Two weeks ago, a friend of mine at the National Endowment for the Humanities told me that a team from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency had arrived and was reviewing the books. Last week the hammer came down, as N.E.H. leaders told their staff members that cuts in personnel were coming, eliminating perhaps 80 percent of the agency.
This is a mistake — not, however, for the reasons given by leading humanities organizations such as the American Historical Association, which argued that DOGE’s actions “imperil both the education of the American public and the preservation of our history.” That peril has been present for a long time, much of it caused by scholars entrusted with that education and preservation — and funded by the N.E.H.