The Observer, October 13, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 7
Editorial: University support for arts and humanities programs needed
Since the advent of the SAGES program, the university has boasted about its large investments and heavy emphasis on developing a stronger humanities program at Case. However, the 2006 Career Fair held last Thursday is a prime example in which Case has failed to deliver what it once proposed with great fanfare. While the Career Fair provides numerous opportunities and establishes important connections for many of the students at Case, it fails to reach large segments of the eclectic student body the university says it prizes. Large corporations such as Charles Schwab, Proctor and Gamble, and Microsoft were on hand to recruit the engineers and chemistry majors, but opportunities in the humanities areas were sparse and almost non-existent.
The majority of companies present at the event concentrated on recruiting students with a science or management background, leaving the English and Philosophy majors in the dust. If we are truly making an effort to support the arts and humanities at Case, then we need to provide the same resources and attention that are available to the many other engineers and science majors. Lending a hand to the humanities side of the campus includes supporting the arts and humanities students from the minute they arrive at Case to the minute they leave.
The SAGES program and efforts to recruit a more academically diverse student body have certainly enriched arts and humanities students' undergraduate experiences. Case's efforts, however, neglect the post-graduation prospects of these students. Without resources such as the Career Fair to draw upon, humanities majors (and even non-engineering majors) are left to scrounge for job opportunities themselves, or delay entering the "real world" by applying to graduate schools.
Ideally, college is a period of time in which students are able to pursue their interests and explore different options. But in the world that we live in today, many students are limited to certain areas of study due to the fact that some majors can help land jobs upon graduation while other majors bring no such luck. However, given the influence and resources of the university, students should be free to pick the major of their choice, without worrying about what happens when they leave. If the job of a student is to gain the knowledge needed to be successful in the post–graduation world, then the job of the university is to provide the opportunities to launch all students, regardless of their majors, into that world.
