Gossip had been floating around for weeks, but it wasn’t until 4:30 on Friday the 21st of April that Lasell University sent an email out to its English majors announcing the end of their program. Unfortunately, that included me.
I first found out through a friend a few weeks ago that Lasell was getting rid of its English, History, and Sociology major programs. Those already in the programs will be able to finish their degrees, but they won’t be accepting any new students into these tracks. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t surprised. There’s a very small group of us humanities majors here at Lasell. There are even fewer English professors. Every semester, I struggle to get all my requirements filled. This isn’t even a Lasell-centric issue. Earlier this year, one writer reported that humanities enrollment has fallen by 17%. All over the country, humanities programs have been shrinking. I never thought mine would completely die out.
To put it bluntly, I’m grieving. I wake up every morning and go to my classes that seemingly don’t even matter to my school. I spend thousands of dollars on skills they have now deemed unnecessary. I have dedicated my life to the pursuit of a goal that those who are supposed to support me the most, have trampled and left behind. In career workshops, they tell me how I can apply my humanities skills to other fields. They never offer the option of actually working in the humanities. Apparently, it is no longer a viable plan.
I’m grieving for the professors who have just lost their incomes. They too have dedicated their lives to these subjects, and for much longer than me. They can better see how in each of their classes, students become disengaged with the content. Students studying social media marketing won’t get to understand the importance of sociology in their field. Exercise science majors won’t learn about the history of their field. Communications majors won’t get vital lessons on how literary analysis is vital to understanding the nuance in language. Even in an age that needs critical reading, analysis, and social theory, professors’ expertise is thrown to the side. Now they will have to search for new institutions that will hopefully better value the skills that are so deeply essential to the future of our society.
I’m grieving for all the students at Lasell who will no longer have the opportunity to pursue these subjects. While they will certainly be given introductory courses to appease core curriculums, they will not be able to follow these ideas to the depth they desire. Courses will likely end at the 200 level, leaving no room for advanced study. Up until now, Lasell has been accepting students into these programs. While I have the luxury of being a senior next year, there are multiple freshmen humanities majors I know personally who will have to struggle to fill all their requirements for the next three years. Even those in non-humanities tracks will have no opportunity to study their passion on the side. I’m endlessly sad that they won’t get this valuable time.
I’m grieving for myself two years ago, who would have never come to Lasell if she knew this is how it would end. I’m grieving all the amazing opportunities I could have had if I went to an institution that actually valued the humanities. I’m grieving all the amazing experiences I have had here, and all the people who will miss out on it after me. Maybe I’m the one in the wrong for picking a dying major. Maybe the jokes on me for following what I think is important. But under all that grief and doubt, I’m angry. I’m angry that higher education is failing students who pay them thousands every year to apparently make them well-rounded citizens, while depriving them of some of the most fundamental subjects to human development. I’m angry that Lasell got rid of these programs without even thinking to talk to the students involved. I’m angry that society has put blinders on, becoming so focused on STEM, that the humanities have disappeared. All I can do now is get my degree and run.