Thanks, Paul, for pointing to this. Am going to do a thing I rarely do, which is post without footnotes! Three points: 1. The way to defund the humanities has always been through de-legitimizing the value of humanities research and teaching. Not new, but an accumulating menace . 1/ - ThreadSky

kawulf.bsky.social • 6 days ago

Thanks, Paul, for pointing to this. Am going to do a thing I rarely do, which is post without footnotes! Three points:
1. The way to defund the humanities has always been through de-legitimizing the value of humanities research and teaching. Not new, but an accumulating menace . 1/

Reposted from Paul Cohen

it seems one of the stated purposes of capping overhead on NIH grants at 15% by those who champion the cap is to starve PhD programs in the humanities

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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kawulf.bsky.social•6 days ago

2. Uni budgets are diverse and complex and how things get counted can obscure what's paying for what-- mostly for reasons that suit internal logics and nothing nefarious. But funded high $$ STEM research generally just doesn't pay for itself, most seriously the infrastructure it needs. 2/

kawulf.bsky.social•6 days ago

3. (In)famously the study Robert Gates commissioned at Texas A&M on disciplinary ROI. Never mind the costs of football, turns out humanities are excellent immediate ROI. (Just did a quick search will keep looking.) So the old chestnut about STEM funding the humanities? Uh, no. 3/

cmcanning.bsky.social•6 days ago

If you find it, can you post ? I’m looking for it too!

cmcanning.bsky.social•6 days ago

Gates’ papers are (oddly enough) at William and Mary. The finding aid doesn’t have any obvious entry for the study.

kawulf.bsky.social•6 days ago

Yes, a donation when I was still teaching there! (He is an alum and also the Chancellor.). I also checked out that finding aid for the A&M stuff ... : )

cmcanning.bsky.social•6 days ago

That clears up that mystery! I’m also asking colleagues at A&M about this. I’ll post what I find.

kawulf.bsky.social•6 days ago

(3A. I'll go get some #footnotes).

paulecohen.bsky.social•6 days ago

thank you for this Karin, and looking forward to tracking down some of the references in your footnotes!

andreawinkler.net•6 days ago

Christopher Newfield's "Unmaking the Public University" has facts and figures for this very conclusion, for the UCLA system. It's old now -- 2008-ish? --but still pertinent.

kawulf.bsky.social•6 days ago

Thank you, I had this on request!

clancyny.bsky.social•6 days ago

Among digital humanists, the conversation about indirect costs in humanities vs. STEM comes up every so often.

I've heard one of our best digital humanists, Tom Scheinfeldt @foundhistory.bsky.social, talk about it. Maybe Tom knows a reference?

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