Community Message for September 2025
With pressure growing on academic freedom and on colleges and universities nation-wide at the start of this academic year, two thoughts that I’ve written about before are foremost in my mind. First, we call higher education a system, but it doesn’t function as one. Colleges and universities are far more used to competing with one another than collaborating, and scholars typically prefer (and are rewarded for pursuing) work on their own rather than collaborative research or departmental planning.
Second, Americans aren’t going to start thinking the humanities and social sciences are important just because we say they should. We (both practitioners and supporters) have a powerful story to tell about our value – about the key roles our research and teaching play in strengthening social bonds and students’ futures – but to be effective, we need to take control of explaining the work to the right audiences.
These times are not normal. They are, and forgive the cliché, times of risk and enormous opportunity for ACLS and our member societies and networks of faculty, students, administrators, and supporters. While colleges and universities are under heavy financial and political pressure, we can use our cross-institutional relationships to speak out boldly on behalf of our values and fields and to generate practical institutional solutions for the short game and the long one.
In a recent essay, recalling the late political scientist Russell Hardin’s argument that “power is a coordination problem,” the journalist Ezra Klein noted that the federal government has a huge coordination advantage: it can plan and implement wide-ranging strategy, get its message out, reward friends and hound enemies. Institutions like law firms and universities that lack coordination have mostly been negotiating alone, but Klein reminds us that our power lies in the fact that “everyone in society—every person, every institution—is a node of coordination.” What worries him is that the coordinated message leaders are sending is “don’t take any risks. Everything is normal.” Wait it out. Like Klein, I think that’s a mistake. Those of us who can act in the knowledge that this is not business as usual, should.
The Apollo project has always appealed to me as a terrific example of brilliant people setting aside the projects they knew well and priorities they were trained to value in favor of working together to put people on the moon and return them safely to earth. An Apollo mission for the humanities and social sciences starts with scholars’ agreement to turn our collective attention to planning and action for strength and growth (again, understanding that factors like tenure, seniority, and resources make this easier for some): increasing the numbers of undergraduates in our degree programs; creating stronger institutional groupings; learning what models of success already exist, to avoid re-inventing wheels. I hope societies find that asking members to focus on these problems strengthens solidarity and encourages new members to join.
I’m not going to sugarcoat what’s coming. We anticipate more and deeper cuts at institutions across the country this year. At ACLS, we’re placing this front and center in every meeting and convening: with the executive directors of our learned societies, incoming presidents of societies, the representatives of our Research University Consortium and our Associates network, gatherings of fellows and reviewers, and our own board. Together, we are well placed to agree on and circulate the best ways to future-proof our fields and to help one another implement them.
One thing is clear: pouring our energy into defending the status quo will not strengthen us now or further down the road. Take one key example: cuts to programs are typically driven by trends in undergraduate study away from our fields to what are perceived to be more “job ready” majors including business, technology, and health. These perceptions are accelerated and legitimized in the public eye by politicians working for their own ends. ACLS is not accommodationist: both publicly and behind the scenes, we advocate for the preservation of the academic enterprise above all else. Avoiding the conditions where cuts are proposed is our goal. Rather than doubling down on recruiting students to traditional majors, imitating flourishing programs that are academically sound and that attract students takes time, but promises success. The National Humanities Alliance, our member societies, affiliate and ally organizations like the AAC&U, media trades like The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and The Hechinger Report, and ACLS itself have gathered many inspiring examples of degree programs that educate larger numbers of students.
As we prepare ourselves to be ready for anything, I see lessons to learn from the sciences beyond the Apollo project. I’ll single out two. Scientists understand the power of large groupings. Names like “psychology” and “biology” embrace many different topics and methods and allow for effective lobbying within individual institutions and in the public eye. By contrast, in the humanities, talk about combining departments is a third rail – a prospect many faculty feel they must fight. There are reasonable reasons for faculty, especially those facing losing their jobs, to see it as nothing more than a cover for downsizing. But larger groupings bring real intellectual and institutional advantages, if faculty take an active role in designing and managing them.
Scientists are also skilled at explaining their fields as a mix of the applied and the theoretical, the micro and the macro, all in the service of a unified mission. Scientists seeking funding are required to explain what their work contributes to the public good in their applications. Sometimes scholars tell me it’s not their job to articulate the value of their research or how it relates to the mission of the field as a whole, but we believe that being ready with these explanations is crucial to building broader understanding of what we do, one step at a time.
ACLS is expanding our ability to speak out through the formation of a new group of allies and fellow advocates. Last spring we made major changes in our governance designed to help the ACLS community – societies, delegates, fellows, reviewers, administrators, board members, supporters – share knowledge and coordinate more effectively. Starting this month, we are consulting with these groups on the best design of the convenings, including an annual gathering, that can help us meet the demands of these times.
I’m grateful for the recent gift of $500,000 from the MacArthur Foundation, for the evolving partnership of our new funders group, and for the staunch support of our philanthropic partners. I am also deeply thankful to our supporters and friends who provided invaluable help as we brought litigation to fight the cuts at the NEH and protested the censorship of American history and culture at the Smithsonian.
Our collective agenda for action will take shape in our Advocacy in Action messages in this space. Stay tuned, and stay in touch.
Joy