Indiana University musical theater major Laura Rong played Milky White in "Into the Woods." (Courtesy of Laura Rong)
Indiana University junior Laura Rong’s day looks a bit different than other college students.
As a musical theater major, she rarely has homework, and she said showing up to class is half the battle. She’s dancing, singing and preparing for productions at IU, with the University Players and around Bloomington.
“I think what sets us theater makers, us performers apart from — I always say Muggles,” Rong joked. “It's the teamwork.”
Most BFA programs are smaller than biology or business programs, Rong said, but IU’s is even smaller. Rong said when IU puts together a musical theater class, it’s not made of cookie-cutter freshmen. The department works hard to grow diversity and mentor students.
“They put in a true effort to make sure that our program represents the kind of representation that we would like to see on the Broadway stage,” Rong said. “For me, being a person of color, that means a lot.”
Theater makers, artists and musicians are scrappy and always busy, Rong said. She’s never looked out into an empty theater.
“Perhaps compared to other college communities, I feel like my degree is very respected and valued in the Bloomington and IU community,” Rong said.
Indiana higher education leaders are investing millions in STEM and research.
At IU in the last year President Pamela Whitten declared at least $111 million will go toward microelectronics and nanotechnology initiatives and $250 million will go toward health and life sciences. Some colleges outside of STEM are thriving, such as IU’s Kelley School of Business and the School of Nursing. This spring, IU announced finance was the most common major at commencement, and 1,186 students received a bachelor of science degree in business.
Meanwhile, enrollment in the arts and humanities shrinks.
Michael Adams, chair of IU Bloomington’s English Department, estimated enrollment in English dropped by two-thirds in the last decade. This decline is alarming, he said, especially for people who evangelize the importance of engaging with art, literature and writing.
He said some people view the arts and humanities as a luxury they can “no longer indulge in.” But if the humanities are shut out, universities decrease knowledge, creation and scholarship.
“Why have less knowledge, when you can have more?” Adams said. “Why not take advantage of the liberal arts opportunity? Why not indulge yourself in a discipline that fascinates you?”
Deborah Cohn, Spanish and Portuguese professor, has also tracked the decline in enrollment in foreign languages. According to the Modern Language Association, common languages — Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Spanish — all saw steep drops between 2016 and 2021.
"We don't know what the future holds,” Cohn said. “Historically, the college has been very good about letting the less commonly taught languages run, even if they don't make the minimum number. But I don't know how things are going to go.”
Enrollment shrinking in recent years matches national trends
Cohn said before the recession, foreign language enrollments hit a high in 2009. Now, the MLA reports the few exceptions to drops in enrollment are American Sign Language and Korean. In 11 states, including Indiana, enrollments dropped more than 25 percent.
“In fact, in Indiana, the numbers had trended upwards between 2013 and 2016. They'd gone up by about 9 percent,” Cohn said. “Between 2016 and 2021, college level enrollments in languages dropped by almost 30 percent”
The problem also exists in high schools. Sixteen states do not have a language requirement for graduation, and 24 other states like Indiana allow the requirement to be replaced by other credits, Cohn said. In Indiana, students can receive Core 40 diplomas with a foreign language, career and technical courses or fine arts. About 20 percent of K-12 students in Indiana took a foreign language class, based on the most recent data from about a decade ago, Cohn said.
“Most students in the US educational system don't have the opportunity to study languages until middle or high school,” Cohn said. “So that hampers their ability to start at a higher level and then to pursue higher level courses when they're actually in college.”
The campus has more than half a century of supporting these subjects, Cohn said, and a number of Department of Defense programs help students reach professional proficiency. And there’s growth in foreign languages on the K-12 level, she said, and that needs to be captured at the college level.
Cohn said IU Bloomington faculty and staff are working hard to continue to teach foreign languages and area studies.
“Language is not optional,” Cohn said. “Language is fundamental to us being able to function as a nation.”
As for the English Department, Adams said enrollment ebbs and flows. While enrollment is down now, he said, it might be up in the next decade based on trends and the public perception.
“Faculties get larger and smaller,” Adams said. “You take up fewer offices for a while, but then more offices in the future as the students are interested in what you do, that body of people expands.”
Moving forward, Adams said the English Department has embraced IU’s Career Connections programs, which highlights how coursework can be used in post-graduate careers.
The department may also adjust its academic focus, Adams said, but the department is already working with other units that need their expertise, particularly in writing.
“It is a national trend,” Adams said. “We just have to face that fact and work with it as best we can.”
The value of an arts and humanities degree
Adams said English degrees — and arts and humanities degrees — are valuable today.
He said the Walter Center for Career Achievement reported more than 80 percent of English majors had jobs lined up with six months graduation, and the vast majority were happy in their jobs.
But, six months might not be the best window for an English major. The ideal window for English majors is closer to three to five years, he said.
And English graduates fill many jobs outside of their area of study, and Adams said that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Graduates can find a path to fulfilling and well-paying jobs.
“It is different from being an engineer,” Adams said. “You get your engineering degree, and then you apply at engineering firms for engineering jobs, and you get that done in the spring term of your senior year.”
Business leaders want people who can think differently on their projects, and that’s what makes arts and humanities graduates valuable, Adams said. English graduates can tell stories, manage narratives and communicate ideas that graduates in other disciplines may not have mastered.
“Economies don't just run on one idea or on one set of skills,” Adams said. “And it's a mistake to think that they will.”
Many sectors need more qualified foreign language speakers, Cohn said.
In public health and medicine, a lack of language skills prevents spreading important information and providing treatment, Cohn said. In business, global trade accounts for one in five jobs, she said, and language skills are useful abroad and domestically. And she said the Department of Defense doesn’t have enough qualified employees for overseas work.
These employers are also losing opportunities and money because their employees don’t have language skills, she said.
“The number of job postings over the past few years seeking workers with language skills is increasing,” Cohn said. “But employers are facing a skills gap between what they need to be able to do and what they are able to do, based on language.”
Rong said the musical theater program prepares her for more than performance. It’s a well-rounded program with many general education requirements, she said, and she’s learning more about arts administration.
More than anything, the theater program is scrappy, Rong said. Students work hard and work together.
“We know what it takes to make good work,” Rong said. “We know it doesn't just appear out of thin air.”
Unlike industries, sometimes people work hard and don’t find career growth and new opportunities, Rong said. But she said even if she retires as a performer, she doesn’t think she’ll ever leave the theater industry for good.
“The fact that so many people and so many of us still choose to pursue this industry and still stay in this industry, really, I think is a testament to our perseverance and our dedication,” Rong said.
Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on X @aubreymwright.
