"We hope that a new deal for the humanities would articulate an idea of the university for our time, one setting itself firmly against the current retooling of our public universities as technical colleges. That conversation is going forward, in one domain or another, to one extent or another in many places. We also propose dialogue on the painfully banal terrain of university administration. At present, university bureaucracies simply do not have mechanisms for valuing the contributions of the humanities, from their means of program evaluation to their standards for appointing new faculty. Partnering with creative and right-minded administrators to fill those institutional voids must be high on our agenda. A focus on practical proposals might lead to productive ways of building frameworks that secure vibrant and robust humanities offerings for twenty-first century students. The alternative is effectively to abandon one of this nation’s most noble traditions: that of providing educational opportunities at all levels and in all subjects to ever-broadening segments of society. What a shame that would be."
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 16:30:44 +0000
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