Can we please put some Humanity in the Humanities?

I had intended for my first article to be a scathing attack on the so called  “Warwick Left” student body. However, after looking into some financial figures I thought it was time to address the issues of the humanities within Warwick.

If we move past the official advertisement of the Warwick History department being “one of the UK’s largest Universities” and the History departments 16^th in the world ranking we see a different picture.

Also giving the D perspective. Watch out Dante!

I have managed, in the 1 year and 15 weeks I have been here, to secure 8 seminar groups where I am consistently one of the only people who talk in seminars, despite joining the SSLC in my first year and suggesting making seminar contribution an important and mandatory part of the degree. Since what does researching any topic matter, if you cannot actually share what you have learnt?

But….. this was suggested as not being a viable option. At the time it never actually occurred to me that this was the result of just how business-oriented higher education has become. With the cuts to government funding of universities, the £9000 fee has been introduced to cover the shortfall in finance. A quick glance at the University of Warwick accounts will show that this shortfall has resulted in a surplus of £19.5 million.

With recent stories of pay rises for Nigel Thrift should we see an increase in funding for departments like the Humanities department?

Since I am not a political science student, I have no wish to start discussing neo-liberal market economics. But the simple question must be asked: if we are paying 9k at a time when the University is making millions, as Humanities students, do we not at least deserve to have functioning seminar rooms?

Tales of students not having enough room in seminars to be able to sit down are not uncommon. Of course we all know the official line, talks of a new Humanities building is being planned, blah blah blah. But no one is even asking for a new building. We simply need class sizes which can actually allow for seminars to be what they are sold to us on paper: as places to discuss what we have learned. They are compulsory after all.

Room for improvement at the humanities department? Dieudonne seems to think so..

I intend to tackle these problems and find other history students who have an opinion on this subject (those rare few who have an opinion or world view not based on watching Made in Chelsea or the latest reality show.) This is of course not to say that there are not many great things about Warwick history, but who would want to read an article about how great their university is?

If you like the sound of what Dieudonne is expressing or completely disagree with it then get commenting!