The humanities have served as the cornerstone of higher education since their very inception. According to the National Humanities Center, this academic discipline includes the study of history, philosophy, religion, languages, literature, fine and performing arts, media and culture and much more.
“Put simply, the humanities help us understand and interpret the human experience, as individuals and societies,” the NHC website states.
But, the humanities differ from other majors in a key area — their survival.
“But humanities fields are under threat,” NHC States. What does this mean? Is this phenomenon happening at the University of Wisconsin or is it an exception to this danger?
The issue
According to the NHC, funding for humanities programs has been cut across the country and are taught by underpaid, often temporary faculty.
Less than 10% of college graduates earned humanities degrees in 2020, a 25% drop from 2012, according to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A 2013 article from The Hechinger Report highlighted that public universities in particular are subject to attacks against less “strategic” majors found in the humanities.
These trends have continued and are not limited to public universities. According to an article by Inside Higher Ed, Boston University paused graduate admissions in a dozen humanities and social sciences programs, apparently due to a lack of funding available for such departments.
According to the National Endowment for the Humanities, appropriations to pursue research in humanities fields have largely declined since its peak in 1979 when adjusting for inflation. Moreover, though funding has remained relatively stagnant over the past decade, it has not substantially increased during this time.
To explore the roots of these problems, it is important to explore an essential quality of the humanities — literacy and how one can be educated in it.
Literacy education and the humanities
Professor Kate Vieira, of the UW School of Education, shared her perspective on the relationship between literacy and interest in the humanities. According to Vieira, language departments have faced demands to increase class sizes or even complete shutdowns.
Vieira said many of the challenges posed to the humanities can be linked to their ability to challenge existing conditions of society.
“I think a lot of the pressure that the humanities are facing is not because of anything wrong with the humanities, but because it threatens the status quo,” Vieira said.
Vieira further shared that increased control over education in schools can narrow approaches to inherently flexible subjects like reading and writing. Those who receive a more open education in literacy and the humanities can perform more effectively regardless of occupation, Vieira said.
Vieira, whose research concerns practical applications of writing, said language can support hatred but also peace and justice. Writing can also help people process their own experiences, especially when taught to children, according to Vieira.
“The voice of sense within yourself and also communicating with others has been really powerful,” Vieira said.
Vieira said poetry written by children who had access to humanist education is often used to encourage peace in nations such as Colombia.
Professors weigh in: The History Department
The chair of UW’s Department of History, Neil Kodesh, spoke about historians’ struggles and successes in recent years.
Kodesh said the difficulties faced by humanities departments include political challenges, management of resources within institutions of higher education and students’ waning interest in the fields. Kodesh said the latter two were greatly influenced by the 2008 recession, which stirred greater interest in fields of higher income.
“It’s in this context that there is a lot more attention placed on… the point of taking [a humanities] class, [and] what kind of job you’ll get in a major in history, English or philosophy,” Kodesh said.
According to Kodesh, history departments at other universities have been consolidated with other departments or even abandoned entirely. But, Kodesh said UW’s humanities departments have remained relatively healthy despite the losses at other universities.
Kodesh said foreign language departments in particular have faced large funding cuts and challenges from education officials and politicians. Other humanities departments have experienced comparable degrees of difficulty in recent years, according to Kodesh.
Regarding enrollment in the history department, Kodesh said there was a large downturn in 2008, linked to the recession, but the number of history majors and certificate students has since reached a similar level. UW’s administration has also been generally supportive of the history department and allowed more faculty to be hired, according to Kodesh.
“I’d say the college as a whole has always been very supportive of the history department and [the department] has taken a lot of measures to support [itself],” Kodesh said.
Some of these measures include hiring younger faculty, incorporating the history of science department into the history department, updating the history department’s website with syllabus information and especially the creation of the history certificate, Kodesh said.
According to Kodesh, the certificate allows students from an array of disciplines to support their majors with the skills and knowledge gained from history courses.
“The skills you will develop in these classes will translate outside the classroom regardless of what kind of profession you pursue in the future,” Kodesh said.
Professors weigh in: The Religious Studies Department
The director of UW’s Religious Studies Program Susan B. Ridgely, spoke about her department’s challenges in the modern era. Similarly to Kodesh, Ridgely said the decline of interest in the humanities is linked to the 2008 recession as students began pursuing majors with clear career outcomes.
“A hurdle that we’ve had to think through [is how] more students are gravitating toward more clearly defined majors that lead to more clearly defined careers,” Ridgely said.
Ridgely said humanities departments generally face difficulties at a similar rate, though departments with substantial support before 2008, such as English or History departments, have been able to mitigate their losses more effectively than smaller programs.
According to Ridgely, an increasing rate of secularism in the US population may have influenced enrollment in Religious Studies programs, but many religious scholars are nonetheless personally secular.
Ridgely said interest in the Religious Studies program peaked around 2001 after the September 11th attacks. According to Ridgely, enrollment has increased over the past few years.
“We’ve done a good job connecting Religious Studies with thinking about how to live in a diverse society and how to engage with people in a meaningful way across difference,” Ridgely said.
According to Ridgely, the Religious Studies Department is recruiting new professors and looking forward to a new humanities building where the department can increase its on-campus presence. Ridgely said the flexibility of UW’s curriculum to accommodate double majors and certificates has also benefited the program.
Professors Weigh in: The Gender & Women’s Studies Department
Professor Judith Houck, chair of the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, tied declining enrollment in the humanities over the past 10 to 15 years to an increased focus on income outcomes when students decide whether to study at college.
At UW, humanities departments have managed to rebound, according to Houck. Houck, who is also a professor in the History Department, said Gender and Women’s Studies usually see full enrollment in its courses, an indication fields in the humanities remain relevant in the modern day.
“Humanities are about exploring the human experience and certainly have not stopped being necessary and important work,” Houck said.
According to Houck, the Gender and Women’s Studies department was recently given permission by UW administration to launch a PhD program. Houck said growth can be attributed to strong faculty, the relevance of the courses taught and gender and women’s studies classes’ intersection with other majors.
Despite this success in Madison, other University of Wisconsin system schools have cut humanities programs such as gender & women’s studies and there continues to be opposition to the field based on political grounds, Houck said.
“There are places where Gender & Women’s Studies is seen as a more political than intellectual or academic project and in those states Gender & Women’s Studies is being targeted,” Houck said.
Professors Weigh in: Philosophy and Creative Writing
The Badger Herald also briefly spoke to Professor Emily Fletcher, the chair of UW’s Department of Philosophy and Professor Amy Quan Barry of the English, specifically creative writing, department.
According to Fletcher, the Department of Philosophy is developing a new artificial intelligence and data ethics certificate and is hiring up to six new faculty members this year.
“We are growing in many respects,” Fletcher said.
Barry said both the English department and UW have supported the creative writing program in recent years. Seven creative writing professors have been hired since 2019, many of them junior faculty, according to Barry.
“We’re fortunate that we’ve been able to rebuild our program after losing several faculty members to retirement and relocation,” Barry said.
Student voices
UW Senior Kalin Ahmad, a double major in physics and philosophy, shared his thoughts about the current state of the humanities here at Madison. Kalin said while he knows many philosophy majors and has not seen significant changes during his time at UW, other students have expressed concerns about the humanities.
Some complaints include the relatively low pay as well as weaker career outcomes for students in the humanities, Ahmad said. Discussing which current practices in the humanities should be continued, Ahmad emphasized the importance of small class sizes for lectures and discussions.
“I’ve noticed philosophy discussions are way more interesting than any other discussion that I’ve had for any other class, [which is] a factor of material [and] structure,” Ahmad said.
Ahmad said homework for humanities classes, which usually includes reading analysis, while mandatory, is less stressful and more refreshing than work in other fields.
The requirement for all UW students to take courses in the humanities is also effective, Ahmad said. According to Ahmad, these requirements can help expose students to interesting fields they may not have considered prior.
“I need[ed] to take humanities classes… [which were] actually really interesting… I was able to essentially just say ‘what if’ I double major in [philosophy] and take extra classes in that?’ Ahmad said regarding his choice to study philosophy.
In addition, multiple organizations on campus support the humanities. According to the Fall 2024 Student Organization Fair‘s directory, there are 39 student organizations considered “arts and music,” alongside numerous others dedicated to fields of the humanities such as English or foreign languages.
What can students and faculty do?
Even if UW’s humanities departments have fared well compared to many others across the nation, students and professors can still advocate for its continued support on and off campus.
Academics in the humanities, especially younger ones, have turned toward community-based work to raise awareness and show the practical implications of their work, Professor Kodesh said. According to Kodesh, sharing one’s research in the humanities with a broader audience can cross the gap between academia and society.
“One of our [goals] is to go out and… be part of those multi-disciplinary conversations taking place about how to tackle pressing problems in the world today,” Kodesh said.
Professor Houck also said one of the aims of professors in the humanities is to present their findings to a larger audience to be seen as less insular.
One way students can encourage continued interest in the humanities is by taking courses or certificates that fit non-humanities fields, such as students interested in medicine who enroll in the health and humanities certificate, Houck said.
Professor Ridgely said the narrative of the “death of the humanities” is both inaccurate and can diminish confidence in students potentially interested in the humanities. Instead, students and faculty can gain support for the humanities by conveying its strengths, according to Ridgely.
“Emphasizing what’s actually happening in terms of the work that’s being done, the thinking that’s being done, …the creative kinds of classes that are being taught, …can really help,” Ridgely said.
The essence of the humanities
The ultimate purpose of the humanities, just like the subjects contained within its sphere, is abstract and difficult to define.
Professor Kodesh said while studying the humanities may appear like a privilege at first due to the lack of focus on career outcomes, courses across humanities fields universally apply to the workforce.
Anyone can study History and English, but studying these subjects in a college setting is a unique experience, according to Kodesh.
“[The humanities] help you think more critically about who you are and what you’re doing in the world,” Kodesh said.
Similarly, Professor Ridgely said the benefits of humanities classes — such as stronger reading and writing abilities — are essential regardless of one’s occupation. The humanities also encourage creativity, which is heavily desired in most industries, Ridgely said.
Ahmad said UW’s flexible curriculum allows students to first take courses in humanities fields and then connect said fields to their other interests. According to Ahmad, many of his peers take STEM courses such as genetics or physics alongside classes in the humanities.
“It is worth taking [humanities] classes [of interest] just because you will learn something that you enjoy,” Ahmad said.
While being able to earn a double major in a humanities field makes the area more appealing, it is not necessary to still take a course and derive meaning from it, Ahmad said.
Professor Houck said the humanities provide valuable instruction in the human condition across different societies, connecting different fields together and inspiring interest in areas students may not have previously enjoyed by relating to one of their other interests.
“Even if you don’t think the humanities or reading novels or thinking about the past might be your cup of tea, college is a great time to explore things outside of your comfort zone,” Houck said.
