Dear Friends and Colleagues:
I’m writing regarding the Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences that Chancellors Martin and Diermeier (Vanderbilt) commissioned. Chaired by NYU’s Paul Boghossian, the commission released its report last week. I encourage you to read it; you might find insights that are relevant to your field even if you don’t consider your work to be in the humanities or humanistic social sciences. As our community digests and begins to discuss the report, I want to emphasize that whether we agree with its points matters less—to me, far less—than whether we engage with it thoughtfully.
In that light, a few points of context are worth mentioning.
First, the report does not focus on WashU or any other particular institution. Its subject is far broader: the humanities and humanistic social sciences across the landscape of higher education. WashU is one of the leaders in beginning a conversation, but it is not the subject of the report.
Second, at least at WashU, the report is an invitation to discussion, not a conclusion. As Chancellor Martin noted in his interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education (6/5/26), the committee was “to produce a report not meant to end conversation, but actually to begin conversations on campuses around the country.” Moreover, the Chancellors did not instruct the report’s authors to reach any particular outcome—certainly not one that would call into question the value of the humanities. In the same article, Chancellor Martin affirms that he deeply values our faculty colleagues in the humanities and qualitative social sciences and acknowledges the great value they bring to WashU and academia more broadly.
Finally, although the report (p.1) makes clear that its primary audience is “university chancellors and presidents who are concerned about the state of academic scholarship in the humanities and the social sciences,” it also (p.5) “urge[s] caution on the part of administrators who might wish to act on the basis of our report.” The report adds some nuance to that statement, but let me be clear: At WashU, we currently have no plans to take specific actions based on the report. In fact, the only thing we are planning in this regard is a more structured discussion in the fall so we can further engage with the report together. We will share relevant details as they are available.
We are in a moment in which universities must deliberately focus on the humanities and humanistic social sciences. Especially as technological change accelerates, it is imperative that we explore what it means to be humans and to hold distinctly human values. This report is a step toward that exploration.
Best,
Mark