The White House fired the vast majority of the National Council on the Humanities, the advisory body for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), on Wednesday amid a government shutdown. A letter from Mary Sprowls of the Presidential Personnel Office informed council members that their positions were terminated effective immediately. The council, typically composed of 26 scholars and leaders appointed for six-year terms, now has only four remaining members—all white men—after the dismissals. The council's website was updated to reflect the remaining members: Russell A. Berman, Keegan F. Callanan, William English, and Matthew Rose. A White House spokesperson stated that President Donald Trump hopes to place members who align more closely with his vision.
This move matters because it represents a significant escalation in the Trump administration's efforts to reshape federal humanities funding and governance. The NEH, founded in 1965, has awarded over $6 billion in grants to museums, universities, and cultural institutions. The firings come after the NEH's staff was cut by two-thirds in June, a proposal to eliminate the agency entirely in the 2026 budget, and forced cancellations of previously awarded grants. The administration has also targeted the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), barring funding for projects promoting "gender ideology," a ban recently ruled unconstitutional. These actions threaten the independence and diversity of federal cultural advisory bodies and could reshape grant-making priorities for the humanities sector.