Our Society Is Starving The Arts

The Modern university has been hijacked. What was once a public good has potentially become a factory for producing corporate drones, run by a class of bureaucrats and oligarchs who view education solely as a transaction. We are witnessing the systematic starvation of the arts and social sciences, and this is not because they are useless, but because they routinely challenge the status quo. We are faced with the result of the stagnation of ideas: a neoliberal framework that has decided that unless a degree serves the immediate interests of capital, it is worthless to the nation. 

We have allowed a narrative to take hold that studying history, philosophy, or the arts is a “hobby” for those who have enough money to justify the expense. Consequently, the average Ontarian is pressured into being the most efficient worker possible, even if this does not fulfil them. The dismissal of these fields is no longer a joke about political science and philosophy majors working as baristas. Rather, I would argue it's a political tool. The corporate class knows that a workforce that can analyze history and question authority is harder to exploit than one trained only to execute tasks. This is not a baseless statement; this pervasive narrative has already taken root in Ontario. Let’s look at Queen’s University, a historic institution that is now being run like a hedge fund. In 2023 and 2024, the administration skimmed over their balance sheets and decided that the problem was not anything to do with bloated bureaucracy, but the students studying the humanities. They threatened to cancel small classes and suspended admission to the Fine Art program, effectively telling the youth of this province that if their education cannot be mass produced in a lecture hall of 500 people, it is not worth having. They are treating the Faculty of Arts not as the soul of the university, but as a “bad investment.”

This isn’t just happening here; in fact, there are more severe examples that come out of the United States. West Virginia University used the same “budget crisis” excuse to recommend axing 32 majors, including their entire department of World Languages. They effectively told the children of the working class that learning to speak to the world is a luxury, one that cannot get you a job, which in itself is nonsensical. This is the neoliberal system in action; if it does not turn a quick profit, it is starved out of existence. And thus, we as a society are starving the arts.

We must stop apologizing and justifying our degrees, letting administrators in distant offices decide the value of our minds. The study of the human condition isn’t a “hobby.” In an era dominated by algorithms, populism, and misinformation, the arts and critical thinking are undeniable foundations for understanding the ever-changing world around us. 

Lakehead has the potential to be spared from this treatment, but only if we defend its arts. It is my opinion that we must do away with the idea that education is a transaction. Only then will Lakehead remain an institution of scholars, and not just a training ground for the corporations of Ontario and Canada.