Defunding arts degrees is the latest battle in a 40-year culture war

The government’s recently proposed restructure of university fees would see students pay 113% more for many humanities subjects.

<p>The package is not a case of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;humanities vs STEM &lpar;science&comma; technology&comma; engineering and maths&rpar;”&comma; as some initially saw it&period; Some arts degrees&comma; like English and languages&comma; would see higher Commonwealth contributions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But a disproportionate portion of the de-funding burden would still fall on the humanities if the package is approved by the Senate – to the extent many arts degrees would become <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;theguardian&period;com&sol;australia-news&sol;2020&sol;jun&sol;19&sol;key-crossbencher-says-university-fee-changes-are-grossly-unfair">almost full-fee paying courses<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>So&comma; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;president&period;unsw&period;edu&period;au&sol;speeches&sol;unsw-response-to-proposed-changes-to-higher-education-policy-and-funding">those who care about the humanities<&sol;a> have found themselves fighting yet another round of a decades-old culture war&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Since the 1980s&comma; the humanities have been particularly vulnerable to funding cuts&period; This was driven by the hostility of conservative governments and critics who saw the humanities as generally antagonistic to their political interests&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Developments in this period set the parameters for much of the political discourse around the humanities since&period; And they made it possible for governments at various times to seek to defund or make funding for the humanities increasingly precarious&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>From civilisation to diversity&comma; and back again<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Traditionally&comma; the humanities were conservative in tone&period; There was an emphasis on the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pmtranscripts&period;pmc&period;gov&period;au&sol;sites&sol;default&sol;files&sol;original&sol;00000792&lowbar;0&period;pdf">achievements of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;civilisation”<&sol;a>&comma; a principally Western&comma; masculine canon of literature&comma; art&comma; music and history&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the opening of the Menzies Building for the humanities at Monash University in 1963&comma; Sir Robert Menzies said&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;&lbrack;…&rsqb; civilisation is in the heart and mind of people and the task of the humanist&comma; the task of the people who teach and learn in a school of humanities is not to forget that history&comma; for example&comma; is no useless study&comma; since a man who is ignorant of it will have no sense of proportion&comma; no benefit of experience in dealing with new problems as they arise&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>From about the mid-1960s&comma; the humanities’ political centre of gravity <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;journals&period;uchicago&period;edu&sol;doi&sol;abs&sol;10&period;1086&sol;449049&quest;journalCode&equals;ci">began to shift gradually leftwards<&sol;a>&period; Scholarship and teaching became more diverse&comma; critical and feminist&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Eventually&comma; a clear antagonism emerged between this new version of the humanities and the values of both older cultural conservatives and those pushing for deregulation and privatisation – &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;economic rationalists”&comma; as they were then called – who had captured much of the public service in the 1980s&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"align-center zoomable"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345174&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;45&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;1000&amp&semi;fit&equals;clip"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345174&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;45&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;754&amp&semi;fit&equals;clip" sizes&equals;"&lpar;min-width&colon; 1466px&rpar; 754px&comma; &lpar;max-width&colon; 599px&rpar; 100vw&comma; &lpar;min-width&colon; 600px&rpar; 600px&comma; 237px" srcset&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345174&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;45&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;600&amp&semi;h&equals;399&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;1 600w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345174&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;30&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;600&amp&semi;h&equals;399&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;2 1200w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345174&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;15&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;600&amp&semi;h&equals;399&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;3 1800w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345174&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;45&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;754&amp&semi;h&equals;501&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;1 754w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345174&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;30&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;754&amp&semi;h&equals;501&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;2 1508w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345174&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;15&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;754&amp&semi;h&equals;501&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;3 2262w" alt&equals;"" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption><span class&equals;"caption">The Menzies building at Monash University was opened by Robert Menzies in 1963 who saw the study of civilisation as vital to the humanities&period;<&sol;span> <span class&equals;"attribution"><a class&equals;"source" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;shutterstock&period;com&sol;image-photo&sol;melbourne-australia-august-5-2018-menzies-1162588057">Shutterstock<&sol;a><&sol;span><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>At the same time&comma; research policy circles became <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;tandfonline&period;com&sol;doi&sol;abs&sol;10&period;1080&sol;08109029708632070">increasingly instrumentalist<&sol;a> – believing research must be practically &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;useful”&period; This generated a growing demand for taxpayer-funded research to demonstrate its contribution to the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;national interest”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Initially this <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;journals&period;sagepub&period;com&sol;doi&sol;10&period;1177&sol;0162243906291865">development concerned<&sol;a> the relationship between basic science and more practical&comma; applied science and had little to do with the humanities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But the changes in overall research philosophies came to impinge on the humanities&comma; especially in the new <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;voced&period;edu&period;au&sol;content&sol;ngv&percnt;3A1033">emphasis on &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;relevance” in teaching and research<&sol;a> imposed on universities through the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Dawkins Reforms” of the late 1980s&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>These reforms saw the large-scale restructuring of higher education through the introduction of more corporate forms of management&comma; merging of universities and the more technical Colleges of Advanced Education&comma; creation of the Australian Research Council &lpar;ARC&rpar;&comma; and reintroduction of student fees through the HECS system&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Populism versus the humanities<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>In March 1987&comma; the new instrumentalism and growing conservative alienation from the humanities came together in their crudest&comma; most populist form&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Liberal-National opposition’s Waste Watch Committee&comma; a group run by the NSW Senator Michael Baume&comma; launched <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;parlinfo&period;aph&period;gov&period;au&sol;parlInfo&sol;download&sol;media&sol;pressrel&sol;HNC092015012148&sol;upload&lowbar;binary&sol;HNC092015012148&period;pdf">an attack<&sol;a> on 60 Australian Research Grants Scheme &lpar;ARGS&rpar; grants it declared to be &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;waste”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The committee borrowed the tactics of US Democratic Senator for Wisconsin&comma; William Proxmire&comma; who since 1975 had issued a monthly &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wisconsinhistory&period;org&sol;turningpoints&sol;search&period;asp&quest;id&equals;1742">Golden Fleece Award<&sol;a>” to instances of supposed waste of public funds&period; The committee pioneered&comma; in Australia&comma; the strategy of holding up research grants to public ridicule on the basis of titles that sounded funny or indulgent to non-experts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"align-right zoomable"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345160&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2692-12nekj1&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;45&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;1000&amp&semi;fit&equals;clip"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345160&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2692-12nekj1&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;45&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;237&amp&semi;fit&equals;clip" sizes&equals;"&lpar;min-width&colon; 1466px&rpar; 754px&comma; &lpar;max-width&colon; 599px&rpar; 100vw&comma; &lpar;min-width&colon; 600px&rpar; 600px&comma; 237px" srcset&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345160&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2692-12nekj1&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;45&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;600&amp&semi;h&equals;872&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;1 600w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345160&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2692-12nekj1&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;30&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;600&amp&semi;h&equals;872&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;2 1200w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345160&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2692-12nekj1&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;15&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;600&amp&semi;h&equals;872&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;3 1800w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345160&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2692-12nekj1&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;45&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;754&amp&semi;h&equals;1096&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;1 754w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345160&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2692-12nekj1&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;30&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;754&amp&semi;h&equals;1096&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;2 1508w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;345160&sol;original&sol;file-20200702-2692-12nekj1&period;jpg&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;15&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;754&amp&semi;h&equals;1096&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;3 2262w" alt&equals;"" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption><span class&equals;"caption">&OpenCurlyQuote;Cash for absolute clap trap’<&sol;span> <span class&equals;"attribution"><span class&equals;"source">Daily Telegraph front page&comma; August 22 2016<&sol;span><&sol;span><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The grants the committee opposed were mostly in the humanities&comma; with a few in the social sciences&period; Its leading example was a project on &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Motherhood in Ancient Rome”&period; It was no accident that a project on women’s history was singled out&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;trove&period;nla&period;gov&period;au&sol;newspaper&sol;article&sol;136295340">judgements of the projects’ unworthiness were superficial<&sol;a>&comma; and an enthusiastic tabloid media – especially <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;trove&period;nla&period;gov&period;au&sol;newspaper&sol;article&sol;136295340">radio personality John Laws<&sol;a> – played a key role in whipping up populist indignation and ridicule&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Unused to such attacks&comma; academics and university administrators offered a <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;smharchives&period;smedia&period;com&period;au&sol;Olive&sol;APA&sol;smharchive&sol;SharedView&period;Article&period;aspx&quest;href&equals;SMH&percnt;2F1987&percnt;2F07&percnt;2F30&amp&semi;id&equals;Ar01500&amp&semi;sk&equals;512EC65E">lacklustre response<&sol;a> that underestimated the capacity of such populism to damage the humanities’ public standing and funding base&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;trove&period;nla&period;gov&period;au&sol;work&sol;12614237">May 1987 &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;mini-budget”<&sol;a> the Hawke government bowed to public pressure and cut A&dollar;1 million from the ARGS budget for 1987–88&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Waste Watch Committee’s intervention set the template for subsequent populist attacks on the humanities – now a <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;telegraph-story-on-research-funding-does-nothing-to-advance-australian-journalism-64479">regular sport<&sol;a> of the tabloid press&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The effects on funding of such public disparagement were evident again in 2004–5&comma; when then education minister Brendan Nelson <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;tandfonline&period;com&sol;doi&sol;full&sol;10&period;1080&sol;09502386&period;2014&period;1000607">vetoed at least nine<&sol;a> grants recommended by the ARC&period; Various researchers&comma; and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;themonthly&period;com&period;au&sol;monthly-essays-gideon-haigh-nelson-touch-research-funding-new-censorship-214&num;mtr">Herald-Sun columnist Andrew Bolt<&sol;a> himself&comma; surmised this move was in response to Bolt’s criticism&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Bolt had written of the grants&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>In cultural studies&comma; seven of the eight grants were also for peek-in-your-pants researchers fixated on gender or race&comma; and Marxists got all the grants you might expect of priests who worship state power&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>In October 2018 it was revealed former education minister Simon Birmingham had <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;simon-birminghams-intervention-in-research-funding-is-not-unprecedented-but-dangerous-105737">quietly vetoed<&sol;a> a further eleven major research grants for mostly humanities projects totalling almost A&dollar;4&period;2 million&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This time there was no direct line to draw between a particular episode of populist criticism and the cuts&comma; but there need not be&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div data-react-class&equals;"Tweet" data-react-props&equals;"&lbrace;&quot&semi;tweetId&quot&semi;&colon;&quot&semi;1055734590969507841&quot&semi;&rcub;"> <&sol;div>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1055734590969507841" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>By 2018&comma; the caricature of the humanities as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;theaustralian&period;com&period;au&sol;commentary&sol;editorials&sol;oh-the-political-humanities&sol;news-story&sol;a6d6f6257cc56790d540284b69d2ef3a">disfigured by cultural left theory hostile to mainstream Australia<&sol;a>” &lpar;as an editorial in the The Australian called it&rpar; was commonplace in sections of press and in the regular interventions of the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;ipa&period;org&period;au&sol;publications-ipa&sol;research-papers&sol;rise-identity-politics">Institute of Public Affairs<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It is not difficult to see several decades of populist condemnation of the humanities playing a similar role in the recent announcement of arts teaching cuts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>The good news for the humanities&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>If this story contains any good news&comma; it is that humanities scholars are now much better prepared than they once were to make the public case for the social and economic value of their disciplines&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In 1987&comma; the response to the Waste Watch Committee was tepid&period; In 2018&comma; the response to the grant veto revelations was full-blooded and successful in forcing a <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;theguardian&period;com&sol;australia-news&sol;2018&sol;nov&sol;28&sol;education-minister-restores-funding-to-rejected-grants-and-unveils-new-interest-test">reinstatement of a portion of the funds withheld<&sol;a> and a <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;theaustralian&period;com&period;au&sol;higher-education&sol;education-minister-dan-tehan-pledges-nationalinterest-test-for-grants&sol;news-story&sol;8625f2e48e428dd92c885bcbbaee6427">ministerial commitment to future transparency<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It is time again to make the case for the humanities&comma; and for proper public funding of higher education generally&period;<&excl;-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag&period; Please DO NOT REMOVE&period; --><img style&equals;"border&colon; none &excl;important&semi; box-shadow&colon; none &excl;important&semi; margin&colon; 0 &excl;important&semi; max-height&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; max-width&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; min-height&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; min-width&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; opacity&colon; 0 &excl;important&semi; outline&colon; none &excl;important&semi; padding&colon; 0 &excl;important&semi; text-shadow&colon; none &excl;important&semi;" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;counter&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;content&sol;141689&sol;count&period;gif&quest;distributor&equals;republish-lightbox-basic" alt&equals;"The Conversation" width&equals;"1" height&equals;"1" &sol;><&excl;-- End of code&period; If you don't see any code above&comma; please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button&period; The page counter does not collect any personal data&period; More info&colon; https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;republishing-guidelines --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;profiles&sol;joel-barnes-1132021">Joel Barnes<&sol;a>&comma; Research Associate&comma; Australian Centre for Public History&comma; <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;institutions&sol;university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney&period;<&sol;a><&sol;em>This article is republished from <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com">The Conversation<&sol;a> under a Creative Commons license&period; Read the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;defunding-arts-degrees-is-the-latest-battle-in-a-40-year-culture-war-141689">original article<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;h6>&NewLine;

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