The University of Chicago will freeze or reduce admissions to numerous humanities Ph.D. programs for the 2026–2027 academic year. Administrators say the move is temporary, but professors warn it could mark the beginning of a long-term dismantling of critical fields. The cuts follow growing financial concerns and have sparked backlash over the university’s priorities and process.
Dean Deborah Nelson of the Division of the Humanities announced that seven departments—including Art History, Cinema and Media Studies, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, English, Linguistics, Music (composition), and Philosophy—will accept fewer Ph.D. students next year. At the same time, Classics, Comparative Literature, Germanic Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Romance Languages and Literatures, Slavic Languages and Literatures, South Asian Languages and Civilizations, and several Music specializations will admit no new doctoral students at all.
The freeze is not limited to the humanities. The Crown Family School of Social Work and the Harris School of Public Policy are suspending admissions to multiple doctoral programs, including political economy and public policy research methods. University officials say the pause will allow for “comprehensive reviews” of academic offerings and graduate training. Current students will not be affected.
Faculty criticized the administration for bypassing committees tasked with reviewing the programs. Professors warned that language and area studies, already struggling to maintain faculty lines and undergraduate interest, are particularly at risk. One faculty member noted that shutting down doctoral programs in certain disciplines could mean undergraduates lose access to those fields entirely.
Critics argue that the cuts reflect the prioritization of finances over academic mission. Professor Andrew Ollett said the decision represented “the domination of one set of values, which is money, over the values we say we are pursuing as educators and researchers.” Others voiced concern that the administration is eroding shared governance by making unilateral decisions before committee recommendations were finalized.
The University of Chicago’s decision comes at a time when universities nationwide are re-evaluating graduate enrollment, often citing financial pressure and declining interest in traditional humanities fields. For many, the cuts raise deeper concerns about the future of academic disciplines central to cultural heritage and intellectual diversity.
