[Recently] English majors reportedly declined by about three-quarters—in 2020, there were fewer than sixty at a college of more than seven thousand—and philosophy and foreign literatures also sustained losses… “We feel we’re on the Titanic,” a senior professor in the English department told me.
The author does find hope, though, for the humanities, especially in integration with other fields, and in the surprising number of students who like to read books.
It should go just fine if the legislators involved are willing to give up telecommunications, internal combustion engines, air travel and medicine as we know it. They should, after all, go first.
Reminds me of Doctorow ranting about broadband utilities wanting to not serve the public good - they’ve received massive public subsidies in terms of being allowed to close roads and shit to lay their cables.
Doctorow’s ranty suggestion - if they won’t serve net neutrality, give them 90 days to get their cables out of the ground.
In this case, if the universities don’t serve the purpose they were given the land for, give them 90 days to vacate the land.
It’s often state policy that is driving up cost, so who is gonna force them?
The federal government granted the land to the states for the specific purpose of locating and funding public universities. The federal government could decide that states have stopped fulfilling the terms of those grants and demand repayment of the current value. Considering that the land that was granted was not just the land the colleges are located on but many times more that was to be sold, with the proceeds to fund the colleges themselves, it could be a value many times the operating budget of entire states!
Yeah, but how likely is that scenario, in the current environment, when universities are already under threat from state government. I doubt the federal government is going to do anything to make it worse, which is what would happen.
I’m thinking more along the lines of justification for (and putting teeth behind) student loan forgiveness and free public higher education on the federal level. We know some states will fight such federal mandates, even if it means harming their own residents; even if it means cutting off their own noses to spite their face. Look what so many states did with the ACA Medicaid payments. They would rather refuse funding (or redirect it for cruelty, like COVID aid) than do what is right for their people.
By pointing out that affordable public university was always the condition of the land grant program, trying to turn it into a political footbalm would absolutely bankrupt any state that tried to refuse.
Maybe… but how is that going to be enforced?
How is any federal law enforced upon states?
Usually via the courts… but… 
I don’t know… I get what you’re saying and I do agree that the feds should be stepping in to ensure equitably access to higher ed. I just think in the current environment, an attempt to do so would not go well.
[ETA] I’m seriously concerned about our current tinderbox state, and an even greater expansion of violence against those deemed “too woke” in purple and red states (hell, even supposedly solidly blue states).
I hear you. OTOH, we can’t let fear of the RWNJ’s reaction stop us from making progress. They are always angry assholes, whether they have justification or not. Might as well give it to them…
I sort of feel like things are feeling a bit different, though, a bit more dangerous, a bit more on the edge. I’m afraid any single event to tip things over right now, and I’m not sure what it could be… so much is resting on education, that that might be it…
With the USSC about to rule on the legality of forgiving student debt, I would have to say the likelihood of making college more affordable for the less-thans is pretty unlikely right now.
No, but he’s right that the Feds SHOULD be pushing harder, but they should be pushing harder on so many things…
Education is one of the 4 horsemen of the right wing apocalypse, that’s for sure.
We have seen a 5-fold increase in plagiarism this semester, mostly AI-driven. This doesn’t help things.
