<div dir="ltr"><div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms,sans-serif" class="gmail_default"><span><div><span><span><b>The Institute for Ethics in Public
Life invites you to join us for "The Decline of the Humanities," on Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 3:30pm in-person or on Zoom, with
special guest Dr. Meg Pearson, Dean of Arts and Sciences at SUNY
Plattsburgh.</b></span></span></div></span><span><div><span><span><b> </b></span></span></div></span><div style="margin-left:40px"><span><div>In
recent years the humanities have been in decline at colleges and
universities across America. The number of degree completions in
Humanities fields (broadly defined) <a href="https://www.amacad.org/humanities-indicators/higher-education/bachelors-degrees-humanities" id="gmail-ow95">dropped 24% between 2012 and 2022</a>, and has continued to drop since then. In response to this, or perhaps as part of it, we are seeing <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.chronicle.com/article/theyre-killing-the-humanities-on-purpose&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1761683330787963&usg=AOvVaw2nisZlvzJ-XQ5Ab_7KE4Ct" target="_blank">cuts to the Humanities by university leaders</a>? </div><div> </div><div>Various explanations for this phenomenon have been offered including <a href="https://sbstatesman.com/136234/arts/the-decline-of-humanities-majors-examining-trends-in-higher-education-and-cultural-priorities/" id="gmail-ow108">rising anti-intellectualism</a>, the perception that they are not career-relevant, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/11/the-elite-college-students-who-cant-read-books/679945/" id="gmail-ow121">lower levels of literacy</a>, <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-the-number-of-college-graduates-in-the-humanities-drops-for-the-eighth-consecutive-year/#:~:text=One%20overlooked%20factor%20working%20against%20the%20humanities,to%20attract%20them%20as%20major%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20Townsend." id="gmail-ow127">proliferation of AP courses in high school</a>, and <a href="https://heightsforum.org/article/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-humanities/" id="gmail-ow115">post-modernism</a>.
All of this is quite troubling, since when colleges and universities
were first being founded most of the curriculum was what we now call the
humanities.</div><div> </div><div>Why should we care? Are the attacks
on the humanities justified by a lack of return on the investment for
the students? Well, that isn't clearly true. In fact,<span> <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/the-edge/2025-08-28&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1761683330787963&usg=AOvVaw1Di8FE0H1AlnNFRau6xHbJ" target="_blank">research </a>indicates
that students who majored in Liberal Arts are more likely to have jobs
with substantive duties that call on what they learned in college than
students with "practical" majors (engineering and business).</span>
While graduates of preprofessional programs may have higher starting
salaries immediately after graduation, for the most part that premium
quickly dissipates. In addition, a course of study in the humanities <a href="https://jeffreynall.substack.com/p/the-ignored-matter-of-values" id="gmail-ow139">has benefits </a>that aren't easily reduced to dollars and cents. </div><div> </div><div>Note also that the picture is not completely bleak, since <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.chronicle.com/events/virtual/the-growing-role-of-the-humanities-at-community-colleges&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1761683330787963&usg=AOvVaw0UTh_X6jIYVDFi4sMXhGi2" target="_blank" id="gmail-ow133">there is an increasing demand for programs in the Humanities by community college students</a>. </div><div> </div><div>To
help us think about what is going on, why we should care, and what we
as faculty, students, and members of the community can do about it we
are joined by Dr. Meg Pearson, Dean of Arts and Sciences at SUNY
Plattsburgh.</div><div> </div><div>Please join us in-person in the Thomas Moran Seminar Room (Hawkins 233) or on Zoom (see below). </div><div><br></div></span><span><div>Time: Oct 29, 2025 03:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)</div></span><br><span><div>Join Zoom Meeting</div></span><br><span><div><a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://plattsburgh.zoom.us/j/82192377612&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1761683330787963&usg=AOvVaw0CNkWIUe7WHQBMMFc_4uCQ" target="_blank">https://plattsburgh.zoom.us/j/82192377612</a></div></span><span></span><br><span><div>Meeting ID: 821 9237 7612</div></span></div>
</div><br clear="all"></div><br><span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><b><font size="2">Daniel Lake</font></b></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2">(pronouns: he/him/his)<br></font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2">Professor of Political Science</font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2">Director, Institute for Ethics in Public Life<br></font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2">Hawkins 149A</font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2"><a href="https://maps.google.com/?q=101+Broad+Street+Plattsburgh,+NY+12901&entry=gmail&source=g" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">101 Broad Street</a></font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2"><a href="https://maps.google.com/?q=101+Broad+Street+Plattsburgh,+NY+12901&entry=gmail&source=g" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">Plattsburgh, NY 12901</a></font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2">(o) <a href="tel:(518)%5645833" value="+15185642217" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">518-564-5833</a></font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><b><font size="2"><a href="http://plattsburgh.edu/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">plattsburgh.edu</a></font></b><br></p></div><div dir="ltr"><img src="https://web.plattsburgh.edu/files/914/images/SUNY-Plattsburgh-Email-Logo-2018.jpg"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>