Why Did UChicago Destroy the Humanities?

In August, the University of Chicago shocked the academic world by announcing that it would be pausing PhD admissions in nearly all of its world-famous humanities programs. While the ongoing crisis in the humanities—that is, the deliberate marginalization and even elimination of humanities programs by neoliberal administrations in order to reorient schools toward more lucrative business, engineering, and tech programs—is not unique to UChicago, the extent of the damage is especially jarring. What is distinct about the university is its staggering indebtedness. According to Clifford Ando, a professor of classics who has been reporting on the crisis for years, the university’s debt ballooned from $2.2 billion to $5.8 billion between 2006 and 2022—an increase of more than 250 percent, and the equivalent of 68 percent of the university’s total assets. Tuition from 85 percent of the student body is needed just to service this debt. It’s not surprising, then, that UChicago has hollowed itself out by repeatedly robbing Peter to pay Paul. (It is somewhat more surprising, however, that it also gambled—and lost—$20 million on cryptocurrency.)