A little context on department closings

There's been quite a bit of buzz on email about the closing of USC's German Department, described in the last post. It's worth stressing how broad the trend here is — covering at least all arts and humanities and circling the globe. This post from Evolving Thoughts on "The decline of the humanities" says much the same thing I hear from language department colleagues in the U.S., but it comes from a philosopher in Australia.