The realm of academia has seen a significant change in 2025. Federal budget cuts — and even legal cases between universities and the Trump administration — have hit almost every major university in a tangible way, resulting in a plethora of changes as universities struggle to adapt.
Though the exact effects of federal budget cuts remain murky, organizations such as Ithaka S+R, track changes made in higher education with federal influence being cited as an influence.
Some are obvious and widespread, such as the closure of diversity, equity and inclusion departments at many major universities — the University of Wisconsin-Madison included, as of this summer. Other changes are more specific to certain universities.
For example, Johns Hopkins University laid off over 2200 employees and froze staff hiring. George Washington University is limiting non-essential discretionary expenses, such as for travel and events.
UW is no exception — the university announced a 5% budget cut for schools and colleges and a 7% cut for administrative and other units, effective next year, according to UW News. Similar changes have been made across the rest of the Universities of Wisconsin system, though they are difficult to track and vary across campuses.
Though one trend has emerged — the humanities and social sciences appear to be the most-cut programs across the University of Wisconsin system, according to the Isthmus.
Degrees in fields such as religious studies and comparative literature have been suspended in UW-Eau Claire and UW-Milwaukee, respectively, and UW-Madison eliminated its classics major in 2023. Many of these changes took place before this year’s budget cuts, but they are likely to be exacerbated further.
Granted, the issue of the humanities and social sciences is not limited to the Universities of Wisconsin. The University of Chicago, a leader in both disciplines, announced in August that it would pause admissions to nearly all humanities and social sciences doctoral programs, according to Inside Higher Ed.
What, then, are humanities and social sciences professors doing to adapt?
The Badger Herald previously wrote a piece focusing on UW-Madison’s humanities departments and how they continued to assert their relevance despite national narratives. But, many departments have since experienced greater impacts due to this year’s budget cuts.
Despite these changes, the work of students and faculty within UW-Madison’s humanities and social sciences departments tell a story of adaptation and innovation.
A conversation with the History department
Professor of history and department Chair Neil Kodesh discussed the impact changes in federal funding has had in the department.
Kodesh said that while most history faculty do not directly receive federal funding, as some in the sciences do, the National Resource Centers of the broader history department — including the Center for African Studies and Center for Southeast Asian Studies — received federal funding up until recently.
Federal funding also helps fund conferences, research and fellowships for graduate and undergraduate students in the department, Kodesh said.
Kodesh said the decrease in federal funding on the history department has been more consequential than expected. Not only have National Resource Centers essentially lost all funding, Kodesh said, but students may lose access to fellowships and scholarships from the department.
“[Budget Cuts] have had more of an effect on our department than we had imagined,” Kodesh said.
Kodesh said that, while internal decisions have been made in response to diminishing funds, the history department has prioritized teaching undergraduate and graduate students with the same quality as always.
“Our priority is to continue to meet our teaching mission … and the undergraduate experience,” Kodesh said.
The challenges of language departments
Across the country, language departments at universities seem to have been especially impacted by withdrawals of federal funds. Last month, for example, a federal grant intended to foster foreign languages in Wisconsin was cut after 60 years of existence.
Professor and Department of French and Italian Chair Florence Vatan spoke on how these changes might impact foreign language departments on Madison’s campus.
Vatan said that while the Department of French and Italian rarely applies for large federal grants, individual professors occasionally apply for individual research grants. In addition, though it is not inherently connected to the department, the foreign language and area studies fellowships – which support students as they learn new languages – have also received cuts, Vatan said.
“It’s unlikely that these grants and fellowships will be awarded next year,” Vatan said.
A challenge the department faces in the wake of budget cuts are managing language courses, Vatan said. Another issue faced by foreign language departments, Vatan said, is a relative lack of flexibility considering the capped numbers of students for each language course – meaning the department may have to reduce the number of courses offered each semester out of sheer necessity.
Vatan said one way the department hopes to adapt to these changes is to offer more English-taught courses on subjects like French and Italian culture. This would, consequently, allow more students to take classes in the department without worries of a language barrier, Vatan said.
“We still hope that [budget cuts] will be a transitory period, but we don’t know exactly what the future holds,” Vatan said.
The perspectives of students in the humanities
No conversation about education can be truly complete without considering the perspectives of those who learn. A senior studying classical humanities Chloe Plunkett currently leads the Student Classics Society on campus.
Plunkett, though an undergraduate, has attended internal meetings within the classical humanities department and gained an understanding of the role of federal funding through these meetings and interactions with peers.
Plunkett said the classical humanities department is currently concerned with language and wording, particularly where the federal government is concerned. There is a worry, Plunkett said, that small writing choices, such as the mention of words like ‘DEI,’ could potentially lose the department significant funding.
“There is a lot of stress surrounding the way things are worded … there’s generally an air of [concern] around what’s going on with federal funding,” Plunkett said.
Further, Plunkett said specific professors worry their research may be rejected federal funds because of said research’s focus on marginalized communities. This has combined into a general feeling of anxiety that has trickled down to students, Plunkett said.
Within the classics society, Plunkett said she and the rest of the group have been rebudgeting (since they receive a small stipend from the department) and preparing for potential losses. According to Plunkett, she is also bringing in voices from across the country for the society’s events.
“We’re really working on bringing in different perspectives in any way we can … to both express their thoughts on the matter and provide some levity and hope,” Plunkett said.
Shifting focus to the social sciences
UW-Madison boasts a strong array of social sciences departments, ranging from political science to economics to sociology.
For sociology, department Chair Eric Grodsky said the major pillars of federal support for the are the National Institutes for Health and the National Institute on Aging. Grodsky said there are also numerous training grants that support doctoral students as they approach their doctoral degrees.
Grodsky said it is important to make a distinction between direct and indirect effects of federal funding. Some direct effects, Grodsky said, are delays in funding — though most funding was eventually awarded — and the dissolution of foreign language scholarships for sociology students. What, then, about indirect effects?
Capped cuts on budgeting influences costs of facilities, infrastructure and more that professors and students alike take advantage of, she said. Further, Grodsky said, worries about federal funding have led to a 7% budget decrease within the department. Fears about federal influence have also impacted applications for graduate programs and academic grants, Grodsky said.
“A colleague’s application was administratively withdrawn prior to being reviewed because it had the words ‘structural racism’ in it,” Grodsky said.
In terms of adjustments within the department, Grodsky said the sociology department needs to reconsider the size of its graduate cohorts due to funding uncertainty. Less graduate students would also contribute to a decline in teaching assistants, which could also impact class sizes for undergraduates, Grodsky said.
“It could mean larger sections, fewer writing intensive courses … it just depends on how far these budget cuts go,” Grodsky said.
The psychology department’s challenges and changes
Family professor and Chair of the psychology department Shawn Green studies human learning. He observes the transfer, rate and depth of how humans acquire knowledge. He also faces a unique period in the history of learning, particularly at the college level.
Green said the psychology department relies heavily on federal funding, in no small part due to its frequent forays into the area of natural science. As a result, Green said, a significant number of the department’s faculty receives funding from the National Institutes of Health.
Green himself is funded by the National Eye Institute and the National Institute of Aging for his work on visual capabilities and cognitive aging, respectively.
“We do a wide range of things … our research mission is really strongly tied to federal funding,” Green said.
Green said there are other sources of funding, such as foundational grants, though most pale in comparison to the size and scope of federal support. The biggest issue going forward, Green said, is the uncertainty that results from the murkiness of said support in the future.
Some changes, Green said, are dependent on the result of court cases in-progress. Many grants have timelines, such as five years, that require being mapped out, as well. These issues and other issues of uncertainty play a role in shaping the funds the department receives from UW-Madison itself, such as those that go toward teaching undergraduates, Green said.
“Some of the bigger things are still to be determined,” Green said.
How can the psychology department contend with challenges that are inherently ambiguous, then? Green said the department’s administration has developed multiple contingencies in the case of different outcomes or impacts.
A major throughline of all of these plans, Green said, is how to maintain the Wisconsin Idea, particularly through the training of undergraduates and graduate students alike in their research abilities. In that sense, the true objective of the department is to maintain its largest commitments despite the murkiness of the future.
“When I moved here outside of graduate school, I was struck by the Wisconsin Idea … [it is] important to our identity as a university,” Green said.
What can students do, and why should they study these disciplines?
The above interviews certainly present a difficult road ahead for the humanities and social sciences, at least in the short-term. But, that does not at all mean the road is not worth traveling.
In fact, every person interviewed continued to speak highly of students pursuing studies in these fields, and some even gave advice on how they can help these departments navigate these changes.
Kodesh said continuing to take courses in the humanities demonstrates interest and is gratifying to professors and administrators alike. Students can also work within governmental infrastructures, Kodesh said, such as state legislatures or even student government like the Associated Students of Madison.
“It’d be gratifying to know that undergraduate students who are interested in these areas are aware of what’s going on,” Kodesh said.
Vatan said that French and Italian studies are still very popular on campus, particularly for study abroad. She said students that pursue their language studies in this regard can help maintain a strong and high value program.
Grodsky said students should stay engaged and to not let current events dictate their future. Students maintaining healthy positivity and continuing to pursue their passions is the best way forward, Grodsky said.
“We’ll come out on the other side … pursue the things you want to pursue and keep doing the things you want to do,” Grodsky said.
Green said UW-Madison’s highly-ranked psychology department still provides a great number of opportunities to undergraduates. Students can take advantage of networks, build a community with fellow students and gain support from other groups.
Students should seek out their advisors and career advisors and plan their future regardless of any current disruptions, Green said. Another helpful way to frame the future is to think about the careers needed in the future and how students can best serve society after graduation, Green said.
Plunkett said students should pursue the humanities if it is something they are interested in, regardless of outside factors. She said students demonstrating interest through coursework and student organizations can prove to donors and other influential individuals that research and funding is still needed and utilized.
Plunkett also said students should explore different areas of the humanities to best find how they can serve their community. Finding flexibility within the humanities is helpful regardless of what one’s interests are, Plunkett.
“The most radical thing you can do in a humanities department is have hope and still continue what you’re doing,” Plunkett said.
