In a global economic and political environment, "only the humanities and the social sciences give one access and entrée into the store," said Karl W. Eikenberry, former United States Ambassador to Afghanistan and a member of the American Academy Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences, speaking at the National Humanities Alliance meeting in Washington this week. 

Inside Higher Ed reported that Eikenberry, along with Brown University President Christina H. Paxson, argued that supporters of the humanities must clearly communicate the benefits of their academic fields or risk losing the war of words on how higher education funding should be appropriated.