Amy Ferrer of the APA: “We have seen a bit of an uptick in philosophy programs that are being faced with threats of cuts.”
Amy E. Ferrer is executive director of the American Philosophical Association, which has asked one of its committees to develop a tool kit that philosophy departments can use to help protect themselves from budget cuts. She talked with The Chronicle about that effort, and about why humanities programs have been under scrutiny and how philosophy departments can respond. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q. You’ve devoted sessions at two regional annual meetings this year to how philosophers can help insulate themselves from budget cuts. How big is the threat to the discipline?
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APA
Amy Ferrer of the APA: “We have seen a bit of an uptick in philosophy programs that are being faced with threats of cuts.”
Amy E. Ferrer is executive director of the American Philosophical Association, which has asked one of its committees to develop a tool kit that philosophy departments can use to help protect themselves from budget cuts. She talked with The Chronicle about that effort, and about why humanities programs have been under scrutiny and how philosophy departments can respond. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q. You’ve devoted sessions at two regional annual meetings this year to how philosophers can help insulate themselves from budget cuts. How big is the threat to the discipline?
A. We have seen a bit of an uptick in philosophy programs that are being faced with threats of cuts. Sometimes it’s a degree program or major that’s threatened, sometimes it’s a move to combine philosophy with another department, sometimes it’s eliminating a department entirely. Over the last few years, whenever news of these threats has come to us, we reach out and try to offer our support. We’ve written letters privately to the university administrations, trying to help them see the value of philosophy.
Q. What do you tell them?
A. We often talk about the skills philosophy teaches that are crucial to success in professional life and also in personal and civic life — critical thinking, effective written and verbal communication, moral reasoning, argumentation. The kinds of things that employers want and that make a well-rounded person. There’s certainly a public perception that some folks have about humanities and philosophy being luxuries. Or not as vocational or leading as directly to jobs as some other fields in STEM and other areas of a university. I think that when an institution is looking at the possibility of eliminating, reducing, or restructuring a philosophy or humanities department, often they are looking at the humanities and philosophy as not leading to those career paths. We think that’s incorrect. Philosophy graduates have the highest midcareer salaries of any humanities major, and their increase in earnings from starting salary to midcareer is higher than every other major except for math.
Q. You’re at the Central Division meeting of your association now. How much of a topic is the future health of philosophy and the humanities within higher education?
A. I just spoke to some people working on these issues. There was a lot of discussion about different strategies departments can take to attract students to increase the number of majors, which is one of the metrics institutions look at. But also to proactively and preventively try to demonstrate the value beyond those metrics. That includes working with other departments, programs, or units within a university. Collaborating on majors and concentrations. Having philosophy and humanities integrated into university efforts to educate across degree programs. And there was some discussion here about outcomes. So we give students the tools to understand what they are getting out of philosophy and to talk to their parents and grandparents, who may not be familiar with what philosophy is going to give to them as far as a future career.
Q. Are philosophers doing a better job of preparing themselves now for possible cuts, insulating themselves and their departments?
A. Awareness is increasing that waiting until you get a report from a task force that your department may be on the chopping block is the wrong approach. Departments are getting the sense they need to be doing the proactive work to educate administrators about what philosophy does, or what it even means. We need to educate them well before there is any kind of review or prioritization process, when it’s almost too late. It’s possible to come back from that. Departments have come back from that. But at that point, you are in a defensive position. So it’s really important to build relationships with people across the university, so people know what philosophy does and what it contributes to the mission of the university. So they have got that in their minds before any process that could lead to cuts or closures begins.
Robin Wilson writes about campus culture, including sexual assault and sexual harassment. Contact her at robin.wilson@chronicle.com.
Robin Wilson began working for The Chronicle in 1985, writing widely about faculty members’ personal and professional lives, as well as about issues involving students. She also covered Washington politics, edited the Students section, and served as news editor.
