Declining Academic Fields in U.S. Four-Year Colleges and Universities, 1970-2006.

COLLEGE curriculum; HIGHER education; ORGANIZATIONAL ecology; DEMOGRAPHIC surveys; MANNERS & customs; ROMANCE languages -- Study & teaching; HISTORY education in universities & colleges; SOCIOLOGY education (Higher); SCIENCE education (Higher); SCHOOL size; UNIVERSITIES & colleges

The article discusses academic fields that have declined in U.S. colleges and universities from 1970 to 2006, exploring which fields are most at risk of being cut and the types of schools that drop them. The authors frame decline through processes involving comparing the amount of new schools to failing schools, the number of drops and additions to fields, and propensities to offer fields in new schools compared to failing schools. Colleges are studied in terms of characteristics including organizational ecology, demographics, and historical traditions. Areas of study that declined include Romance Languages, History, and Sociology. Other topics covered include science education, liberal arts, and the effects of institution size.