Ervin Malakaj quoted in Inside Higher Ed: "More Humanities PhDs"

Ervin Malakaj, a PhD candidate in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures provides his view on humanities graduate students and their knowledge of the job market's expectations in an article entitled "More Humanities PhDs." 
 
Excerpt from the article:

Ervin Malakaj, president of the MLA's Graduate Student Caucus, and a PhD student in German literature at Washington University in St. Louis, said that he talks to humanities graduate students in many programs at many universities. And he said that they are in fact deciding to pursue programs with awareness of the job market.
 
"Almost all of the students I talked to had been previously warned by advisors and colleagues about the slim chances of landing a tenure-track job upon completion of the degree," he said via email. "Most of them also entered their graduate programs with a warning from undergraduate advisors, who told them about the difficult career outlook in academia back when they were considering academic careers. I, for instance, was advised to reconsider the decision to pursue an academic career; my advisors were very honest about the difficulties that humanities disciplines were facing in providing a stable job market to fresh PhDs. Like many of my colleagues, I decided to pursue graduate studies despite all warning.
 
"Having said this, I find it difficult to believe that graduate students enter PhD programs uninformed about the nature of the job market and the various related issues discussed in public forums of all sorts. Many graduate students are part of national organizations in their discipline, such as the MLA, which publish regularly on issues relating to the humanities. These organizations have become a huge source of information about the issues that humanities programs across the country are facing, both for graduate students and faculty alike."
 
 

Article: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/09/12/humanities-doctoral-programs-show-unexpected-boost-new-students