Scholars Urged to Defend the Humanities as Ideological Capture Erodes Their Credibility

—A Vanderbilt-led academic report warns that activist scholarship is distorting truth in some humanities fields, weakening their public standing and inviting political interference. Scholars are called on to actively defend the disciplines rather than remain silent, as external critics use the credibility gap to justify funding cuts and curriculum overhauls. The report argues that silence is itself a form of complicity in the decline.