Eva von Dassow clearly articulates the academic reality of the humanities today. I would imagine that as a professor of classical and Near Eastern studies her discipline is on the potential list of programs to be cut. Regardless, what she says about the plight of U of Minn could be applied to most state institutions. At my own institution, for example, we just cut the French program, and this happens to be at a university in Louisiana.
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Incognitions 
Martha Nussbaum has a new (small) book out about the issue called “Not For Profit” – looks interesting to me although I’ve only read a bit of it so far.
I noticed that she’d come out with this book. It’s certainly a timely argument to be made at the moment and I’ll be curious to see if there are any surprises to her argument. As for related arguments, I particularly like Jane Jacobs’ arguments in praise of inefficiency. Even if one accepts the corporate goal of innovation and maximizing profits, she shows that most of the control mechanisms that seek to maximize efficiencies in order to attain this goal are ultimately self-defeating. The same will be all the truer for a liberal arts education where maximizing efficiencies is not, nor should it be, on the radar screen.
It doesn’t take an especially perspicacious observer to take note, but eloquence is a virtue when getting a handle with what one can see…