2 Associations Forcefully Defend the Liberal Arts

The liberal arts are under assault. The Association of American Colleges and Universities and the American Association of University Professors on Thursday released a spirited joint statement in their defense.

These days, it’s no surprise to hear a politician deride the liberal arts or watch parents steer their children toward more practical-sounding majors. “Once universally regarded as central to the intellectual life of the university,” the statement says, the liberal arts “have been steadily moved to the periphery and increasingly threatened.”

Concerns about the disciplines’ value have been mounting for decades. Recently, some colleges have even proposed cutting liberal-arts majors or redistributing them into other colleges.

The associations link their new statement to their influential joint 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, and describe both statements as safeguarding the “free search for truth” and “the common good.”

The new statement offers a counterargument to the notion that the liberal arts are impractical, and perhaps unnecessary. The disciplines, it argues, increase students’ curiosity, prepare them to be lifelong learners, and offer a foundation for academic freedom. As a result, the associations argue, the benefits of the liberal arts should be available to “all college students and not solely a privileged few.”

Beckie Supiano writes about teaching, learning, and the human interactions that shape them. Follow her on Twitter @becksup, or drop her a line at beckie.supiano@chronicle.com.