In a quiet moment on a university campus, a professor in bright academic regalia spoke with a colleague about the toll of a “bruising year” of austerity. The colleague, who was retiring after a long career, warned that the relentless focus on metrics and cost‑cutting would not leave the faculty feeling less sick‑hearted or desperate.
The conversation echoed a broader critique of higher‑education administration, where terms such as “outcomes,” “rightsizing,” and “strategic planning” have replaced the earlier buzzwords of “innovation” and “disruption.” These priorities, the professor noted, have turned the university into a “techno‑visionary lurching in the vague direction of some noble future,” while the reality is a series of closures and layoffs.
David Hollingshead’s recent essay, “Humanists Have Done Nothing Wrong,” further underscores the disconnect between academia’s mission and the austerity agenda. Hollingshead argues that critics of the humanities are “fucking stupid” and that the field’s value is being undermined by a lack of focus on labor and union concerns.
Both the professor’s remarks and Hollingshead’s critique point to a structural conflict: austerity is not a product of a single group but a systemic shift that re‑allocates resources toward elite profit at the expense of public service. The result is a faculty workforce that feels increasingly alienated and unappreciated.