not advise state governments to move money from humanities, but said it’s “often challenging” to get the universities to participate in economic development, partly because of “their emphasis on broad liberal arts education.”

Advocates say STEM fields also provide tangible returns for states, universities and businesses through patent royalties, new products and the prestige of achieving scientific breakthroughs — paybacks far less evident among, say, new intellectual insights by scholars of Geoffrey Chaucer’s literature, devotees of Frederic Chopin’s nocturnes or adherents to Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist views.

“People feel like there are no real careers open for people studying in the liberal arts and I don’t think that’s true at all,” said John Beck, 20, a senior from Newton, Mass., who’s majoring in philosophy at the University of Connecticut.