Bret Devereaux

Or any historians! The history departments I've been in haven't had catastrophic enrollment problems, even for non-military classes. Even when both university and political leaders pound the 'all STEM, all the time' culture drum continually. https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1356316520973033473 …

Now, the total number of majors is a different story but: 1) Non-history majors should know some history too! and 2) a lot of that is driven by inaccurate assumptions students have about the relative earning power of various degrees.

But every year I see universities announcing plans to cut humanities departments with good enrollments on the excuse that they have poor numbers of majors, which is just..very dumb? History classes are *cheap* to run, but students pay the same for them.

Consider the perversity of the situation. My classes fill. Every class I've taught since I graduated has been 80+% of capacity. All I need is a room, a projector and some chairs. I am dirt cheap - and I will put butts in seats and tuition dollars in the bursar's office.