Miami is losing its humanity

In our history class weeks ago, we looked at each other in dumb shock when we heard that the History Department graduate program was being scrapped. It seemed unreal that a field so synonymous with liberal arts was losing its own graduate program, more disturbingly as a matter of cost-control.

It explained rumors (proven true) that the history department would be moved to Bachelor Hall the following year, as a shrunk department would obviously occupy less physical space. The department alone being moved from the crown jewel of campus to the once unnavigable home of the English department seemed odd, until I also learned that its neighbor in the comparative religion department was being dissolved, root and branch.

“Relegation” is the term I thought best defined this dismantling of the humanities departments, though in truth (especially for students), “humiliation” encapsulates the impact of Miami University’s self-erasure. There is a song too often sung by students, mournful teachers and even some politicians who supposedly should care about education: “The humanities don’t pay. Some of the courses are ridiculous. They don’t prepare you for real jobs.”

The best falsehoods are flaked with truth, but the lie that humanities are not valuable is as dangerous as it is disingenuous.

From my own experiences at Miami, I know “academic” studies can lead to positions far above and beyond just teaching. Taking the advice of my first history professor, I would reach out to a professor emeritus in my hometown. Through that small connection, I enrolled in a series of internships explicitly for my skills from the humanities, and I am now entering my senior year following a second government internship, while gauging both jobs and graduate schools with confidence. Yet the academic and non-academic openings made by such experiences seem to be lost upon Miami in its assessments.

More confounding to me is the double-talk from Miami. The announcer at the football home game against Ohio University rambling on about how Miami is “doing more than just adapting to change” as an airplane circled the stadium, the Faculty Alliance of Miami (FAM) banner streaming, was a clear encapsulation of the cognitive dissonance Miami puts on.

However, there’s more to it than that. Even in meeting with my professor and our class and interviewing various history graduates through my honors course, pessimism regarding prospects was a constant theme of discussion. Inevitably, students, faculty and even family would say that these majors did not have the securities that business careers do.

Yet, I have met several business students who are actively interested in pursuits covered by the humanities and human sciences (especially politics, which by necessity should require a background in human development and relations). The fiscal argument echoed for cutting the humanities majors is also suspect to my mind, as the university sees no problem investing in enormous buildings for business and data science. Altogether, I find it hard to believe the narrative that there is simply no “demand” for humanities studies, or that costs constrain Miami as it builds palaces for its new pet projects.

On a metaphysical level, I must worry about the soul of Miami. While there deservedly is a wide spectrum of students at Miami, the plain truth is that the university’s refocus on quantitative studies alone undercuts the identity of Miami as a liberal arts institution, where truth is to be questioned and examined, rather than simply calculated.

That is not to say that quantitative skills and professions have no place at Miami. Rather, the mental diversity and open-mindedness of Miami are endangered, especially by relegations of the humanities to studies unworthy of time, effort or money.

Looking at the future, it is hard to imagine today's complex issues, once professionally tackled by our soon-to-be former departments, demoted to the realm of mere profit speculations.

If Miami truly believes in what it claims to be its identity and mission, it should be investing in potential programs that affirm rather than dissuade humanities studies as legitimate professional pathways.

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The first that comes to my mind would be policy science, an increasingly intersectional field combining humanities studies with quantitative reasoning and estimation to promote ethical political decisions. A graduate program in policy science would work well with all such departments at Miami, as well as bolster our university’s presence in D.C. Law, another potential post-graduate, also works into our preexisting programs and it would bring an alumni boom potentially higher than the Farmer School of Business.

I am graduating, and perhaps I should not trouble myself with picking an argument with my soon-to-be alma mater. However, I would rather not visit and see all of Upham’s classes emptied out.

mcgonags@miamioh.edu

Gavin McGonagle is a senior undergraduate student double majoring in history (with honors) and political science. He is writing as an independent opinion columnist for The Miami Student as well as the press representative of the Miami University College Republicans. He serves as Chancellor of Oxford’s Knights of Columbus Council 18322 – Seat of Wisdom, as well as secretary of Epsilon Tau Pi, Sigma Colony.