That perception, many suggest, may be driven not by a lack of interest in humanities but rather post-graduate employment pressures. Eighteen percent of students entering Harvard indicate an intention to study the humanities, Simpson said, but more than half of those end up in the social sciences instead.
“A lot of the kids I’ve taken Ec with do it because they like it, but I also think there are some people who think that, because they do Ec at Harvard, they’ll have a better chance of getting a job,” said Jimmy C. Field ’14, an economics concentrator who chose his plan of study based on his interest in math and finance.
Celena C. Tyler ’14, now a literature concentrator, originally wanted to pursue economics. “That’s just what everyone kind of did,” she said. “I wasn’t really sure what I wanted, and everyone said, ‘Oh, you’ll be successful if you do this.’”
Though some students feel that the University provides equal support to all fields of study, others think a disparity in the resources and funding allotted to divisions further embodies the shift away from the humanities.
“The dearth of research opportunities advertised for the humanities is shameful,” wrote Katya Johns ’14-’15, a dual concentrator in English and government and a Crimson arts editor, in an email. “It is up to the individual humanities student to find a mentor to shadow. There are very few pretexts under which to pursue your own individual passions and projects.”
Faculty echoed the call for Harvard to reinvest in the humanities.
“I think of President Faust as a humanist herself,” said Sorensen. “But I do think, on the other hand, that there has been a shift in interest, both here and in society at large.”
REPACKAGING
When Lindqvist started teaching first-year Swedish in the fall of 2009, three students enrolled in the class. After the department increased its web presence, started an email list, and created interdisciplinary courses, 22 students enrolled in the same course last fall.
“As soon as we started reaching out, there was a ready audience there, said Lindqvist. “There was a pre-existing interest. As soon as they found out we had something, they started coming.”
Simpson agreed that the humanities have the right message but should think carefully about whether it is accessible to the modern student.
“Maybe the social sciences are offering answers to the questions that students really want answered about their world,” he said. “[The humanities] needn’t take back on any of our commitments to disciplinary rigor, but we might want to think about designing courses, giving titles, packaging our material, in ways that are recognizable...to the world.
The arts and humanities division is creating new courses that focus on both interdisciplinary interactions and big questions about violence, war, and the meaning of life, according to Sorensen. Additionally, the division hopes to create a collaborative space, perhaps modeled in part on the Institute of Politics, for undergraduates of all disciplines to gather and discuss humanistic issues. SHARP, a new summer research program in the arts and humanities, will also launch next month.
“We need to show our audience, our students, that these four years are part of your pre-professional training, but in a way that’s not immediately connected to the concentration you will pick,” said Sorensen. “We’re trying to imagine that the education we are giving you will make you fabulous 21st century citizens with everything you’ll be asked to do, but without stripping you of your humanity.”
—Staff writer Brianna D. MacGregor can be reached at bmacgregor@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @bdmacgregor.