COVID-19 And The Key Role Of The Humanities And Social Sciences in the United StatesĬonsider the spread of COVID-19, global environmental degradation, and the deep divisions around race in this country. “With that respect must come an urgent reminder of the vital contribution made by the humanities and social sciences to the public good.” “We respect the autonomy of every institution of higher learning and the good-faith efforts of administrators forced to make difficult decisions in historically unprecedented conditions of uncertainty and financial shock,” the latter notes. This week, almost 60 learned societies, associations and higher-education serving groups signed onto an open letter that argues “humanistic education and scholarship must remain central to campus communities and conversations.” Signatories range from the Social Science Research Council and American Philosophical Society to the New York Public Library and the Society of Biblical Literature. There have been alarms raised – “The social sciences on our campuses – and quite likely throughout the University of California – stand at the edge of a fiscal precipice,” wrote three deans in the UC system for the news site Cal Matters, for example - but none of the announced cuts have been rolled back.
While this is not to say that all colleges and universities are only cutting humanities and social sciences when they decide to cut programs – some do cut things like athletics or STEM fields – social science and humanities prove to be softer targets in many cases. A number of these disciplines have seen their programs discontinued at the bachelor or graduate levels as schools decide that one way to save money in a hurry is to wield an axe and not a scalpel. While social science has proven instrumental in preventing the COVID-19 pandemic from being worse than it has been, that hasn’t prevented higher education from looking at their humanities and social sciences departments with a jaundiced eye when COVID has ravaged their budgets.