Oh, the Humanities

With tenure-track positions dwindling at universities, Peter Conn writes that humanities faculties need to “articulate our contribution if we hope to find increasing levels of support for the work we do.” He says a generation of “dithering,” “wishful thinking,” and “institutional inertia” is behind the current poor job market for humanities professors, and that these practices are affecting the aspirations and idealism of thousands of young academics. He writes that humanities professors must now make a sustained case to their constituencies that their disciplines are indispensable.