What the Hell Are We Doing?

The University of Exeter is proposing the elimination of 150 staff jobs, 85% of which are in the humanities and social sciences. This will obviously affect the professors who have made the MA in Magic & Occult Science the amazing programme it is, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason for it. According to the lecturer’s union, the uni’s own metrics show a balanced budget without the need to cut staffing over the next two years, and the Vice Chancellor is making close to 400,000 pounds per year (roughly $534,000) despite a resounding vote of no-confidence among 600 staff members.

It’s hard for me not to wallow in anger and disappointment at the thought of my professors being labeled “redundant” by the academic institution that benefits so highly from their expertise, especially as I gladly juggle explorations all over Devon and quality time with my friends with the writing of my dissertation. It’s been an incredible year that has flown by way too quickly, and it’s a bummer to be ending it on a note of frustration along with the gratitude I feel for being here in the first place.

As I sit here and write this, my mind ping-ponging all over the place from course work to independent research to fun experiences had on weekend trips all over the countryside, I’m wearing earrings from Glastonbury made with rattlesnake vertebrae. Snakes are a hard no for me, so this is an act of sympathetic magic, or the idea that harnessing the power of something repels what’s scary or harmful about it. I’m also wearing a vintage poison ring from a small shop in Totnes, a large ring with a compartment under the stone in which women could keep perfume, talismans, hair or bones of the dead, or of course, poison – just in case a girl ever finds herself in need.

Another fun addition: I just got a new tattoo of a witch’s mark, a symbol people in the Middle Ages used to carve around doorways and hearths to keep evil spirits at bay.

All of the treasures we collect over the years – jewelry, books, body art, furniture, and degrees, even intangible memories of adventures with friends, teach us things about the world we didn’t know before. You know what else they do? They generate money.

Every excursion I’ve taken across the country brought money to the local shops, pubs, restaurants, historical sites, transportation, and hotels. And don’t get me started on what I’ve spent to move to a whole new country and get a master’s degree.

I’ve written before about the inherent value of the arts and humanities and how revered these concepts used to be. And while that value should be able to stand alone without having to justify itself against late-stage capitalism, it doesn’t have to; all of these things, and especially expensive degrees at elite universities, generate money.

I’m sick of pretending that Big Tech and private equity are the only industries in the world generating monetary value – it is patently false.

It’s a sensitive subject for me, a person who sees so many similarities between the way academics are being treated and the way so many in the world treat those of us who work in arts and entertainment. The private equity takeover of Hollywood has doubled down on the narrative that those of us who create and produce the world’s movies, TV shows, books, popular music, podcasts, vertical dramas, social media content, marketing content, and so much more are all delusional nobodies who don’t deserve to afford a one-bedroom apartment, despite the hundreds of billions in revenue our work generates for the men in suits at the very top of pyramid.

Why are we pretending the entertainment industry hasn’t propped up the entire economy of California – and plenty of other filming locations – for over a hundred years? Why are we pretending that CEOs who make hundreds of millions need to implement mass layoffs despite record profits, or that a vice chancellor who received a vote of no-confidence at the biggest staff vote in a university’s history worth over half a million dollars per year, but the departments that brought me here from L.A. to pay international student tuition are not? Why are we pretending all of the money needs to be at the top despite the incalculable amount of damage this system has done?

There’s little I can say that will reach the decision makers at the top, so my one and only plea to readers is this: when the narrative arises that art, humanities, and academia are worthless, do not let it slide. It’s not just insulting, it’s a lie. We may not have the power to change the whole system, but we do have the ability to defend the truth. And there’s an enormous amount of value to that.