With several English Department faculty on leave, on associate status or recently retired, the department is facing staffing concerns, and no replacement positions have been approved by the Educational Affairs Committee (EAC). According to Professor of American Literature Brett Millier, who retired last spring, the department’s proposal for her replacement was denied.
These vacancies are occurring at a time when the value of an English degree is being questioned more broadly, a concern that Millier and Professor Emeritus of English and Creative Writing Jay Parini share as they retire alongside Professor of English Cates Baldridge. In the past two decades, many U.S. liberal arts colleges and universities have shifted focus towards STEM subjects.
“In the 21st century, many if not all liberal arts colleges and universities, including Middlebury, have shifted curricular and financial resources away from the humanities (including the study of literature) in favor of STEM subjects and the social sciences,” Millier wrote in an email to the Campus.
Isla Mitchell ’26, a double English and Economics major, expressed that she believes her degree in economics will allow her to get a job more easily after graduating this coming spring, which she called an “unfortunate reality.”
“I love both English and Economics and I love being in both majors, but now that I'm a senior and looking to get my first job, I know that it's likely that [I’m more] prepared to go into something that relates more to economics. English literature has given me certain skills and given me certain passions, but ultimately that's probably not where I'm going to find a job as easily,” Mitchell said.
Many faculty in humanities fields are frustrated and saddened by the declining place of their work in American culture, according to Millier. The number of students in English classes has also shrunk drastically, and with fewer professors available, only so many courses can be offered at once.
“Like every English department in the country, we’ve seen fewer English majors each decade. Students gravitate to economics and computer science these days. One doesn’t see large classes much these days, in the literature classes. That reflects a change in the culture. The old fashioned English major has disappeared,” Parini wrote in an email to The Campus.
The department has been forced to look introspectively and think about the future of literary study.
“At one end are people who say teaching classics of literature is by nature elitist and exclusive and we should find other works in other media to teach. At the other are people who believe that the analysis of difficult texts teaches timelessly valuable skills — critical reading, writing compelling arguments, not to mention empathy and open-mindedness,” Millier wrote.
Not only has funding shifted away from literary studies, but college professors nationwide have reported declines in students’ abilities and willingness to read on their own. As was discovered in the Zeitgeist 7.0, almost double the percentage of Middlebury students reported breaking the Honor Code compared to 2019. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) has increased every year since 2023, a reality that the English Department has to grapple with.
Ellie Trinkle ’26, a double creative writing and film major, believes that although AI poses a real threat to writing and thinking critically, the English Department has not altered their teaching styles.
“I've talked to some professors in the department, like Jay Parini, who has told me about how he thinks that when you use AI you lose the sense of an individual's voice completely, and you don't get that personal voice that comes across in your creative writing that you do when you are getting the actual person's voice,” Trinkle said. “A lot of my professors recognize AI as a threat, but I also think they often attempt to reassure my classmates and I about how AI can never write a story, poem, a novel, et cetera, that is as compelling as a student can or as a real person can.”
This moment of uncertainty for the English Department has led faculty members to ask questions and revisit what it means to study, read and write literature.
“My own view is that we need to do some hard thinking and ask important questions,” Parini wrote. “What is the point of literature? How does an English major prepare a student for life? How do we sort through the various claims for priority among authors, schools of writing, and approaches to criticism? How do we help in the work of teaching students to think critically? What role will AI play in all of this? The questions keep multiplying, and they’re all good questions that need intelligent answers.”
Millier wrote that the English Department is continuing to discuss which positions they will propose to the EAC this upcoming cycle. The deadline to propose positions is in January.
Editor’s Note: Ellie Trinkle ’26 is the Senior Arts & Culture Editor.
Maya Alexander ‘26 (she/her) is an Editor at Large.
She is a sociology major and intended French minor from New York City. She loves getting lost in her Pinterest feed and staging spontaneous photoshoots, occasional yoga and a solid iced oat milk maple latte.
