President Alison Byerly indirectly quoted in Star Tribune piece on liberal arts in Minnesota schools
Byerly is the president of Carleton.
Carleton President Alison Byerly was indirectly quoted in a Star Tribune piece titled, “Liberal arts are on a long decline. Some Minnesota schools are finding new ways to boost them.”
The decline in liberal arts majors is often higher at large public universities than at liberal arts colleges, said Andrea Kaston Tange, an English professor at Macalester College. English has hovered around the sixth-most popular major there for 10 years, she said.
Even at such schools, though, students are increasingly drawn to the sciences, including at Carleton College, President Alison Byerly said. But students don’t choose Carleton if they’re not passionate about the liberal arts, she said, and the school has plenty of applicants.
Computer science is the most popular Carleton major, as it also was in 2015 and 2020. Biology and chemistry rounded out the top three last year.
State data shows history majors at Carleton and St. Olaf are down by nearly half since 2006-07.