Why Did UChicago Destroy the Humanities?

"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."

"Hundreds of millions of dollars of that debt consists of massively overleveraged bonds to finance construction. Yet the university has pledged $1.2 billion toward two new buildings. Building while in debt is not a new phenomenon. Beginning in 2007, UChicago went on a building spree involving some of the most famous architects in the country. The ovular addition to the Mansueto Library, designed by Helmut Jahn, was the first of these projects to come to fruition, costing the university $81 million."

The University of Chicago paused PhD admissions in nearly all humanities programs, reflecting a broader crisis of deliberate marginalization of humanities by neoliberal administrations that favor business, engineering, and tech. The university's debt rose from $2.2 billion to $5.8 billion between 2006 and 2022, an increase of more than 250 percent and equivalent to 68 percent of total assets. Tuition from 85 percent of the student body is required to service that debt. Hundreds of millions of dollars stem from overleveraged construction bonds, even as the university pledged $1.2 billion for two new buildings. Major projects since 2007 included costly commissions such as the Mansueto addition and the Logan Center.

Read at The Nation