This article propagates a fallacy, namely that the thriving of the sciences at Yale comes at the expense of the humanities. History shows that the times of greatest flourishing and freedom in the arts and sciences are those in which each has operated in proximity to the other. The pandemic is no different, exhibiting anew how interdependent are the laboratory and the seminar room. Ingenuity and innovation require both to be supported. Yale, an indisputable international leader in the humanities, has an obligation to ensure that the scientific disciplines have the same horizon of creativity as those in the arts and humanities. Imagining growth in one comes at the cost of the other serves a specious distinction, one that produces dangerous science and ignoble humanities.

KATHRYN LOFTON is the FAS Dean of Humanities at Yale. Contact her at kathryn.lofton@yale.edu.

KATHRYN LOFTON