Humanities at Cal: High-ranking but low on funding

Parents Forum
1

<p>Good article on UC Berkeley's struggles to avoid the fate of other large public universities across the nation. University educators want greater support for the humanities - philosophy, history and language study - fields which traditionally fail to bring in the large donations and federal funding common in the sciences and engineering.</p>

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.... With a few exceptions, funding campus-wide has increased the past few years with enrollment growth. But financial gains have come faster for the sciences than the humanities.</p>

<p>In a representative sampling of five humanities departments, funding increased by about 13 percent between the 2002-03 and 2005-06 school years. In five major science departments, funding went up by more than 17 percent.</p>

<p>Much of the problem can be traced to the federal government....</p>

<p>Some science professors say it makes sense for their disciplines to receive more money. They contend their work brings in lucrative patents for the university and they require more expensive equipment.</p>

<p>But others say it's important for the sciences and engineering that the humanities remain strong. Humanists often bring a much-needed moral sense to those fields, said Shankar Sastry, director of UC Berkeley's Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society.</p>

<p>It's important to avoid repeating history, Sastry said...

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<p><a href="http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_5773644%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_5773644&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>Only in the bizzaro think world of college profs could the federal government giving money to a school be considered "a problem". The problem is with the State of California and the Cal students both of whom have resisted higher funding for the school through taxes and tuition.</p>

<p>And maybe if Cal would quit stealing profs from midwest schools by paying huge salaries they would have more $$$ to spend on the poor history dept.</p>

3

<p>In the so-called "bizarro" world of the public modern research university, the whole point is to attain and maintain high educational quality, national recognition, and a steady flow of federal funding aimed to keep tuition and taxes down. The mission of the University of California, clearly emphasizes its aim to serve society by being able to offer the best in all disciplines of study and that means a need for balance between research and teaching in the professional fields and natural sciences on the one hand, and the social sciences, humanities and the arts on the other. This problem is not at all limited to Berkeley, or the UC system these days, since there is a trend for publics to look to private, corporate funding options to ensure their academic mission. </p>

<p>From the office of the President on Federal Governmental Relations: The UC - Federal Government Partnership:</p>

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World War II was a defining event in the role of U.S. research universities, including the University of California. The war effort required immediate knowledge and innovative technologies - capabilities that were provided by the scientific facilities and problem-solving thinking of the research universities. In one of the classic partnerships of modern history, the federal government and America's universities joined national need and national expertise in a time of crisis.</p>

<p>These scientific and technological contributions, in turn, paved the way for today's highly effective university-government partnership that now serves the nation's pressing peacetime needs in many areas.</p>

<p>A hallmark of the American university system is the marriage of research with the training of the next generation of scientists and engineers.... The integration of research and education has become a model for universities around the world....The partnership begun in World War II between the federal government and universities thrives today with the federal government supporting 58% of the research performed at universities....Universities receive research funding from many sources including industries and state and local governments. By far the largest supporter of university research, however, is the federal government.

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<p><a href="http://www.ucop.edu/uer/fed/partnerships.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ucop.edu/uer/fed/partnerships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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“When I talk about building a Top 20 public university, the Gaines Center is exactly the type of outstanding academic community that I envision,” said UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. “If we are to become one of this nation’s premier institutions, we need each and every program to raise its profile...

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<p><a href="http://news.uky.edu/news/display_article.php?category=1&artid=902&type=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://news.uky.edu/news/display_article.php?category=1&artid=902&type=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

4

<p>I still don't see where it says the Federal Gov is on the hook to fund the humanities. By helping fund the very expensive science and engineering areas they (the Feds) actually free up some university money to spend on the humanities. Otherwise they would either have both crappy science and humanities or have to come up with piles more of cash from the state and students. Where is the problem that is the Feds problem? Universities are still basically a function of the states. Whether or not Cal can offer more classes in art history is really not the Feds problem.</p>

5

<p>Interesting article in Inside Higher Ed touches on part of what the "problem" is about - public higher education and its relationship to corporate and private entities. The problem has to with the shape of public ed in the future, a future in which the strategic partnerships forged during post-world war II - that relies on state and federal funding strategies - is losing ground to corporate sponsorship. The same trend is taking place in New York and elsewhere. Truth is, these days universities are now increasingly dependent upon a flow of money from the private sector. The last bit of the OP article is a tip off to the crux of the problem:</p>

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With government funding increasingly difficult to secure, humanities administrators have followed the lead of other academics by turning to private sources. At UC Berkeley, arts and humanities Dean Janet Broughton said her division is planning to pursue more corporate funding.</p>

<p>Ready for the Wells Fargo English department?</p>

<p>"That's kind of a whole new area for the humanities," she said. "We're not quite sure how to go about it yet.

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<p>Wells Fargo, Coke, etc., many academics and public policy experts are worried, and have been for quite some time now, that colleges and universities these days are turning into training grounds for corporate America, rather than fulfill their mission as a public good - a "place for students to explore a variety of perspectives and learn to think critically for themselves” as John W. Curtis, director of research and public policy for the American Association of University Professors, puts it. The perennial debate over how much money the humanities vs. science and tech departments get is very much part of it all.</p>

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Charles Miller, chair of the Spellings Commission....Miller suggested that some academics “seem to have a problem with the word corporation” and suggested that professors should welcome more business involvement. He said that most business leaders are strong supporters of higher education. “They pay the taxes, they are on the boards, they use the graduates, they know about foreign competition,” he said.</p>

<p>In this context, it makes sense to look for ways to involve business leaders, he said. “It’s wrong-headed to think that the only people who can talk about the academy are the people who are in it.”

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<p><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/30/coke%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/30/coke&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>Your point, if there is one, is more slippery than a greased pig. First the problem is the Federal Government funds the sciences but no the humanities. OK but I see that as a positive as it frees up institutional funds for the humanities is they wish to make that a priority. Now the "problem" is private money funding public education.</p>

<p>The real problem is that states are underfunding higher education and that higher education itself is engaged in an expensive battle to upgrade buildings and salaries to far higher than previous levels.</p>

7

<p>"Wells Fargo, Coke, etc., many academics and public policy experts are worried, and have been for quite some time now, that colleges and universities these days are turning into training grounds for corporate America, rather than fulfill their mission as a public good..."</p>

<p>I'm sure Wells Fargo and Coke are shivering in their boots....;)</p>

8

<p>
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The problem is with the State of California and the Cal students both of whom have resisted higher funding for the school through taxes and tuition.

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<p>Right on the money, Barrons. Panhandlers always blame the donors.</p>

9

<p>They are more likely dancing a jig. Science vs. the Humanities - now this is slippery - is it panhandling for the humanities and not for the sciences? Federal funding has long been recognized to act as a catalyst to leverage additional dollars, especially in higher ed., so why wouldn't and shouldn't humanities departments want to reap the benefits of a long-standing and mutually profitable partnership?</p>

10

<p>Because they have little to offer the Federal Government. Do we need another book analyzing the meaning of some novel or poem? Maybe we do but is it a priority in our national interests? Not to the same extent as science and engineering apparently. </p>

<p>What EXACTLY is your point--that the Fed Gov. should provide more funding to universities for the humanities? They can want all they want but it is not likely to happen unless we have a sudden shortage of trained English majors.</p>

11

<p>Your argument or objection to the UC's complaint then, is that the direction and impetus shaping American higher ed should be solely based on national interest. Public universities these days are in an interesting position precisely because public funding - whether state or federal - is and has been critical to financing and promoting higher education. This is especially true for the UC system which is based on a long-standing partnership with the federal government. We would all love to be in the situation in which there is ample money to go around for all. If public funds are not forthcoming then new financial strategies are needed. The shift from public to private funding is the point and this is exactly where the connection between any lack of or wealth of or disparity in funding for the sciences and humanities comes into play. The key word is public and it is important to remember that despite significant strains on the budget, the federal government, through the NEH , does give indeed give considerable importance and considerable amounts of funds to support the humanities and social sciences that include research and education programs. Faced with looming budget cuts, the humanities invariably take a back seat to the more lucrative scientific fields. So the point is how public universities find a way to reconcile private sponsorship with a public mission. (New York's FIRE and ICE is a case in point). As to your question, do we need more English or for that matter, history majors? Perhaps not in your estimation, but last time I checked, the mission of our public universities, and private ones for that matter, is to educate students at all levels, in all disciplines "to expand fundamental knowledge of human nature, society, and the natural world" and that does imply a balance between the sciences and humanities so that students can actually think critically and deal with complex issues related to politics, society, economics, and yes, even science and maybe even do it all in more than one language.</p>

12

<p>My objection is complaining that a non-state entity (federal in this case) is helping one portion of the school leads them to conclude that the entire university is somehow entitled to federal funding. They should count themselves lucky that a portion of the school is receiving funding from other sources thus freeing up some funding for them. (not to mention the money the school skims off the top of most research grants for "overhead").
Let them go out and compete for private donations/funding and make their case with the state and the students for additional funding. The Federal government has no interest in funding colleges except in certain circumstances as determined by the greater public interest. That level of public interest is reflected in the relatively low funding for the NEH versus the NSF and NIH.</p>

13

<p>I do think I read about that somewhere...</p>

<p><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/02/01/union%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/02/01/union&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

14

<p>and of course, he also discovered the humanities somewhere along the way:</p>

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We've done this kind of work before. In the Cold War, we faced down an ideology of Communism that also believed that human beings could not govern and believed in inexorable historical forces that would triumph. Indeed, freedom and liberty triumphed. But this country made a huge intellectual investment in winning the Cold War.</p>

<p>In universities across the country, people studied the cultures and the languages of Eastern Europe and of Asia and of places that we had not known before World War II and had not been. This country made a huge investment in bringing young people from the recovering parts of Europe like Great Britain but also from a new German democracy through programs like the Marshall Fellowships and the Fulbright Fellowships. And we made a huge investment -- intellectual investment -- in getting young people to learn about those cultures and those languages.</p>

<p>I was one of those young people who fell in love with the study of the Soviet Union and of Russia. But I was also told that it was a patriotic and good thing to do for my country. We have not as a country made the kind of intellectual investment that we need to make in the exchange of peoples, in the exchange of ideas, in languages and in cultures and our knowledge of them that we made in the Cold War.</p>

<p>But the President is committed to doing precisely that.... the Critical Languages Initiative .... will encourage students in university and in graduate school to take on the hard and critical languages. And it will press forward to bring people into the Foreign Service and into the Defense Department and into our intelligence agencies, who are competent in those languages.</p>

<p>But this is a broader challenge and it is a challenge that the United States Government cannot meet alone. And the reason that we wanted you, the university presidents, to be here today is that we need partners in this intellectual exercise. We need universities to open their doors to people from around the world. We need universities to send their students around the world. So through that exchange and contact, we can learn more about each other because the truth of the matter is if we're engaged only in a monologue, we will not get very far. If we get to know each other better, it will be a dialogue.

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<p><a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/58735.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/58735.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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So our short-term strategy is to stay on the offense, and we've got to give our troops, our intelligence officers, our diplomats all the tools necessary to succeed. That's what people in this country expect of our government. They expect us to be wise about how we use our resources, and a good use of resources is to promote this language initiative in K through 12, in our universities. And a good use of resources is to encourage foreign language speakers from important regions of the world to come here and teach us how to speak their language....

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<p><a href="http://www.state.gov/r/summit/58734.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.state.gov/r/summit/58734.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>