Statement in Support of the National Endowment for the Humanities

The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) strongly condemns the Trump administration’s evisceration of the National Endowment for the Humanities through the cancellation of grant programs, the rescinding of grants already awarded, and the decimation of NEH staff through reductions of up to 80 percent. The administration’s actions target a vital agency that, although relatively small and chronically underfunded, has for the past sixty years made the humanities accessible to all Americans and supported cutting-edge research and scholarship.

In partnership with congressionally established state and jurisdictional humanities councils, the NEH makes humanities programming and events available to all Americans through local museums, schools, libraries, veteran services, historical societies, and other cultural organizations across all US states and territories. The genius of the humanities councils is that they allow the NEH to touch the lives of every American, despite the agency’s extremely modest funding (approximately 0.0045 percent of the federal budget). This is a wise and efficient investment in American civil society. 

Now, as a result of the administration’s actions, local communities throughout the country will lose essential support for educational and lifelong learning programs, historical preservation projects, and other public humanities endeavors. The draconian cuts to NEH programs and staffing will ripple across American life—cultural, educational, historical, and economic—and they will negatively affect teaching and learning, scholarship and research. And notably, the cuts will have a disproportionate impact on those living in rural areas, where for many the only access to the humanities is provided through state and jurisdictional humanities councils.

AAC&U expresses strong support for the mission of the National Endowment for the Humanities and for the fifty-six state and jurisdictional humanities councils that play such an important role in advancing that mission. We urge the Trump administration to reinstate the Endowment’s programs, funding, and staff immediately.