> That isn't an eccentric calculation. Of the 21 units at the University of
> Washington, the humanities and, to a lesser degree, the social sciences are
> the only ones that generate more tuition income than 100 percent of their
> total expenditure. Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of
> University Professors, recently cited a University of Illinois report
> showing that a large humanities department like English produces a
> substantial net profit, whereas units such as engineering and agriculture
> run at a loss. The widely respected Delaware Study of Instructional Costs
> and Productivity shows the same pattern.
As much as I understand the inspiration behind adopting this kind of cost-benefit analysis, it seems a bit problematic to do so when it effectively justifies the kind of exploitative system of adjuncts teaching Comp I--an issue that Nelson has elsewhere been a quite vocal critic. But I guess in recessions everybody has to put on their C-B hats.
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