By Mark Bauerlein July 14, 2026 – Getting courses included in college general-education requirements is how fringe academic departments with few majors justify their existence.
To justify its roster of professors, the department needs enrollments, which it gets by mounting “Introduction to Queer Theory,” “Fashion, Gender, and Identity,” and 62 other courses that satisfy general education requirements. Without that benefit, few students would sign up and the department would fold….Some states are beginning to do something about this problem. Utah and Iowa have sought to return gen ed to its traditional mission. Read More