Administrators at Wichita State University (WSU) in Kansas have decided that students at the university should no longer be able to major in philosophy.
Despite critical and creative thinking and other distinctly humanistic skills remaining as important as ever, despite Forbesfinding that “Grads who majored in the social sciences and humanities are proving to be resilient in today’s job market because they gained skills that can be used across multiple industries,” and despite The New York Times leading an avalanche of reporting this year on the surge in demand in some tech sectors for employees who have studies philosophy, Richard Muma, Wichita State’s President, and Monica Lounsbery, its provost, decided that now was a good time to deprive students at the university of the option of majoring in philosophy, rather than taking steps to strengthen the philosophy program.
According to The Sunflower, the university’s philosophy program will cease to exist in July, 2027, though current majors will be able to complete their degrees.
I’m not thrilled about the prospect of losing the current BA program because I think a philosophy BA program is absolutely fundamental for a research university with liberal arts components to it. That’s frustrating and demoralizing; I think our whole department is feeling that… for a research university not to offer a philosophy BA, that hurts.
Wichita State University — home of “The Shockers,” appropriately enough
Professor Angela Sager, a philosophy professor at WSU, added:
Increasingly, especially here at the university, our core values center around workforce preparation, which is important; universities have a role in that, but it’s not sufficient. Because when it all comes down, people need more than just their material needs met.
The Sunflower reports:
The Bachelor’s in Philosophy program was put on an action plan by the Kansas Board of Regents in 2024 due to not meeting the requirements for enrollment and degree production that KBOR set in 2023. And early this year the three-year action plan ended, and it was announced that the program would be restructured to focus on pre-law — removing analytical reasoning, ethics and world philosophy concentrations. “What we were told at the time when we were put on the action plan was, we have to make steps toward getting 25 majors in our program—certain double majors don’t count, dual degrees do count,” Bondy said. “… Well, it turns out, what seems to be accurate information that we learned in winter, January of 2026 was, in fact, it’s 25 in junior or senior standing. That’s the requirement—pretty significantly higher requirement.
There is a chance that some philosophy curricula will survive at the university, perhaps under a new major, but it is unclear.
This is a pattern I have seen for years in the US — eliminating philosophy, sometimes history, some arts courses and much more from the university curriculum because there is no perceived immediate connection to employability.
Education is about more than making graduates employable.
Among other things to be derived from higher education is moral growth or enrichment of the student’s inner life.
A person is more than an “economic unit” or “worker” but also an agent of choice in the world and, hence, forced to face philosophical questions.
A university education should prepare a person to formulate and answer such questions.
Claire Katz
14 minutes ago
It’s also a false dilemma that the choice is between a liberal arts education and workforce preparation. The humanities (and especially philosophy) are so much more than providing an education that positions people for the workforce, but they do in fact do that— and in recent surveys, employers’ descriptions of who they would hire are people with a humanities education.
This is a pattern I have seen for years in the US — eliminating philosophy, sometimes history, some arts courses and much more from the university curriculum because there is no perceived immediate connection to employability.
Education is about more than making graduates employable.
Among other things to be derived from higher education is moral growth or enrichment of the student’s inner life.
A person is more than an “economic unit” or “worker” but also an agent of choice in the world and, hence, forced to face philosophical questions.
A university education should prepare a person to formulate and answer such questions.
It’s also a false dilemma that the choice is between a liberal arts education and workforce preparation. The humanities (and especially philosophy) are so much more than providing an education that positions people for the workforce, but they do in fact do that— and in recent surveys, employers’ descriptions of who they would hire are people with a humanities education.